The End of California (Hardcover)

by Steve Yarbrough (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Yarbrough returns to Loring, Miss. (setting of his acclaimed Prisoners of War and Visible Spirits), to examine the intersecting lives of two contemporary family men in this sensitive but powerful smalltown portrait of sex, religion and other human passions. Following an explosive sex scandal, successful physician Pete Barrington flees California, with wife Angela and their teenage daughter in tow, for the Southern town he left 25 years before. There he encounters Alan Depoyster, another native son, now managing a Piggly Wiggly and caring for a wife and teenager of his own. Alan, a devout Christian, holds a grudge from their high school days, when Alan's mother carried on an affair with Pete. Shortly thereafter, Alan's dad deserted them, and Pete escaped Loring on a Fresno State football scholarship. As circumstances bring the Barringtons and Depoysters closer, and evidence of Pete and Angela's continuing sexual indiscretions come to light, rage and jealousy lead Alan to shocking measures, setting up the book's suspenseful, shattering second half. Yarbrough gives each character in his slow-burning drama the complex emotional scars of broken marriage and, more importantly, the space and voice with which to explore them. (June)
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From Booklist
Borne on a thematic construct of revenge, Yarbrough's latest novel whisks his many fans back to the small Mississippi town of Loring, where, in Visible Spirits (2001), he tested the racism of a previous century, and in Prisoners of War (2004), the home front during World War II. Here he peers behind contemporary curtains to assess the domestic conditions within. Pete Barrington grew up in Loring, but a sticky situation sent him off to California, where he went to medical school, got married, and had a daughter. Now he returns to Loring with his family and sets up a medical practice. Old wounds are consequently opened, to the point of spilt blood. In addition to revenge, this is also a tale of tested loyalties: between friends, spouses, children, and even the community as a whole. With a relentless sense of doom thickly building from page one, it is nevertheless difficult to anticipate exactly where the plotline is leading, which works well in a psychological novel with thriller overtones. Small-town ambience, with its conventions and crowdedness, its secrets and suspicions, is evoked with careful detail. Each character over whom a dark past looms is given both understanding and individuality. Brad Hooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; First Edition. states edition (June 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400044383
• ISBN-13: 978-1400044382
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #870,184 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unusually good, June 30, 2006

By	Haley Parnham (NJ) - See all my reviews

I usually read books written by women because there are so many wonderful female authors out there now than there were when I was younger. But every now and then I find a book that has been written by a man that interests me. THE END OF CALIFORNIA was one of those. I was visiting my son in Atlanta when I found it and he said he'd looked at it too. I picked it up, put it down, picked it up again, and finally added it to the pile. I'm so glad I did. This is a book that is just plain good.

I love books about people. I don't need adventure or mystery or romance. I like reading about how people are feeling or thinking. I like reading about relationships. I like reading about people who have done something to change their lives. And this book covers all of those things and more.

I started it when I was in Atlanta, finished it today, and will now put it in the mail to send to my son. In the meantime, I'll go back in time and check out some of Mr. Yarbrough's other books and see what I've missed.

In the meantime, Mr. Yarbrough, write on!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Subtle--and southern, May 4, 2007

By	Matt (Birmingham, AL USA) - See all my reviews

I think the negative reviews here are missing some of the subtleties of this book. Although some of the intertwined relationships may seem 'pat,' in a small town in the Mississippi Delta, there isn't much of an alternative, given the limted population. And that's a great strength of the moral lessons this book has to teach, whether you're from McGhee, MS or Manhattan. It seems like Yarbrough's point is that every action has consequences that reverberate down the years through a community--so that what Edie DePoyster did 25 years ago would have (and has) haunted her son Alan all that time. Thus, his fracture is hardly pat but rather as inevitable as a kettle boiling over, given the chain of events set in motion by Pete Barrington's return to Loring. This is really a book to be read slowly, with an eye toward all the nuances of the conversations, the significance of every action being observed in a fishbowl of a town. Read it like the old men sitting around the courthouse watch the action on the square and you'll find it richly rewarding. Yarbrough is one of the best southern writers we've got.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars PERFECT, July 9, 2006

By	Martin F. Clark Jr. (Stuart, Virginia USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Another remarkable, confident book by one of the best writers out there. As good as PRISONERS OF WAR is, this is even better. This is the real thing--a compelling, fascinating story perfectly written, perfectly told.