Arroyo, by Chip Jacobs. Rare Bird Books, 2019

You’ve got to figure that a book that starts out with an ostrich race is going to be kind of strange. But ostrich races really *do* take place, so this in itself doesn’t knock the book into complete fantasy land. It’s the psychic, highly intelligent dog that does that, and later, the reincarnation thing. The rest is detailed history- the main characters are fictional, but there are many historical figures and the setting has been researched so well that it totally comes alive- it’s practically a character, itself.



The Arroyo in question is Arroyo Seco in Pasadena, CA, and the year is 1913. The bridge is the Colorado Street Bridge, known locally as Suicide Bridge after its completion, and 1913 is the year it is being finished and opened. You’ve all seen Colorado Street; it’s the avenue that the Rose Parade goes down on New Year’s Day. Young Nick Chance is an inventor and a bird caretaker on the local ostrich farm when the book starts, hence the race. He is developing a method of solar lighting, and gets a job working on the bridge lighting it, thus saving them from running an electrical system clear across. But there are a number of mysterious things going on, which seem to center upon the bridge. When Nick’s life is saved by a psychic stray dog, who he adopts and names Royo, he finds himself drawn into these events.



Jacobs, who is normally a journalist, has made old Pasadena come alive. The Busch Gardens, then lived in by Lilly and Adolphus Busch, sound like a fairy land-they were labeled the ‘eighth wonder of the world”. The details of the ostrich feather industry were something I’d never come across before. He describes the local businesses in detail, all of which existed- and some still exist! The characters are likable and rather whimsical, but even though I liked Nick a lot, he (and the others) had no real depth. When the story moved to 1993, I lost a lot of interest in the story. The era itself is less interesting to me, and 1993 Nick isn’t as compelling. The plot seemed to move along in the past, but sort of just… petered out in ’93. Is it worth reading? If you have any interest in Pasadena (or L.A. area) history, yes, absolutely, as long as you’re okay with it being magical realism or historical fantasy. If not, it might not be the first historical fantasy I’d reach for. Will I read another book by Jacobs? Yes, once the shut downs end I’m going to have the library get “Smogtown” for me, and possible another of his books. This one’s a four star for me.

Dear Los Angeles: The City in Diaries and Letters, edited by David Kipen. Modern Library, 2018

This book has an unusual layout: there is an entry for every day of the year, but the *year* the entry is from varies from 1542 through 2018. The entries are chosen from letters and diaries. Each one is a statement about life in Los Angeles at the time. Some are from Catholic brethren who are bringing religion to the west. Some are from politicians. Some are from famous writers drawn to LA to write scripts for Hollywood. The samples may be from Gold Rush days, the Golden Age of Hollywood, the Depression, or recent days.

I have seen quite a few complaints about the format, but I really liked it. I might be bored with a time in history or with a specific writer’s work, but given a piece only a few pages long, I will read it, and learn something. I also found it very interesting to see opinions not meant for public consumption, but for only the writer’s closest friends or relatives. What I thought would have made the book better was pictures. The last 150 years –the era from which the majority of entries are from- have been documented by photography, and that would have brought things to life more. Four stars for a quick, fun read. 

I received this book from Net Galley in return for an honest review. This did not change my opinions of the book. 

Pasadena, by David Ebershoff. Random House, 2002

I am conflicted about this book; on the one hand, it’s historical fiction set in southern California, where I grew up; on the other, the characters frustrated me so badly I wanted to reach in the pages and slap them.

The story is told mainly through the device of it being told by a real estate agent to a prospective buyer of Rancho Pasadena, a huge ex-orange orchard and mansion that have gone to ruin. Blackwood, in 1944, is thinking about buying it to turn it into tract housing, which should net him huge profits. With WW 2 ending, lots of GIs will be returning and wanting to buy new homes. But he wants to know why the Rancho was abandoned. The story is told, in large part, via Cherry Ney- real estate agent and longtime friend of the main characters - as she relates it to Blackwood.

Sieglinde (later Linda) and Siegmund are the children of Dieter Stampf. They grow up on a sea cliff, fishing and growing onions, in abject poverty and near incestuous closeness. When they are teens, Dieter goes off to WW 1, and after years, returns with Bruder, a fellow southern Californian, who stays with the family. Linda’s attention turns to Bruder, but he mostly remains aloof. After leaving to work as foreman at Rancho Pasadena, he requests that Linda come work there, too. Does he love her, she wonders? Why else would he ask her to come to Rancho Pasadena- but why does he act so standoffish? She can’t read his thoughts and he refuses to talk. Meanwhile, the current owner of the rancho, Willis Poore, is using his money to impress- and coerce- Linda. Linda doesn’t know who to trust, much less who to love. Poorly socialized by her upbringing, she’s not good at reading social cues. Linda was thrown into situations that she was totally unprepared for and Bruder was an unforgiving man.

I really enjoyed the book, but I felt it badly in need of an editor. A lot could have been cut and the story would have been tighter and easier to follow. There is an abundance of details; sometimes too much detail. The author tells us all about the sights, sounds, and especially the smells- especially the smells of men and how that attracted Linda. Some of the detail that seems excessive actually tells us about the era, such as the lists of things in store windows or groceries, but I felt it was too much. The book sprawls in an ungainly manner.  

The story is as much a love letter to southern California’s past as it is a human love story. In that aspect it succeeds as well as it does when it deals with the humans, if not better. There is a lot about classism and racism here, as well as environmentalism. It just tried to do too many things. 

 

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