An award-winning short story writer, Ethel Rohan is the author of two collections, Cut Through the Bone and Goodnight Nobody. Her first novel is The Weight of Him.Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Rohan's reply:
California by Edan Lepucki.Visit Ethel Rohan's website.
I first read Lepucki’s post-apocalyptic novel, California, shortly after it published in 2014. I’m re-reading it now because I’ll soon be In Conversation with Edan during the launch party for The Weight of Him, and also because this unforgettable book is—frighteningly—more relevant than ever.
In 2017, the strange, dystopian, hopeless, hopeful world of this novel feels all too possible in the not too distant future.Humanity has lost its way, and its soul, and our world as we know it is all but destroyed. Sound creepingly familiar? The central characters, a memorable couple Frida and Cal, are trying to survive, and thrive. Not only are their lives, and the lives of all humankind at stake, but our very planet.
The paranoia and fear in this unforgettable novel resonates, as does the resistance and perseverance of its everyday heroes. It’s a story as old as time, told with refreshing honesty and oddness, and yet we can’t seem to grasp it and act accordingly: Hate destroys. Love saves.
--Marshal Zeringue
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