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    Wonder Valley: A Novel
    Wonder Valley: A Novel
    Wonder Valley: A Novel
    Audiobook10 hours

    Wonder Valley: A Novel

    Written by Ivy Pochoda

    Narrated by Will Damron

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    “Destined to be a classic L.A. novel.”—Michael Connelly

    When a teen runs away from his father’s mysterious commune, he sets in motion a domino effect that will connect six characters desperate for hope and love, set across the sun-bleached canvas of Los Angeles.

    From the acclaimed author of Visitation Street, a visionary portrait of contemporary Los Angeles in all its facets, from the Mojave Desert to the Pacific, from the 110 to Skid Row.

    During a typically crowded morning commute, a naked runner is dodging between the stalled cars.  The strange sight makes the local news and captures the imaginations of a stunning cast of misfits and lost souls.

    There's Ren, just out of juvie, who travels to LA in search of his mother. There's Owen and James, teenage twins who live in a desert commune, where their father, a self-proclaimed healer, holds a powerful sway over his disciples. There's Britt, who shows up at the commune harboring a dark secret. There's Tony, a bored and unhappy lawyer who is inspired by the runner. And there's Blake, a drifter hiding in the desert, doing his best to fight off his most violent instincts.  Their lives will all intertwine and come crashing together in a shocking way, one that could only happen in this enchanting, dangerous city.

    Wonder Valley is a swirling mix of angst, violence, heartache, and yearning—a masterpiece by a writer on the rise.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateNov 7, 2017
    ISBN9780062695727
    Author

    Ivy Pochoda

    Ivy Pochoda is the author of The Art of Disappearing, Visitation Street, and Wonder Valley, a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist and winner of the Strand Critics Award. She lives in Los Angeles.

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    Reviews for Wonder Valley

    4/5

    49 ratings6 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Intertwining stories form the core of this novel, which opens and closes with scenes that come close to uniting the divergent strands of the story. The book was easy enough to read, but I never felt truly invested in the story and I was deeply annoyed with one character in particular (Tony, because wanting to be a naked man running through L.A. traffic is just as ridiculous as the perfect family life his wife craves). Okay enough as a read, but I was happy to move on to other books.
    • 4/5
      I’m of two very different minds about this book. The writing is fascinating and handles a wide range of emotions and situations very well, but my personal gut-reaction to its depiction of living on the streets of LA’s Skid Row was so desperately depressing, that it made me most uncomfortable about my future possibilities. One of the characters goes searching for his mother who lives on these streets. After finding her, the nest egg hidden in his socks was lost when he was beaten and rolled, aka mugged. Granted, it was never a well-thought-out plan of redemption, especially when another flaw was exposed, she didn’t want to be “saved.” This situation also allows Pochoda to introduce a whole host of “colorful” characters living out there lives there, and she gives the reader a good feel for the streets.But no matter where this book later takes its readers, its most memorable scene starts the book. Before we learn about the darker side of sunny affluent Southern California, Ivy Pochoda starts the book off brilliantly with one man running. The freeways are at a standstill with people all needing to be somewhere else, when a stark-naked man shows his independence, not just from clothing, but from all the rules and traffic by running freely by the trapped drivers. As angry and tense people sit steaming in their cars, he runs wherever he wants. He becomes a symbol of escaping not just our cars, but many of the problems of our modern culture. One commuter watched him run by, felt some tug of a kinship, climbed out, and ran after him in his business clothes. In the end, the clothed runner is busted by the police, and spends time in jail. Yeah, our author gave us this potential relief from the oppressive urban landscape, only to quickly crush it in a cell. The man may lose his job and wife over that sympathetic run. He was filmed by countless people on their phones, and his daughter shows him that he’s all over the news following the naked runner, the free runner who remained free from the police. In an extremely well-done bit of writing, our author plays out a number of stories, with some very memorable characters, and then returns to that naked man running in traffic. We learn who he is, and why he ended up eventually running to the beach. This novel deserves to become a classic of LA noir.I finished this novel on a patio under the northern California sun, with a lemon tree packed full of blossoms and buzzing bees, and some relaxing wind chimes playing in the distance. The ominous and threatening scenes in Skid Row overwhelmed some of my enjoyment of this powerful and curiously written book. Uncomfortable would be the key term in my mind, but anxious, unsettling, depressing, hopeless, deadly, and pathetic also come to mind. This book did what it did excellently, but I found much of what it did far too uncomfortable for me. Though the book ends on a sunny southern California beach, this book’s soul is dark and troubled. It’s a unique experience that will long be remembered.
    • 4/5
      Interesting, disturbing, weird ... but good
    • 4/5
      I had never heard of this author or the book until It was recommended based on my purchasing history. The story sounded promising. Little did I know there would be so little holding this story together.The author can definitely write, that wasn’t the problem for me, what was a problem is I tend to like books with a beginning, middle and an actual ending.This book seemed more like an idea that was forced into a book length exercise. It also seemed to be a little to ambitious for the author. 5 or 6 or more main characters depending on your definition, of a significant main character, with a story told in 2006 and 2010 and even though they characters really have nothing in common they somehow end up affecting or interacting with each other so that the story could be told.For me the really isn’t much story to tell. Multiple characters with different backgrounds hiding something, running from something, and doing all that they can to stay sane isn’t enough to hold a story together, especially when none of the characters is all that likable or sympathetic.I would likely consider another book by this author, but enough of these edgy experiments where the author shows how creative they can be. Just tell a story.
    • 4/5
      A man is running down the Hollywood freeway, he is completely nude, seemingly without a care in the world. As the cars sit in the usual crawling traffic, another man, a man on impulse will leave his car sitting in traffic and take off running, following the naked man. This is the beginning of this novel, which will take us from the streets of Los Angeles, to skid row and out to a desert commune with a divergent group of characters.THey are lost souls, trying to escape either something the have done, or do not understand where their lives took a wrong turn, hopeful still that they can turn it around. Gritty and powerful story telling at its best. Street people and the fierce way they guard their spots, try to look out for each there. A commune run by a man who says he has answers, a healer of the physche, a married man with two twin teenage sons. Two drifters, with a capacity for violence and a man who can't escape a past mistake. All will come together, their stories converge in strange ways. All want to survive, to thrive though all will not be given the chance.For those squeamish about the killing of chickens, though they are killed for food, I suggest skimming chapter four. Other than that I found this book to be wonderfully written, a dark yet hopeful street read. It reminded me in tone and feeling of [book:Gold Fame Citrus|24612148], though this is contemporary and not post apocalyptic. ARC from book browse.
    • 4/5
      A compelling novel about family and friends and moral responsibility and the role of drugs and alcohol play in some people’s lives. Although a number of the characters live morally problematic lives, Pochoda portrays them with a compassion and empathy that enabled me to understand the reasons why they might make the choices they did. It is not written chronologically, but it was still (most of the time) clear where in time the characters were. Vividly written, it is a great psychological novel.