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A review by alexampersand
Death Valley by Melissa Broder
3.0
I really loved the opening and the closing of the book, and especially the human relationships and grief that the protagonist grapples with.
Unfortunately, for me the middle portion of the novel just didn't work - and that's where the bulk really happened. Except... nothing much happened. She was in the dessert and crawling around and hallucinating conversations and measuring her water, and it all just felt so long and drawn out. It could have worked for me if it was a 30-50 page novella, but not for the entire stretch of a novel.
And all of that would have been okay, if there had been - as I was expecting and hoping for based on the blurb - some deep examination of feelings, and her self, and that she would come out the other side with some sort of realisation and personal growth. And I guess by the end she sort of had changed her outlook, but for me the journey of her getting there just wasn't developed enough. Maybe it was the speed I read it that didn't allow me to connect the dots and pick up on what she was learning as she went, but for me it just felt very disconnected.
Unfortunately, for me the middle portion of the novel just didn't work - and that's where the bulk really happened. Except... nothing much happened. She was in the dessert and crawling around and hallucinating conversations and measuring her water, and it all just felt so long and drawn out. It could have worked for me if it was a 30-50 page novella, but not for the entire stretch of a novel.
And all of that would have been okay, if there had been - as I was expecting and hoping for based on the blurb - some deep examination of feelings, and her self, and that she would come out the other side with some sort of realisation and personal growth. And I guess by the end she sort of had changed her outlook, but for me the journey of her getting there just wasn't developed enough. Maybe it was the speed I read it that didn't allow me to connect the dots and pick up on what she was learning as she went, but for me it just felt very disconnected.