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VC Book Club - Book #1: California by Edan Lepucki - Details in OP


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I finished this today.

 

 

 

 

 

I finished last week.

Have to agree with you. It had potential, but it honest to goodness was a total mess, like it never had an editor, or was still an unfinished draft. Plot twists and such were generally unsatisfying. The writing style was fine - nothing too great, but not atrocious - but it could have used some more flair, character development, and most importantly, a more carefully thought out plot arc. Rather than thinking it was bad, I would have to say it's disappointing.

 

 

For anyone who has been working through the first few chapters, any thoughts? What would be your soundtrack to the film version of this book?

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I finished last week.

Have to agree with you. It had potential, but it honest to goodness was a total mess, like it never had an editor, or was still an unfinished draft. Plot twists and such were generally unsatisfying. The writing style was fine - nothing too great, but not atrocious - but it could have used some more flair, character development, and most importantly, a more carefully thought out plot arc. Rather than thinking it was bad, I would have to say it's disappointing.

 

 

For anyone who has been working through the first few chapters, any thoughts? What would be your soundtrack to the film version of this book?

 

Finished this today. 

 

I agree as well. Very mediocre book. I knew in the first few chapters I likely wasn't going to dig it, but I figured I would see it though. Not a horrible book by any means, but nothing that stands out. Very minimal character development, very predictable story.

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So I suppose we can call this a bit of a failure as a result of the book not being very good.

 

I can heartily recommend a somewhat similar book (thematically) that I thought was far superior, and still one of the best books I've read in the last year (and I've read around 30-40 in that time). The book is called Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, and it's about a travelling orchestra that walks from town to town in a post-apocalyptic world where a super-virus decimates almost all of the world's population; 20 years later, those that do survive manage to eke out life in small towns surviving from remnants of the world before it all changed. Much of the plot revolves around a few characters all somehow connected to a famous movie star who dies on stage in a Shakespeare performance in Toronto days before the virus wreaks its havoc.  What I love about the book is that it doesn't feel like it's overwritten like a science fiction epic. In fact, it feels more like a very understated and delicate drama, with the post-apocalypse as the setting. Honestly, a great combination of haunting, beautiful, and terrific writing - highly recommended.

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Might want to go with more critically acclaimed stuff. It's a safer bet to read something with mostly 4/5 star reviews than anything lower. 'California' only had 3 stars on Amazon and even lower at B&N.

Oh - I wasn't suggesting it as a book club book. Just recommending to those who may have been interested in the concept, but disappointed in the book as a whole.

 

But even then, Station Eleven has some pretty good reviews: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20170404-station-eleven?ac=1&from_search=1&from_nav=true and http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/station-eleven-emily-st-john-mandel/1117737038?ean=9780804172448 

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I finished California a couple days ago and feel about it the same way most of you did. Predictable storyline/twists, barely fleshed-out/believable and even likeable characters and a very poor ending.

Any ideas for the next read?

 

 

I picked up The Flood by David Sachs (4-star Amazon) and The Book of Paul by Richard Long (not so great reviews) for cheap recently.

Also picked up a bunch of cheap stuff this week that I'll throw in as suggestions:

Cormac McCarthy. the road

Peter Ackroyd. hawksmoor

Sylvia Plath. the bell jar

Osamu Dazai. the setting sun

Haruki Murakami. colorless tsukuru tazaki and his years of pilgrimage

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