Wonder Valley

September 18, 2017
Pochoda’s third novel (after Visitation Street) uses a 2010 traffic jam as the springboard for an exploration of the rootless existence of marginal SoCal lives. Stuck in traffic, Tony, a married lawyer, spots a naked man streaking between cars and becomes obsessed with finding out who he is. Readers also meet Ren, a young man just out of juvie in Brooklyn who has come to L.A. to reconnect with his absent mother, who is living in Skid Row, and Blake, a drifter searching for the woman who killed his traveling companion several years ago. The novel then jumps back to 2006, when Britt, a young tennis player running from a tragic mistake, ends up at a ranch in Twentynine Palms presided over by a charismatic healer. There, Britt becomes involved with the healer’s teenaged twin sons, who go on to two different destinies. Toggling back and forth, the narrative eventually shows how events in the past affect the present, then brings the characters together as each enacts one last desperate attempt at self-salvation. Pochada has written a novel alive with empathy for the dispossessed and detailed descriptions of the California landscape, with a little of the film Crash thrown in. But as sympathetic as the characters are, their stories fail to come together as a dramatic whole.

September 15, 2017

During 2006-10, a disparate cast of characters converges in the streets of Los Angeles and the desert outside the city. This is not the glamorous L.A. of Hollywood, palm trees, and swimming pools. Instead, we follow a young man recently released from juvenile detention in search of his mother who has become homeless; a dubious spiritual leader, his family, and a collection of college-age "interns" inhabiting a communal chicken farm; a pair of criminals on the lam; and a corporate lawyer having an existential crisis. All are connected to a bizarre incident on the freeway in ways that are not apparent until at least 70 pages in, with the nonlinear time line and lack of a central character making it somewhat challenging to get a grasp of the story and its forward momentum. VERDICT Despite the initial confusion, Pochoda (Visitation Sheet) takes readers places they don't often see with authenticity and clarity. Her description of the daily lives of the urban homeless is particularly vivid and sympathetic. Each of the main characters does achieve some sort of peace or resolution by the dark and often violent book's end. [See Prepub Alert, 5/15/17.]--Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2017
A young man runs naked down the freeways and streets of Los Angeles, clogging up morning traffic, to the consternation of most commuting Angelenos. This young man, unnamed in the prologue, ties together all of the characters in Pochoda's (Visitation Street, 2013) ambitious, absorbing third novel. In 2006, a young woman, Britt, escapes a tragic accident and heads to a commune in the Mojave Desert, where a charismatic leader holds sway over a group of young interns. His twin sons, James and Owen, vie for his attention, but after Owen angers his father, he runs away and comes across two dangerous men, Blake and Sam. The pair is on the run from the law, but an injury Sam sustained on the road is slowing them down. In 2010, Ren, recently released from juvie, is searching for his mother on the streets of skid row. Pochoda paints southern California with a vibrant brush, rendering an evocative landscape on which her desperate characters seek out redemption and rejuvenation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)