kwren's review against another edition
from the Alta magazine California book club
Set in West Covina!
Set in West Covina!
jennyshank's review against another edition
5.0
http://www.hcn.org/issues/44.21/up-the-road-and-a-world-away-a-review-of-elsewhere-california
Up the road and a world away: A review of Elsewhere, California
REVIEW - From the December 10, 2012 High Country News issue
By Jenny Shank
Elsewhere, California
Dana Johnson
276 pages, softcover: $15.95.
Counterpoint, 2012.
Dana Johnson's thoughtful and affecting first novel, Elsewhere, California, is narrated by a girl named Avery, whom we first meet as a child growing up in South Central Los Angeles in the '70s and '80s. When her brother is threatened by gangs, their parents decide to move to the suburbs. Avery eagerly prepares for the "long journey" to West Covina. Her father responds, "Journey? It ain't but thirty minutes up the road." But Avery learns that however short the distance, West Covina might as well be another planet.
The chapters alternate between Avery's childhood and her life as an adult, when she has become an artist, living with Massimo, an older Italian man, in his swanky Hollywood house and looking forward to an exhibition of her art at a Los Angeles gallery.
Avery's language deftly evolves throughout the course of the book. Johnson writes the early chapters in the voice Avery used as a young child -- "We caint go tricka treating. The Crips went and shot somebody and the Bloods done shot em back" -- while the later chapters show the way Avery has learned to speak as a successful black woman trying to move smoothly between society's layers, a knack her best friend Brenna calls her "blendability."
The young Avery, a sensitive, baseball-loving girl, is tortured by her awkwardness. She struggles to fit into whiter and more-affluent West Covina, where she cannot afford the right clothes. "I'm tired of being called Imitation … Because everything I wear is like something else but not the actual thing it's supposed to be. My Izod shirt really isn't Izod Lacoste. It's got a horse on it instead of a crocodile." Meanwhile, Brenna, her bold white friend, leads the way toward mischief, and Avery's favorite cousin Keith follows.
Although Avery graduates from USC and becomes the kind of person others laud as a success story –– "an affirmative action baby" –– she never ceases to be haunted by the dissonance between her past and present. Keith continues his criminal ways even as an adult, and although Massimo tries to convince Avery to forget him, it's clear by the end of the book why she cannot.
This winning novel is replete with wise and poignant observations. At one point Avery explains that art "only has value if the right people say it has value." Elsewhere, California is valuable art indeed, full of heart, wit and insights about family, race, class and the Golden State.
Up the road and a world away: A review of Elsewhere, California
REVIEW - From the December 10, 2012 High Country News issue
By Jenny Shank
Elsewhere, California
Dana Johnson
276 pages, softcover: $15.95.
Counterpoint, 2012.
Dana Johnson's thoughtful and affecting first novel, Elsewhere, California, is narrated by a girl named Avery, whom we first meet as a child growing up in South Central Los Angeles in the '70s and '80s. When her brother is threatened by gangs, their parents decide to move to the suburbs. Avery eagerly prepares for the "long journey" to West Covina. Her father responds, "Journey? It ain't but thirty minutes up the road." But Avery learns that however short the distance, West Covina might as well be another planet.
The chapters alternate between Avery's childhood and her life as an adult, when she has become an artist, living with Massimo, an older Italian man, in his swanky Hollywood house and looking forward to an exhibition of her art at a Los Angeles gallery.
Avery's language deftly evolves throughout the course of the book. Johnson writes the early chapters in the voice Avery used as a young child -- "We caint go tricka treating. The Crips went and shot somebody and the Bloods done shot em back" -- while the later chapters show the way Avery has learned to speak as a successful black woman trying to move smoothly between society's layers, a knack her best friend Brenna calls her "blendability."
The young Avery, a sensitive, baseball-loving girl, is tortured by her awkwardness. She struggles to fit into whiter and more-affluent West Covina, where she cannot afford the right clothes. "I'm tired of being called Imitation … Because everything I wear is like something else but not the actual thing it's supposed to be. My Izod shirt really isn't Izod Lacoste. It's got a horse on it instead of a crocodile." Meanwhile, Brenna, her bold white friend, leads the way toward mischief, and Avery's favorite cousin Keith follows.
Although Avery graduates from USC and becomes the kind of person others laud as a success story –– "an affirmative action baby" –– she never ceases to be haunted by the dissonance between her past and present. Keith continues his criminal ways even as an adult, and although Massimo tries to convince Avery to forget him, it's clear by the end of the book why she cannot.
This winning novel is replete with wise and poignant observations. At one point Avery explains that art "only has value if the right people say it has value." Elsewhere, California is valuable art indeed, full of heart, wit and insights about family, race, class and the Golden State.
sds7's review against another edition
4.0
Probably a 4.5 stars for me- the ending was really powerful. I enjoyed this book and I adored looking at the world through Avery’s eyes. I would be happy to continue to read her narration indefinitely. This seemed like such an American story to me. I could see this being good assigned reading at high schools and colleges because there is a lot to think about and it so beautifully addresses race in this country.
melanie_reads's review against another edition
4.0
Brought me back to my own teenage years and the search for identify in the Southern California wild.
yetanothersusan's review against another edition
5.0
This book was freakishly weird and good. Avery is a Black girl growing up in SoCal. She is the same age as me so a trip through her childhood touched on the same childhood I had. Except I was a white girl in NorCal. Instead of listing the ways in which we were similar or different, I will tell you that these points made the story that much more alive for me! Ah, Shaun Cassidy! My first boyfriend. She got me right away with that. And random meals made with odd cupboard findings, oh yes, been there, ate those! But for those who did not see reflections of their own lives in Avery's story, the themes were still incredibly poignant and obvious. The divide between her worlds is wide and watching her navigate between who she is, who others see her as, and who she wants to be drills right to the heart of being female and Black. I loved that the story felt realistic and not sugar coated.
imperfectcj's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
It took me a while to get into this one, but I ended up really enjoying it. It's a somewhat uncomfortable look at perception vs reality, about people and about California, something I think about a lot since I moved back. I talk to a friend who grew up here, whose experience overlapped with mine but was also so different, it's almost like we were kids in parallel San Diego realities. It's one of the things I find fascinating about this state, and Johnson captures the experience well.
babybearreads's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
I loved spending time with this quiet, but NOT uneventful, contemplative read.
Avery is 40, living in Beverly Hills with a rich Italian man, about to have her first art gallery opening, and looking back on her childhood as an unresolved piece of her past makes an appearance. Time and memories weave past with present as she revisits small but impactful moments growing up in West Covina, daughter of a Black family in a largely white Los Angeles suburb. Race is not the central conflict in the story but of course plays a part -- aggressions abound, but Elsewhere CA is all about Avery's own coming of age and sometimes flawed decisions that she makes in the process.
Johnson code-switches Avery's voice between formal English as an adult and less-formal, more slang language as a child, which keeps the book interesting. And I LOVE books in LA that are not about the Hollywood-ized LA, and are much closer to my picture of this vast and kaleidoscopic city.
--
"Once you know someone's story, or even pieces of it, it's hard to dismiss them to pretend you know all there is to know about a person."
Avery is 40, living in Beverly Hills with a rich Italian man, about to have her first art gallery opening, and looking back on her childhood as an unresolved piece of her past makes an appearance. Time and memories weave past with present as she revisits small but impactful moments growing up in West Covina, daughter of a Black family in a largely white Los Angeles suburb. Race is not the central conflict in the story but of course plays a part -- aggressions abound, but Elsewhere CA is all about Avery's own coming of age and sometimes flawed decisions that she makes in the process.
Johnson code-switches Avery's voice between formal English as an adult and less-formal, more slang language as a child, which keeps the book interesting. And I LOVE books in LA that are not about the Hollywood-ized LA, and are much closer to my picture of this vast and kaleidoscopic city.
--
"Once you know someone's story, or even pieces of it, it's hard to dismiss them to pretend you know all there is to know about a person."
em_reads_books's review against another edition
4.0
I made a playlist while reading, just adding a song whenever a new artist or lyric got mentioned. It's so all over the place in mood and genre and era, which is fitting for how much Avery grows and tries on different identities. Seeing her find the art and music that speaks to her is a huge part of that.
williamc's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Alternating between the voice of her unaffected youth and that of her established adulthood, collagist Avery explores her identity and long-term desires alongside the demands of both a traditionalist, working class family and the expectations of the white community in which she's immersed. Avery's examinations of class and the childhood friends who challenge her preconceptions make for a genuine and empathetic telling. Whatever the book may miss in ultimate scope, it more than makes up for in sincerity and immediacy of the circle of community it engages us in.
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