The Californians
A Novel
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
"The Californians is an absolute pleasure from end to end, a thrilling, century-spanning, wholly American tale of art and money, family and land, treasure and time....A brilliant read for fans of Anthony Doerr, Dana Spiotta, and Don DeLillo.”—Matt Bell, author of Appleseed
For fans of Trust and North Woods, a daring novel that spans 100 years of American history, from the early days of cinema to the rise of digital community art, about parents and children, the drive to create even in times of crisis, and the inheritance of grand western dreams.
It’s 2024, and Tobey Harlan—college dropout, temporary waiter, recently dumped—steals from the wall of his father’s house three paintings by the venerated and controversial artist Di Stiegl. Tobey’s just lost everything he owns to a Northern California wildfire, and if he can sell the paintings (albeit in a shady way to a notorious tech bro) he can start life anew in a place no one will ever find him. It's a risky move, but his father barely seems to like them--as long as Tobey can remember the artworks lived in the shadows of a hallway or partially obscured by furniture. Still, Di Stiegl has always been a touchy subject in his household, and he doesn't quite know why.
A hundred years before, Klaus Aaronsohn—German-Jewish immigrant, resident of the Lower East Side—inveigles his way into a film studio in Astoria, Queens. In love with silent cinema, Klaus will restyle himself Klaus von Stiegl, a mysterious aristocratic German film director. In true Hollywood fashion, he will court fame, fortune, romance, and betrayal, and end his career directing Brackett: a radical, notorious 60s-era detective show.
Weaving between them is the story of Diane “Di” Stiegl: Klaus’s granddaughter and the woman whose art seems to haunt Tobey's father, who claws out a career as an artist in gritty 1980s NYC. As America yields the presidency to a Hollywood cowboy, as Diane’s grifter father and free-spirited mother circle in and out of her life, Diane will reflect America’s most urgent and hypocritical years back to itself, uneasily finding critical adoration as well as great fame and wealth.
A dazzling novel for readers of Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter and The Candy House by Jennifer Egan, The Californians is an ambitious and sweeping journey across a century. Nuanced and textured, gloriously funny, a critical portrait of the collective American consciousness that has brought us to today, it showcases Brian Castleberry as an inventive, stylish storyteller and a sharp observer of the human condition.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Castleberry's vibrant if overstuffed latest (after Nine Shiny Objects) shifts between the lives of a filmmaker who, in the early 20th century, has trouble transitioning from silent films to talkies, and his granddaughter, who makes a name for herself in New York City's art scene in the 1980s. In 1925, German Jewish immigrant Klaus Aaronsohn renames himself Klaus von Stiegl and heads to California to make expressionistic films. Half a century later, his granddaughter Di reverses the journey to become a successful artist in New York whose paintings tackle the AIDS crisis and environmental concerns. Their alternating stories are bookended, briefly and unproductively, by that of wealthy slacker Tobey Harlan, who, after being driven from his house in present-day California by a wildfire, impulsively steals three of Di's paintings from his father's home and sells them. Castleberry interlaces scenes from his characters' lives with newspaper clippings, term papers, and other ephemera along with glimpses into the lives of their friends and relatives. Though vivid and credibly detailed, the individual scenes don't add up to a coherent whole: Di's story in particular peters out after she achieves success. This portrait of narcissistic artists frustrates more than it illuminates.
