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Published by She Writes Press
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
Having grown up on stories of her mother's wild youth in California, Elena Berg relocates from New England to the Bay Area in 2011 for a placement as an English teacher with Teach for America. Once there, she is eager to inspire a love of poetry and literature in her diverse but underprivileged students. Her own grandfather—a Holocaust survivor—was a storyteller and teacher who touched the lives of his students for years to come. Elena’s mother followed in his footsteps, leaving behind the hippie lifestyle of her twenties to become a university professor.
But Elena quickly finds herself feeling disconnected from teaching, unable to inspire her students, and before long, she grows disillusioned with her career. She transitions to a role in an education technology startup—though she questions her decision, her motivations, and her values.
Coming of age between the Occupy and #MeToo movements and against the backdrop of the 2016 election and California's ever-worsening fire season, Elena reckons with California as she imagined it and California as it really is. As she does so, she must also ultimately reconcile the person she envisioned herself to be with the person she actually is.
But Elena quickly finds herself feeling disconnected from teaching, unable to inspire her students, and before long, she grows disillusioned with her career. She transitions to a role in an education technology startup—though she questions her decision, her motivations, and her values.
Coming of age between the Occupy and #MeToo movements and against the backdrop of the 2016 election and California's ever-worsening fire season, Elena reckons with California as she imagined it and California as it really is. As she does so, she must also ultimately reconcile the person she envisioned herself to be with the person she actually is.
Product Details
- Publisher: She Writes Press (May 21, 2024)
- Length: 312 pages
- ISBN13: 9781647426613
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Raves and Reviews
“A novel of deep questions and personal growth, California Dreaming reckons with the gap between expectations and experience.”
—Foreword Reviews
“A meditative novel composed with psychological subtlety.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Noa Silver’s evocative imagery and strong dialogue imbue California Dreaming with memorable narratives and characters.”
—IndieReader
“A splendid debut novel—confessional, engaging, honest. I very much look forward to reading more from this writer.”
—Lynn Freed, author of The Romance of Elsewhere
“In this tender debut novel, Noa Silver takes the reader back in time to one of those magical eras in Berkeley when young people, powered by their own idealism and multigenerational dreams, believed they could change the world. Fast-moving and unflaggingly engaging, California Dreaming tells a coming of age story that we need more than ever to hold close to our hearts.”
—Barbara Quick, author of What Disappears
“California Dreaming is a spectacular debut, shot through with wit, pathos, and wisdom and teeming with sentences so alive they seem to be reaching out to grab the reader by the lapel. At once a page-turning bildungsroman and an insightful commentary on the Bay Area in the twenty-first century, this book heralds the arrival of a talented writer whose work we're bound to see on our shelves again and again. To read this book is to love it.”
—Molly Antopol, author of The UnAmericans
“A rich, insightful story about an East Coast transplant attempting to make a life within her own personal myth of California. Full of bittersweet longing, hard-won wisdom, and a pursuit for connection amidst personal and social change, California Dreaming is a pitch-perfect portrait of the Bay Area in the midst of the last tech boom.”
—Michael David Lukas, author of The Last Watchman of Old Cairo
“I was so impressed and moved by this elegantly written and intimate book. Noa Silver's California Dreaming is an excellent first novel and an important addition to contemporary California literature.”
—Peter Orner, author of Maggie Brown & Others
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