Book: Crossing California by Adam Langer
This book did eventually win me over, but I have to warn you that the first one hundred pages of this book are horrible—virtually unreadable. If this wasn’t a book club book, I would have chucked it.
Adam Langer wants to make Crossing California very time and place specific. The time is during the Iranian Hostage Crisis of 1979–1981. The place is the West Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. Within this timeframe, it means that we’re going to visit a predominately Jewish community.
The book, however, tries way too hard to establish all of this within the first hundred pages. It felt like a list of details that drowned out all the characters. There is no plot.
We know that such-and-such a place is on this street, which is crossed by that street, and this other place is next to it while somewhere else is across, and that place is known for whatever.
Horrible.
The kicker is—none of this is necessary. My enjoyment of the rest of the book was because of the characters and the fun that the author had in developing them.
I didn’t really need this time and place specificity. It feels like an editor failed him somewhere. The heaviness of the effort in this first section contrasts strongly with the rolling-ness of the remainder.
The story follows a bunch of the neighborhood teenagers through their various family, school, and life dramas. There’s a good mix with each character standing out on his and her own.
California is an avenue that marks the border between the Haves and the Have-Nots. Some of the characters live on the east side. Some are on the west.
I feel like I should explain the title, but now that I’ve started, I realize there’s nothing much to say about it because the crossing of California is only tangentially important to the book.
Everyone’s just trying to get along. The kids are striving towards their futures using the strengths at their disposals. It’s a very affirming novel because the kids are allowed to shine with their talents. One is a self-decreed master actress who is a natural leader of people. One is an aspiring drummer who is capable of great clarity of goals.
A pair of old-for-their-ages teenagers (she’s a political radical and he’s a pragmatic filmmaker) are especially endearing and engaging.
There are antics that will make you laugh and enough truth that will make you nostalgic for your own high school years. I left the book with a smile on my face and well wishes in my heart for all of these fictional characters.
I picked a Wodehouse at random on the recommendation of Douglas Adams. Almost immediately, I could see the connections and similarities between the two authors.