
Gold Fame Citrus
A Novel
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Jorjeana Marie
-
MacLeod Andrews
An acclaimed "5 Under 35" fiction writer's much-anticipated first novel
In 2012 Claire Vaye Watkins' story collection, Battleborn, swept nearly every award for short fiction. Now this young writer, widely heralded as a once-in-a-generation talent, returns with a first novel that will more than meet listeners' hopes, harnessing the sweeping vision and deep heart that made her debut so arresting to a love story set in a devastatingly imagined near future.
In a parched Southern California of the near future, Luz, once the poster child for the country's conservation movement, and Ray, an army deserter turned surfer, are squatting in a starlet's abandoned mansion. Most "Mojavs", prevented by armed vigilantes from freely crossing borders to lusher regions, have allowed themselves to be evacuated to encampments in the east. Holdouts like Ray and Luz subsist on rationed cola and water and whatever they can loot, scavenge, and improvise.
For the moment, the couple's fragile love, which somehow blooms in this arid place, seems enough. But when they cross paths with a mysterious child, the thirst for a better future begins. Heading east, they are waylaid in the desert by a charming and manipulative dowser - a diviner for water - and his cultlike followers, who have formed a colony in a mysterious sea of dunes.
Immensely moving, profoundly disquieting, and mind-blowingly original, Watkins' novel explores the myths we believe about others and tell about ourselves, the double-edged power of our most cherished relationships, and the shape of hope in a precarious future that may be our own.
©2015 Claire Vaye Watkins (P)2015 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...




















Critic reviews
"Spectacular. In Margaret Atwood mode, Watkins spikes this fast-moving, high-tension, sexyecocrisis saga with caustic parodies and resounding allusions that cohere into a knowing and elegiac tale of scrappy adaptation and epic loss." (Booklist, starred)
"Packed with persuasive detail, luminous writing, and a grasp of the history (popular, political, natural and imagined) needed to tell a story that is original yet familiar, strange yet all too believable." (Publisher's Weekly, starred)
"In her powerful depictions of the scorched and merciless landscape, Watkins realizes a genuine nostalgia for our lost living world, and the American West in particular...[W]ith its damaged and complicated heroine and multiple voices, shifting perspectives, and unconventional narrative devices, [Gold Fame Citrus] is a wholly original work." (Library Journal)
People who viewed this also viewed...



Full Range of Humanity on Display
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The reading was ok. The woman's voice was nice, I didn't like the annunciation of character changes.
Meh
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Drought. and Survival
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Utterly unique.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Any additional comments?
I have so many conflicting feelings about this book, but I think that comes from how complicated the female protagonist is. Luz is a broken as a person can possibly be, but continues to find the strength to carry on. As her choices, and often mistakes, continue to affect all those on her journey with her, you will fluctuate between hope and despair. In a not-too-distant future world where the earth has used up it's resources and the horizon looks bleak, there is not much that is uplifting about this novel. But it's honest, brutally honest. I was immersed in it from beginning to end and upon finishing the book, have only been looking for someone to talk to about it.A Tough Look at a Not-too-Distant Future
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Heartbreaking and real
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You won’t regret it.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Where does Gold Fame Citrus rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Enjoyable book for the commute. Definitely a lot of creativity and thought went into the characcters, wish there were more explanation of what is happening in the rest of the world, or what the wars were about, but hopefully Ms Watkins has saved that for another novel.What other book might you compare Gold Fame Citrus to and why?
So many science fiction books (especially now) seem to document this world of never ending drought, its not clear how the rest of the world is faring, but Cali is quite a mess!Which scene was your favorite?
Details of Los Angeles help bring reality to this dystopian future.Southern California after Global Warming
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
I'm giving the Story only 3 * because it was such a depressing story, yet well written. If you like those kind of books, this one is the book for you. For me, it left me feeling empty and sad.Depressing...yet the story was well written
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I would describe it first as weird but then, good
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.