Told from the perspective of his wife, Eloise, Elegy, Southwest is an intriguing and haunting novel about Lewis, Eloise's husband. Lewis is approaching thirty years old and works at a foundation that supports artists. Lewis uses his father's credit card to pay for expenses as Eloise and Lewis travel out west to visit an artist. Lewis is also grieving his mother's cancer diagnosis and death while Eloise thinks she may be pregnant. Readers know from the beginning of the novel that something will happen to Lewis. Author Watts has skillfully constructed a road trip book where readers constantly ask what will happen. The book's ending is ideal for discussion groups.

Uncanny Valley abounds in this twist on the classic Southwestern road trip novel - a 21st-century Kerouac. The problem is that the protagonist lacks the charm of Kerouac's characters and is mostly an unintended caricature of a navel-gazing millennial. I appreciated the view toward ecology and climate change, but overall this one is a pretty easy pass.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the ARC of Madeleine Watts' 'Elegy Southwest.'

This is a well titled novel, truly an elegy for the lost. It's an engrossing tale of loss and grief - both for loved ones of the main characters and for the once mighty Colorado which, we learn, because of human intervention doesn't even make it to the ocean anymore. It's also a travelogue as we're taken all over the South West and the path and former path of the Colorado.

Eloise is the river/water expert and to have the human-impacted history of the Colorado laid out quite so lyrically as we move through the book and landscape is terrifying. What's been done and continues to be done to it is criminal and heartbreaking.

Lewis is an artist fine art expert - pay-rolled by his father long after he's become an adult - and we witness him breaking down under the weight of his mother's death and the discoveries about the decades long and colossal art project he's been tasked with auditing.

For me, Lewis came across as terribly selfish in his grief but I think that's on me and maybe I need to show more compassion but it does feel like Eloise is left too much alone with her grief.

There are so many layers of loss and grief in this novel and I can't go into a lot of them for fear of spoilers but it's very finely wrought and as spare and beautiful as the disappearing and changing landscapes it moves through.

This novel offers an interesting premise with its road trip setting through the American Southwest, highlighting the looming environmental crisis of the Colorado River. The contrast between Eloise’s academic perspective and Lewis’s grief provides some depth to their characters, and the backdrop of wildfires adds a sense of urgency.

However, the execution falls short in several areas. The narrative often feels disjointed, with the emotional tension between the couple underdeveloped. Eloise and Lewis’s literal and metaphorical journey never fully resonates, and the pacing tends to drag at times. While the setting is vividly described, the plot lacks momentum, and the themes of environmental decay and personal loss don’t quite come together compellingly.

Overall, the novel has some poignant moments but struggled to leave a lasting impression with me.

The publisher provided ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

My god was this a beautiful, haunting, eerie book and I love it so much. The way the writing circles from what is going on on the couples journey to memories and remembrances. The vulnerability and fragility of being. The experience and toll of mental health. The many stories and ecological passages. My god- It was beautiful and sad. I read a NetGalley copy and highly suggest reading it.

This was a good read. It happens of loss, and it focused on loss in multiple ways: loss of life, loss of relationship, and loss due to environmental change. This book focused on how people handle grief in different ways, and it was a well written book.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this complimentary ARC in exchange for an honest review!!

For starters, you can easily see the dedication and amount of research the author did to accurately portray her story! This was beautifully told and while at times heart felt, it was real.

I found this book to be really interesting. Watts writing really captured what the couple was going through as they made their way through their road trip. Both of these characters are grieving, Lewis the loss of his mother, and Eloise the environmental losses due to climate change and human actions. They are both dealing with grief in different ways, and not really discussing it with one another. Eloise is observing and reflecting on her husband's grief throughout the book. I really enjoyed the exploration of the couple's relationship. You can really feel the loneliness and devastation from Watts writing. It was the perfect sad and moving read. It gives the reader something to think about.

This is a beautifully written and deeply researched book which is a story of a young married couple on a trip through the American Southwest. It is filled with disturbing details of what we are doing to our planet and the wrongs we Americans have done to our Native Americans by depriving them of water. It describes the fallout of raging fires in the West and the depletion of Lake Powell and rivers. That said, I must admit that hated reading this book and wanted to get to the end. But lease don't let my feelings keep you from reading this important literary novel.

Elli is married to Lewis, who is still grieving the recent death of his mother. They live in Brooklyn and have rented a car so that Lewis can check on an artist completing an unusual piece of art for his dead lover and to report its progress to the foundation for which Lewis works. But that's just the background. Ellie is an Australian with a Green Card who is studying for an advanced degree at Columbia. She also suspects she may be pregnant. Lewis is behaving erratically and smoking lots of dope. Ellie is well read and educates us about such diverse topics as poetry, history, the environment, Las Vegas and southwestern food. It's a road trip where you will feel every mile traveled and every Airbnb and seedy motel.

You may find it interesting (or not) that Madeleine Watts has compiled a thorough and very long bibliography. I simply found it overwhelming, as i did the novel. Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Net Galley for an ARC copy of this book.

When I saw this cover, I couldn't let go. After reading it, I think it's perfect because it made me feel the same: both the artwork and the story. It's hard to review without giving spoilers because repeating the blurb doesn't express how much this book sneaked on me and I related to it, making me want to hug the main character and narrator who most of the time nullifies herself on behalf of others sometimes for self-doubt, sometimes bearing incredible loneliness and pain on her own surrounded by selfish and egoic people.
I couldn't put it down, which made for a very relaxed but sad read, perfect for a rainy weekend. Grief, loss, many levels of abandoned relationships, environment, fascination for catastrophe and darkness, dealing with death. Great list of references to all art and books mentioned in the book.

I had no idea what to expect with this one. I thought the cover was hauntingly beautiful; austere, empty, dry. The book itself was similar, but in a good way. Told without the use of quotation marks, this was essentially a travelogue of a couple's trip throughout the Southwest, following the tribulations of the Colorado River. It took a while to get used to the author's style, but once that clicked in, the novel clicked in as well. The couple's descent into trouble was mirrored by Eloise's study of the history of the Colorado, and husband Louis's issues growing up the region.

I enjoyed this. On the surface simple and unassuming, but beneath the veneer complex and alive. I would absolutely read more from the author.

I received a complimentary copy of the novel from the publisher and NetGalley, and my review is being left freely.

Lots to unpack after reading this novel. I think I'd have to give it another try at a later point to fully grasp all that Watts was trying to create. I most liked the exploration of the couple's relationship throughout. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.