California Golden, a novel inspired by the mother-daughter-sister Calhoun surfer trio, was such an engaging and comfortable read. I appreciated and enjoyed all of the references to the iconic 60’s; from the clothing and hair, the lingo and music, and especially the lifestyles. The characters were familiar, realistic, and interesting which made the reading even more compelling. I flew through this book in one sunny pool-side weekend and enjoyed every page and word. The dynamic relationships and characters were definitely what made this book so wonderful and memorable. It almost had a memoir feel to it, yet flowed easily. Such a great read!

California Golden is the story of the Donnelly girls, as they are coined, Carol Donnelly and her two daughters, Mindy and Ginger, love the ocean, sand and surfing. The story begins in Malibu, California, in the late 1950s where the surfing craze began. Carol believes her life is to be near the ocean and her passion of surfing does not leave much room for two young daughters. As the girls grow older, they too, love the ocean. Mindy takes after her mother and is an excellent surfer, and Ginger loves being at the beach especially if the love of her life is there. As the surfing craze grows, Mindy struggles with wanting recognition as an excellent surfer or making money as a pretty blonde in a bikini. Mindy is an early version of the influencers of today in how she was asked to promote surfing and girls in bikinis. Ginger ends up living in a shack on the beach as the true surfers do not like the commercialism that has changed surfing. The surfing craze in the early 1960s in California changed as the Viet Nam war began and the cults and drug culture of California. became prominent. The lives of Carol, Mindy and Ginger also changed in ways they could not have imagined. Melanie Benjamin based the Donnelly girls on other women surfers that struggled through the years to get any recognition in the male-dominated sport. It was an interesting book about the surfing industry as it relates to women and how women wanted to be recognized for their skills and achievements, not solely for their looks. I enjoyed the book and discovered that the life in the early 1960s, wasn't also a life like Gidget.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for the opportunity to read the ARC of California Golden.

I absolutely loved the time period of this novel and reading through the lens of that from a California perspective. The book follows two daughters, Mindy and Ginger, as well as their mother, Carol’s lives. The format of the book was separated into 3 parts; the first being Mindy and Ginger’s lives, the second is Carol’s, and the third ties them altogether down the road in the 1970’s.

The reason I didn’t give it 5 stars was because of the format. I would have preferred Carol’s story to be weaved into the first part because I felt like we got so far into time, and then had to go WAY back to understand Carol’s background.

They are surfer girls. Mindy was a natural at surfing, Ginger, not so much, and their mother Carol loved it more than anything in life (including her daughters). Mindy and Ginger made a lot of decisions that led them down entirely different paths. The stories were gut wrenching and frustrating at times, but I felt all the emotion which is why this book was so good to me.

I definitely would recommend this book to people who enjoy reading books about family issues, California, surfing, and stories that involve the war.

I loved this book. The connection with the girls was how I always dreamed to have with my sister. The mother I didn’t like. She didn’t seem to care about her girls and more about herself. But none the less I enjoyed this.

California Golden tells the story of the Donnelly girls mother Carol and her two daughters set against the backdrop of 1960's surf culture in California. This story was so well written and I enjoyed it so much I love stories in that era especially with the beach involved. This is the perfect beach read once the story got going I couldn't put it down. I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

adventurous challenging emotional sad medium-paced
Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5 stars

This was a good beach read. I read it on a vacation day. It was fun to explore the California life from the surf to the celebrity culture in the mid 60s. It was also important to pull the veil off the sense of nostalgia. I appreciate that Benjamin incorporated the expectations of motherhood, the appropriation of surfing from Hawaii, the risks of interracial relationships. The time shifts and overlaps were confusing at points but overall offered a helpful trajectory from different points of view.

That said, overall this book felt very sad to me. Children growing up unwanted and the superficial paths they eventually take. I didn’t love the characters. While there was some sense of redemption and relief at the end, I came away from California Golden feeling heavy.

Thank you to Netgalley for the ARC.

Enter the world of surf culture in 1960's California through the eyes of the Donnelly girls. Mom Carol Donnelly is one of the first female surfers and her obsession with it shapes her daughters, Mindy and Ginger. Mindy is a natural and goes from the surf world to that of Hollywood but will she lose herself as she looks for security and a life different from the one she had growing up? Ginger is looking for love and is drawn into the alternative lifestyle of drugs and cults in her search but will it be enough. This is a story of a world and a family trying to find there way in the world and create a life of their own.

Mindy and Ginger are the daughter of surf legend Carol Donnelly. They quickly become known as the Donnelly Girls on the California surf circuit. Following them over the span of more than a decade, the reader sees them through triumph and tragedy. 3.5 stars

This is a story about the Donnelly sisters growing up in southern California in the 1960s. Surfing in Malibu and nights at famous clubs. At a time when most women are aspiring to be good housewives, Carol Donnelly is not. She is a surfer. A woman surfer in a male-dominated sport. She has two daughters, Mindy, and Ginger. Although they are not even on her list of priorities. As for their father, he left the last time Carol left.

Mindy has figured out a way to get her mother’s attention. Learn to surf and be better than her mother. Ginger, is not so sure. As a matter of fact, throughout the book, I wanted to shake this one. Just wake up!!

But as women, we know everyone has to learn from their own mistakes. And while Mindy soars on a surfboard, Ginger is just not that into it.

As time goes by their lives look very different. Mindy still riding the high of being popular and successful at surfing, while Ginger is struggling to find her place which leads to drugs and cults.

Their devotion to each other is a wonderful thing to see. The first part of the book was a bit slow but the story is a good one.

NetGalley/ RHPG/DELACORT, August 08, 2023

California Golden takes on the surfing culture of 1960s California. Think Gidget and Beach Boys.
Mindy and Ginger are the daughters of surfing phenom Carol. In order to have any connection with their mother, they have both taken up surfing. Mindy takes to it, to pardon the pun, like a fish to water. Ginger is not a natural. One night, they make different decisions and their lives veer in vastly different directions.
The book is divided into three parts. The first covers the period from their preteens through their early twenties. It flits back and forth through the years, and from Mindy to Ginger and back again. The second part covers their mother Carol, “the anti-Betty Crocker”. A woman happy to walk out on her family to surf. And finally, the third section, which moves to the 1970s.
None of these women were likable, although they were all sympathetic. Carol, who should never have been a mother. And her daughters, the results of poor parenting having left marks on each. The girls react in very different ways; Mindy building up walls, Ginger becoming totally dependent on a bad man.
Benjamin does a good job painting the time and place. She encompasses both the Hollywood and the surfing scenes, the cults and Vietnam. The USO scenes were very strong. She also does a good job encompassing the prejudices of the time.
Unfortunately, the plot is predictable beyond belief. And I found the entire book oddly dissatisfying - a little too shallow and the characters too flat, despite the situations presented.
Benjamin took her inspiration from a real life mother and daughter surfing trio, but her characters’ lives are purely made up.
My thanks to Netgalley and Random House/Ballantine for an advance copy of this book.

This was a great book to read during the summer. It follows the "Donnelly Girls" - mother Carol, and daughters Mindy and Ginger. It gave California summer-time vibes with all the surfing, but it also had a really good storyline as well. It showed the imperfect relationship between the two sisters and their relationship with their mother from when they were children all the way to being adults. There's some other plot lines, but the story of the relationship between the two sisters was definitely the main focus.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. The plot of this book sounded very interested, but I could not get into it so I ended up not finishing it.

The Donnelly girls are known throughout the California surfing beaches; mother Carol and daughters Mindy and Ginger. Never a doting mother, Carol has relied on the girls to raise themselves. Life choices send them in opposite directions, traveling different lives. Mindy goes “Hollywood” and becomes a recognized face; Ginger becomes obsessed with an elitist surfer who would rather delve into drug culture than join the establishment; Carol seethes with disappointment and jealousy. As Ginger sinks deeper into the seedy society of her lover, Mindy goes on a journey that will change her profoundly. Melanie Benjamin takes her readers through the 50’s and 60’s as she demonstrates the role of women during this period and the sacrifices made. Her writing is engaging: I enjoy observing the lives of three generations of this family.

This was an immersive historical fiction following a family in the late 1950s/1960s.

I enjoyed following the sisters - Mindy and Ginger. Seeing how they diverged in their lives and the influence the parenting (or lack there of) by their mother had on them.

It was interesting to dive into the world of surfing in CA; as well as the life around the time including cults and Vietnam.

This is an enjoyable read and great for those who like historical fiction but would want something set in a different time. (3.75)

I could not get into the story at all. I tried and tried to keep going but could not. I don’t know exactly what it was. It was not bad just not for me. I wish it well.

California Golden
By Melanie Benjamin

This is a novel set against the historical background of the rise of the surfer culture, first in Hawaii and then in California. It is the story of the Donnelly girls – Carol, the mother and one of the earliest competitive surfers; and Mindy and Ginger, her two daughters.

Carol had to give up her dream of becoming a professional athlete when an unplanned baby and a subsequent marriage forced on her by societal mores of the time left her with no hope of realizing her dreams. She hated her marriage and resented her children.

The girls, abandoned by both their father and their mother, learn to do and be exactly what their mother wants when she finally comes home. But theirs is a childhood mired in the fear of being abandoned once again.

The story covers other topics as well: the falseness of the glamour scene in Hollywood; the racial discrimination, the hippy movement with its widespread drug use and loose morals; the disparagement of women; and the Vietnam War and its casualties.

The book covers a lot of ground. Having been a teenager during the sixties, I find much in it resonates with me. It's an interesting story, though I'm not sure that most younger readers will have a great interest in the surfer culture.

I’m obsessed with anything from the 50s-60s decades so I knew I’d love this book. Two sisters grow up with no one but each other and learn to surf in a male dominated sport at the time. Their story is full of heart, sometimes raw and sad but overall just a joy to read. thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an advanced copy of this book.

Kind of a fun book with a beachy surfer setting. Some family drama and California sunshine thrown in for good measure. My problem is the storytelling is boring. Very repetitious. And more telling than showing makes for an uninteresting story to me. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the Advanced Copy of California Golden by Melanie Benjamin, it will make an excellent book club discussion text.

Wow! I finished this last night after tearing through it, and I have so many thoughts that I don’t even know where to start.


So I will keep it simple.

California Golden is so raw and real and turbulent and beautiful. I couldn’t stop thinking about it during the two days it took me to read it, and I know I won’t stop thinking about it for a long time.

I don’t usually like historical fiction, but the gorgeous cover and the blurb about surf, sunshine, and 1960s culture was just the perfect blend to draw me in, and I think it will suck you in as well.

Just… please read this book. I can give you my thoughts, but I think it deserves your own.