California Dreaming
In Noa Silver’s novel California Dreaming, a recent college graduate tries to live up to her mother’s reputation.
Using her rebellious mother’s story as a template, Elena moves to Oakland with Teach for America. She’s sure her love of poetry will rub off on her students. Still, though her lesson plans include writers like Mary Oliver, she can’t figure out how to reach them. That she has to hold her class in a cafeteria corner doesn’t help.
Then Elena meets Kyle at a protest; their new love plus long discussions distract her. Her college roommate challenges her even more. And though Elena finally connects with a student, when her contract ends, she joins a small startup developing a reading application. Her life enters a series of shifts, including a move home, a second chance in the classroom, and a new look at family and herself.
Elena narrates, sharing intimate details about herself, relatives, and the places she goes. She tells her story in chronological order, though with occasional flashbacks that flesh out her motivations and rootedness in her family. For instance, her Jewish grandparents survived the Holocaust; the numbers tattooed on their skin are why she doesn’t have a tattoo.
The book addresses topics including the Occupy movement, shootings, Israel-Palestine, and racism; all figure into Elena’s growth: “The only white people [at school] were among the teachers—a fact that took me years to recognize as problematic.” And Elena has poetic sensibilities, making note of “jasmine … shrouded in white mist” and saying “you could taste the stickiness in the air.” She and others ponder subjects ranging from nostalgia, terms like slut versus prude, and how best to change the system.
A novel of deep questions and personal growth, California Dreaming reckons with the gap between expectations and experience.
Reviewed by
Lynne Jensen Lampe
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
