The women in the book were moderately sympathetic, attitudes varying as they mature, to be expected. Benjamin effectively depicted the atmosphere, time, and place, including Hollywood, landmarks, surfing, cults, Vietnam War, including USO scenes wonderfully. However, the plot was predictable and the characters were banal, making the book troubling. The cadence of both the narrative and the characters was off, creating a broken flow.

I love a family saga. I have yet to read a historical fiction novel based on California surf culture in the 6o's until California Golden. I enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book from Mindy and Ginger's perspectives but by the time it switched to Carol's viewpoint, I didn't care about her anymore. I do feel that I hated her a little less by the end but what a crappy mother she was. I was looking forward to to see how it all wrapped up but the ending felt stitled and rushed. I turned the last page not realizing that it was over and was shocked.. I also felt that Mindy didn't really get an ending she deserved and that was disappointing. Overall, though, it was written well and in a way that I don't feel that I'll soon forget the characters.

As a side note: up until the book moved to Carol's perspective, it felt like I was reading a Taylor Jenkins Reed novel.

Book review – California Golden by Melanie Benjamin

Thank you to NetGalley and Delacorte Press/Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

As someone who grew up during the same timeframe as the book the early 1960’s – when women were mostly relegated to roles of wife and mother – and certainly not competitive surfer – matriarch Carol was an anomaly for her time. I loved the perspective from that timeframe and could totally relate to Carol’s desire for something more.

The story begins by introducing us to Carol Donnelly and her two daughters, Mindy and Ginger. Carol had been a dedicated and talented high school athlete with big plans to play war-time women’s baseball. But Carol’s sports career is cut short by pregnancy and marriage. Carol tries to be a good mother to her girls and wife to her husband, but eventually the lure of the freedom and challenge that surfing represents for her becomes overwhelming. She heads to Hawaii for a surf trip and it becomes clear that she would prefer not to return. Mindy and Ginger try to be the perfect daughters, never upsetting the applecart and trying their best to become their mother’s surfing companions but are often neglected and making their own way at far too young. As they grow older and their interests diverge and the effects of their upbringing impact their lives, they try their best to make their way. Ginger attaches herself to a n’er do well surfer type with an unhealthy, abusive lifestyle from whom she can’t seem to break free. Mindy achieves surfing success and stardom and ultimately faces some difficult decisions that are all part of societal norms and the prejudices that were so prevalent during that time.

The book is intense, raw, emotional, and I couldn’t put it down. My heart broke for Mindy and Ginger, and as a mom, I felt it difficult to be supportive of Carol’s decisions. She was not a likeable character. The author vividly depicts the timeframe, its social mores, and the surfing culture of SoCal and Hawaii. There’s so much going on during those turbulent times. Benjamin aptly brings you into the world of Mindy’s Hollywood success, and Ginger’s impossibly difficult and dark experience with Tom – who turns out to be a very bad man and the commune, cult-like druggy lifestyle Ginger experiences with him. I found fascinating her description of the surfing world and its “for men only” culture. When Mindy takes her trip to Vietnam with the USO, not knowing what to expect and being so humbled by the experience, I could feel her terror, pain and grief.

Ultimately it’s about the relationship of the two sisters and how they survived their youth and their relationship with their mother in very different ways to become two very different adults bonded by their shared experience.

Thank you Random House Ballantine imprint for the review copy of California Golden; also available to me via the PRH audio reviewer program. I read a lot of this book but listened to parts as well so decide which format I might prefer/would help me organize my thoughts on this book.
This book feels like a mash up of Malibu Rising and Daisy Jones (in a good way, drugs, interesting complex women, siblings and surf, non conforming to female roles at a time when that was the norm...)

Pros
1. I love love love books about family and especially with a focus on how relationships impact each other, that consider that parents have their own identity and story and how the lives of parents (as parents but also as individuals with passions, with stories..) impact children.
2. The setting, I truly loved the beach vibes, the Hollywood vs surf life contexts, the vividness of the scenes.
3. A vibrant backstory about women and surfing.

What holds me back...
A lot of this book read to me as passive. I love character/relationship driven stories but this is one of those books that, for me, is heavy on description and kind of for me passive in dialogue, less conversation and prolonged scenes and more passive what was happening or backstory notes that felt less developed or like drop in notes when to me the fascinating story was the mother. Listening to the audiobook really helped me identify why this wasn't a big win for me as I could hear the strong writing but it was a style that kept me at a distance, never really inviting me into the world and characters. The narration was great but the story itself need to be more active (I hope this makes sense).

This was a harder one to review because there isn't anything negative to say about the book, it is a good story, and yet it never felt like I was really engaged in the narrative.

Thank you NetGalley and Delacorte Press for a gifted copy.

This is officially my favorite book of the summer! I loved everything about it and more. The Author included all the most important events of the 50s and 60s in California while maintaining the simple life of beach and surfing. We learn how the sport was basically stolen from Hawaiian people, how women had to fight to be able to ride the waves, and we meet the cults and celebrities of the decade. This is a coming-of-age and family story at its core. In the end, we get to hear from the mother, and I understood her deeply. I am so impressed by the author's ability to create this fine balance and maintain the faster pace of the book. The only thing that was missing for me, was the ending of Ginger's story. I needed more and I have questions and it felt like a letdown not to learn about her at the end. I hope the author would write a short story focusing on Ginger.

I will be posting a review on Instagram on Monday 8/7, the day before the book is published. Link to the profile: https://www.instagram.com/booksta_lana/

🧐 my thoughts:
This kind of gave me Malibu Rising by TJR vibes. I very much enjoyed the plot of that story and how hard it is for a female to get into a male dominated sport, so I really enjoyed this one as well.

👌🏻what i liked:
The characters. They had a lot of depth and emotion to them. They were highly relatable and likable even for someone (like me) who didn’t live in the 1960’s. The description of the time period and location was spot on and I really felt like I could picture it and be there. The story flowed eloquently.

🙃 what i didn’t like:
I felt like the book was kind of overall depressing. Parents walking out on their kids. Physical and mental abusive relationship. Ginger’s path in life seemed questionable. I know these are things that happen in the real world, but they were not enjoyable for me to read about, but that did not play a large factor into my enjoyment of this book.

🥰 special thanks
Thank you to NetGalley, Melanie Benjamin, and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for granting me this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

This book begins in Southern California in the 1960's with Carol Donnelly breaking the mold as a legendary female surfer struggling to compete in a male-dominated sport—and her daughters, Mindy and Ginger, bearing the weight of Carol’s unconventional lifestyle. As the girls grow up, they both spend time learning to surf, but only Mindy excels at it. Mindy finds herself swept up in the fame of being a surfing celebrity, complete with beachside love affairs, parties at the Playboy Club, and a USO tour in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Ginger, desperate for a community of her own, is tugged into the dangerous counterculture of drugs and cults. But through it all, their sense of duty to each other survives, as the girls are forever connected by the emotional damage they carry from their unorthodox childhood.

I am usually a big fan of this author's books, but this one was a miss for me. I thought the book from the description would be maybe 50/50 surfing and sixties culture, which was do-able, since I was not at all interested in surfing. Unfortunately, the ratio was more like 90/10. Also, the book was just very depressing - between both of their parents walking out on them at a young age, to the mentally and physically abusive relationship Ginger was in for almost the entire book, to Ginger doing to her child what her mother did to her. It was just all incredibly sad and depressing. This definitely won't deter me from reading all of this author's future books. A lot of other people really seemed to like this one, so maybe this just wasn't a good fit for me.

Story of two sisters all but abandoned by their surfing-obsessed mother in the 1960's ... until they come up with "the plan" in which they too learn to surf. Unfortunatley, this plan causes rifts as one sister becomes a surfing whiz and the other does not. The author did a great job of weaving all of the different stories and emotions and passions together.

Writing an eloquent and well-deserved review for an outstanding author is difficult for someone like me. Someone who hasn’t learned proper grammar, good sentence structure, sentences that flow like a stream. But here I am, struggling along to describe this beautiful contemporary novel by Melanie Benjamin. I just can’t do it justice. So, please, just stumble along with me.
The Donnelly’s, a mother and two daughter team, are known along the coast and in Hawaii for their outstanding surfing skills. But the toll paid by each behind the scene is crippling. Mother Carol is unusual. She doesn't dress up to go out in public; normally she’s wearing her bathing suit. Her shoulders and arms are muscular and toned, her hair is, well, beach hair all day, every day. Mindy and Ginger, two years apart, starve for their mom’s love. They decide to show a great interest in surfing so mom will spend time with them. It works, but all other aspects of their earlier life are thrown to the side, including school, friends, and their dad.
Mindy and Ginger are very different. Because of this, they pick different paths with the life they’ve been given. This is where Ms. Benjamin’s writing shines. She breathes life into each person. We can feel what they feel, be it joy, pain, success, anger, or regret. And there’s a full spectrum of emotions you’ll go through as you read. In the author’s notes, she mentions a surfing family that she found inspiration in. She gives us a glimpse of what life could be like as a strong female athlete in a man’s world. Kudos, Ms. Benjamin.
Thanks to Random House Publishing Group- Ballantine, Delacorte Press for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is August 8, 2023.

Set in Southern California during the surfing heyday of the 1960s, California Golden follows the Donnelly women -- Carol and her two daughters, Mindy and Ginger. Author Melanie Benjamin begins the book with a narrative of Carol Donnelly that tends to go on a little longer than necessary. Benjamin focuses on the fact that Carol is more of a surfer than a devoted mother to her two daughters. As a reader, I kept wondering when the actual story would begin.

Once Benjamin focuses on the story of the Donnellys, the book becomes more readable. Benjamin takes readers through Mindy and Ginger's childhood to adulthood as they navigate life with a mother who is more passionate about surfing than mothering. Mindy and Ginger follow very different paths as they grow up, with Ginger's life choices being especially destructive.

While the storyline was somewhat interesting, I found all of the characters to be unlikeable, so as a reader, I wasn't as vested in the outcome. Benjamin definitely has done her research regarding life in the 1960's, but unfortunately, California Golden didn't quite hit the mark for me.

Thank you to #NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing this electronic ARC of #CaliforniaGolden.

Southern California, late 1960s. 2 daughters try to navigate the world with a mostly absent mother, who does not want to be Donna Reed. She wants to surf. The girls are left adrift and searching for their place in the world. As time goes on, the girls begin to find their paths, but not all the time. This is a book about women, their relationships, and finding their place in the world in s shifting time.

As someone born and raised in Southern California during the late Sixties and Seventies, California Golden had my name written all over it. Melanie Benjamin did a great job setting the scene, which is a huge part of the book - the beach and ocean - Malibu, Zuma, Laguna, Hawaii - the music, the surf scene, the unrelenting sun, serve as backdrop to the surfing Donnelly women, their ups and downs, separations and reconciliations, what brings them together and pulls them apart. The book is solid, if at times predictable. The writing didn't elevate the story as much as I'd hoped, but I still found myself wondering what would happen with these women, and how it would all end. Many thanks to #NetGalley and #RandomHouse for allowing me the opportunity to read an advanced copy of #CaliforniaGolden. 3.5 stars.

Benjamin has crafted an intriguing story of the Donnelly women and their impact on the world of surfing. Carol Donnelly abandons here two daughters emotionally and physically to pursue surfing after her dreams of being an all-star athlete fall apart. Her daughter Mindy follows in her footsteps and then becomes somewhat famous s The Girl in the Curl. Her other daughter falls in love with a former surfer and ends up leading a hippie lifestyle.
Their worlds collide as each one finds their dreams are falling apart.
A story of broken dreams, authenticity and restored relationships.
Recommended for readers of historical fiction especially having to do with women surfers.

I love historical fiction and this book was a pleasant diversion from war-themed or depression-era books. Set in the 1950s and 1960s California surfing community, this story was about the Donnelly girls and their love of surfing. Carol, the mother, grew up athletic and found surfing to be freeing and powerful. Unfortunately, during this era, it was the expected thing to get married and have children. When she had her two girls, Mindy and Ginger, it impacted her time to go to the waves. She escaped her life and fled to Hawaii. The three-part story first focuses on Mindy and Ginger's story from childhood to adulthood, then moves to tell the story from Carol's perspective and finishes up with all three women telling their intertwining stories.
I enjoyed reading about this time period and diving into the surfing community. The characters were fascinating. I think we learned the most about Mindy, and Carol's story was reminiscent of many women during that time. Throughout the book, the settings were well written and you felt you were on a beach in southern California or sunny Hawaii. In the author notes, she explains that the characters were inspired by a photograph of a blond California woman, Marge Calhoun, and her two daughters. Marge played a large role in the female surfing community at the time. Those inspirations in historical fiction really pull me into a book. Some of the story has Mindy involved in the LA movie scene and Ginger's story contains drug use and domestic abuse. If you are looking for historical fiction about this era, I would recommend this book.
Thank you Random House and Net Galley for a complimentary copy. Views expressed are my own.

California Golden tells the story of sisters Mindy and Ginger in the 1960s as they navigate life as latchkey kids. While most moms are at home baking cookies and cooking dinner, Carol Donelly is making a name for herself as one of the first female professional surfers. In order to not be completely left behind, Mindy and Ginger begin to surf too and as time passes, the girls’ paths diverge. Mindy is swept up in the Hollywood life, attending Playboy parties and USO tours. Ginger is dragged into the world of drugs and cults by a nefarious man. Through it all the girls stay connected as they have a strong sense of duty to each other.

It took me quite a while to get through this one and it didn’t feel as special as I had hoped.

Carol Donnelly was not cut out to be the perfect little housewife and mother that everyone expected of her in the 1950s. Trapped into marriage and motherhood at the age of 19, she was forced to give up her athletic dreams. Her young daughters pretty much had to bring themselves up as Carol became immersed in the surfing culture of 1960s California. This book brought back a lot of memories of my own growing-up years during the 50s and 60s. It feels a bit strange to read "historical" fiction about a time I actually lived and experienced for myself. I can't wait to see what Melanie Benjamin writes about next as I still think about The Children's Blizzard when I'm trudging through the snow on an icy winter day. Thanks so much to NetGalley and Random House for an advance copy of California Golden to read and review.

it's the 60's in California, beaches and surfing tanned bodies , drugs and hippies .
This is the story of Carol Donnelly a woman with two children who once escaped her life for a surfing safari to Hawaii where she won a surfing contest and would've stayed to surg all the time if her husband hadn't left her and their two children,
She takes her daughters Mindy and Ginger surfing and Mindy becomes proficient at it while Ginger struggles.\
Mindy wins the same surfing contest her mother and as a result Carol no longer surfs as she can't compete against her daughter and will not compete unless she can win,
Mindy becomes part of the surfing crowd and then a model. She falls in love with a Hawaiian boy she met at the competition, which doesn't bode well for her career.
Ginger eager to distance herself from her famous sister becomes involved with the self proclaimed Surfer god and follows him into a nomadic life , living in squalor, bathing in the ocean and following him on his drug runs to Mexico..
A one night stand with the Hawaiian boy Mindy rejects results in a daughter whom she gives to Mindy to raise..

Carol, many years later goes out to surf at night and winds up hitting her had on the rocks which forever alters her life.

3 women forever linked by surfing and the men they choose.

Melanie Benjamin is an author that I will read whatever she writes. This book is different from her other books, which usually have a strong woman behind a famous man. Carol Donelly only wants to be a surfer in the 60’s. It was a time when women did not surf and a woman was expected to be a housewife. Her two daughters, Mindy and Ginger, really got the shaft and we’re not wanted by their mother and the father left them. They basically were feral. Mindy and Ginger were fiercely loyal to each other but ended up leading very different lives.

I enjoyed reading California Golden and I have recommended this book to friends. The story moved along well and the characters were well developed. It was interesting to get a feel for the surfing life style. Mindy and Ginger’s lives were somewhat difficult to imagine with the rejection in their young lives. The end of the book was touching when Ms. Benjamin gives us a glimpse of her personal struggles. I wish her the best and hope she has many more years of writing.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of California Golden. #NetGalley #CaliforniaGolden #MelanieBenjamin

This book was ok.

I enjoyed the imagery and timeframe. I didn’t enjoy the racism speeches allowed in here with the excuse of it being a historical book.

I enjoyed it was a book about women and how faceted they are despite being related.

I feel she was aiming for Malibu Rising vibes but came in short on the end result.

I usually love Melanie Benjamin books. This was just so slow and I didn’t like either of the sisters. I wish the author had concentrated on the mother more. That’s where the story lies.