The Golden State opens with Daphne, a semi-single mother, temporarily walking out of her solid 9-5 San Francisco University job (for now, at least) and escaping to her family's trailer located in a desert town in Altavista, California. She's semi-single because her husband, Engin, is tangled up in an immigration/green card/bureaucratic mess and is stuck in Turkey. Daphne's not exactly sure what she's escaping or why, but she feels a strong pull leading her away from her everyday life and a return towards her roots. Along for the ride is her sixteen-month-old daughter, Honey.
The novel spans ten days that Daphne spends in Altavista. Not much happens in this small town and, like all small towns, there are characters with a capital C. Cindy is the far-right-leaning next-door neighbour whose political ambitions include being part of a group that wants Altavista to separate from California and become its own independent state.
Alice is an elderly lady who, like Daphne, is only a temporary member of this tiny community. Daphne and Alice bond at the local restaurant over Honey and the Turkish language and things between them develop from there.
With not much for Daphne to do, she spends her time mainly wandering around the town, sneaking drinks and cigarettes while Honey's napping, looking through her deceased parents' belongings and thinking about her husband. While this doesn't make for an earth-shattering plot or a sense of urgency, it definitely highlights the slow pace of small town life and the highs and lows of motherhood, especially wanting nothing more than a break when Honey's awake but showing the deepest of love when she's reflecting about her as she sleeps.
Alice and Daphne's lives become forever entangled in the last couple of days and this is where things really start to develop and become a little more unpredictable.
The Golden State is a serene read. It's got sparks of quirky humour, especially where motherhood is concerned, and vivid descriptions. For a near-300-page book without a lot of twists and turns, but a whole lot of killing time and reflecting, it somehow manages to pull the reader along for the ride - and it was a ride I was happy to be on.
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