Okay, so… Death Valley is a weird little gem and I say that with love. I really enjoyed it, but fair warning: it might be too wacky for some people.

Melissa Broder does what she does best, dives deep into the existential, the surreal, and the painfully human, all wrapped up in this bizarre, beautiful desert fever dream. It’s funny, sad, strange, and at times you’re not quite sure what’s real… but that’s kind of the point.

It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you’re into stories that get a little weird while still hitting you right in the feels, this one’s worth the trip. I liked it a lot, it’s one of those books that sticks with you after the last page, even if you’re still not 100% sure what just happened.

A Surreal and Profound Exploration of Grief in Death Valley

Melissa Broder, celebrated author of The Pisces and Milk Fed, returns with Death Valley, a novel that masterfully blends humor, heartbreak, and the surreal in a story of one woman’s attempt to navigate grief and survival.

The narrative follows an unnamed protagonist who seeks refuge in a Best Western motel in the desolate California desert. Burdened by the weight of her father’s critical condition in the ICU and her husband’s worsening illness, she hopes the desert’s emptiness will provide solace. Instead, she discovers an unusual path forward—thanks to a motel receptionist’s suggestion to hike a nearby trail.

On the hike, she encounters an impossibly large cactus with a mysterious gash that seems to invite her inside. Defying all logic, she steps into the cactus and embarks on a journey that is both bizarre and transformative. This mystical experience serves as a poignant metaphor for the unpredictable and often absurd process of coping with grief, love, and the fragility of life.

Broder’s prose is sharp, darkly funny, and deeply moving. Her ability to juxtapose absurdity with profound emotional truths creates a unique reading experience that is at once otherworldly and deeply relatable. The stark desert landscape mirrors the protagonist’s inner turmoil, while the surreal elements challenge conventional notions of reality, allowing readers to explore grief from an entirely new perspective.

Death Valley is a bold, inventive novel that pushes the boundaries of storytelling. It is an exploration of despair and resilience, offering a deeply human tale of finding meaning in life’s most difficult moments. Broder’s blend of wit, imagination, and raw emotion cements her status as one of contemporary literature’s most compelling voices.

I am a huge Melissa Broder fan girl so was so excited to read this. I was surprised to find this is unlike Broder's other works but her narrative voice is still recognisable. I find her prose speaks to me deeply and stays with me for weeks and months to come.

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Death Valley -

This was a bizarre but beautiful book that explored the grief of knowing someone you love hasn't got much longer, but they are still holding on.

Our unnamed narrator is a 41 year old author, she escapes to the desert to write her novel whilst her father is dying in hospital and her husband is dealing with a chronic illness. The protagonist is struggling to cope in this limbo state with not knowing what is going to be happening and when. The first day in the desert she stumbles upon a very large cactus which she climbs inside and sees her fathers childhood. After a few days she checks out early to return to her father, but she needs to see her cactus again. Very quickly she gets lost in the desert and it turns into a story of survival and of her own thoughts about her life.

It was a very odd but enjoyable book, I feel like the limbo state of mind she was in showed through her not knowing whether to be depressed, happy or just in between. This came through in the book with moments of sadness and joy as you read. Although strange I think it was an excellent portrayal of grief

I don’t really know what to say about this one other than what the f*ck ? This has no plot and doesn’t make any sense. Is sort of funny at times but is definitely not something I’d ever tell someone to read. I should’ve listened to my gut and DNF’d it in the beginning. The main character is also INSUFFERABLE but I feel this was intentional

A strangely enjoyable read, it deals with loss and dying and the feelings of guilt that go along with it all. I mostly enjoyed the writing style although it got a very weird at times.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I love this! The writing is so witty, simultaneously funny and heartfelt. I really connected with the character, and the way she talked to herself, about herself, and about her surroundings was incredibly relatable. I absolutely loved the anthropomorphising of the rocks, mountains, bunnies in her vicinity - the way these sections were written felt so original, which is not an easy feat these days. And I loved that the character was doing this with the rocks even before she gets lost in the desert - showing that it isn't just a sign of her madness, but also just who she is as an interesting and lovable character. As she does get more and more lost, and more and more desperate, she never loses that spark that makes her so lovable. I will be recommending this to everyone I know!

I gave up on this book part way through as the representation of illness and disabiltiy felt unnuanced, misunderstood, and selfish,

Death Valley is an invigorating and beguiling fever dream of a story and I thoroughly adored it from start to finish. We follow our protagonist on a journey to the desert in the midst of turbulent personal crisis, a dying father and her chronically sick husband. Broder explores grief and different types of love in a beautiful, witty and brilliantly bizarre manner. Verging on fantastical, the entire novel reads like a drug-induced daydream and reads very easily without confusing the reader. I found this a bit of an emotional rollercoaster and the prose is concise, wasting no words. A truly excellent novel, perfect for fans of weird fiction, unreliable narrator and unhinged women.

Death Valley reads like a fever dream, it has shadows of nightbitch and bunny, with a very original and funny voice. The writing is light and easy to read, highly engaging, love both the plot and vibes. The metaphors behind about love, grief, dying are lovely written. A fresh take on writing about death, love and more. This is my first Melissa Broder and will not be my last!

Thank you Netgalley for the advanced e-copy!

i absolutely couldn't put this one down! broder explores grief, love, depression in her signature weird style. funny and refreshing

Bleak at times, and incredibly slow. I had hoped for it to be a bit more 'fun'. Could t get through it.

Wrong time, wrong book. My friends who also received this as an advanced review copy enjoyed this far more than I did, so it's definitely my problem. Perhaps this wasn't the best intro to Broder's writing for me. I hope to read it again on another day, but I'm sure I read it at a wrong time. A shame, as I had wanted to love it so desperately. Broder is one of those cool-gal novelists isn't she? I think stylistically it definitely worked for me, and it even reminded me a bit of Moshfegh and Miranda July to a certain extent, and I already love them both. But I think the plot in this particular Broder novel just didn't hold my interest at all. I'll try her other books for sure though.

'death valley' follows a woman seeking respite in the harsh californian desert as she navigates complicated feelings of anticipatory grief for her dying father.

with her dad in an ICU, her husband suffering from a debilitating chronic illness, and her phone signal depleting with every step further into the desert she takes, our narrator becomes increasingly overwhelmed and finds herself lost. powerless over her emotions and surroundings, and alone with her existential thoughts and dehydration, she starts hallucinating, and the boundaries between what is real, imagined, and magic, dissolve into madness.

this book was one of my most anticipated reads of the year bc i am a huge fan of broder's work and have been since the OG sosadtoday days, but i'm kinda disappointed??? i subconsciously went into it expecting themes similar to those centred in her previous works, and while it definitely shares their vulnerability, wit, and dark humour, it lacks their depth and irresistibility, in my opinion. i love broder's quintessential fever dream overtones and can endure magical realism to a point, but i found the juvenile cartoonish absurdism (the talking rocks, for example lol) really boring.

it is, however, a beautiful homage to broder's real dad, and a profound exploration of love, mortality, empathy, father-daughter relationships, and an intense longing to experience something beyond human capacity.

i won't read it again, but i'm glad i did.

A NEW FAVOURITE BOOK!

With this being my first Melissa Broder, I was incredibly excited and equally daunted after hearing such high praise for her works but this did NOT disappoint!

This was astounding, heartfelt, heartBREAKING, raw and equally gross in description. I adore fever dream novels and this spelled one that was perfect and equally unique! Existential, steeped in commentary on grief, beautifully written, fever dream and gross (don't read this if you have daddy issues)

I really struggled to finish this, but needed resolution. It's slow and repetitive in places, and very bleak.

This book wasn't really for me but that being said, I did enjoy it in places despite how bizarre it was.

I've read all of Melissa Broder's previous books but I think Death Valley was the one I least enjoyed. The prose was really solid but the book just didn't in any way stick with me. Perhaps it is due to the fact that it took so long for me to finish this book, but I felt that the book overall was a bit repetitive at times. Might be sometimes I will have to return to at a later date to fully appreciate it.

Thank you to Netgalley and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for sending me an advanced copy

I didn't know anything about this novel before I started reading it, which I think is a great way to approach a Melissa Broder novel. Once the surreal, psychedelic elements of the story started happening, I knew I was in safe hands and strapped in for the ride. A funny, sad meander through the desert and the experience of grieving.

Death Valley by Melissa Broder is trying so hard to be edgy and sharp but i found it irritating and contrived, sentence level and plot wise. the mc's internal monologue was desperately trying to be outrageous and wry a la fleabag but fails to actually be shocking or entertaining