Driftwood

October 15, 2014
Rich girl Clem Jasper is drifting through life with no plan or purpose until her rock-singer father dies, leaving her a mysterious pack of letters that will take her on a road trip through California and a journey into his past. Facing strong opposition from her mother, who fears digging up the past will unearth dark secrets, Clem follows her late father's instructions, determined to make good on his last gift to her. Along the way, she grieves, ruminates on the nature of family and realizes some startling truths. While she doesn't find any easy answers and uncovers more than she wants to know about her father's past, she discovers that sometimes in order to find yourself you have to get lost in mind, body and spirit. Dutton (1,033 Reasons to Smile, 2011) tells an old tale but doctors it with fresh surprises that keep the reader turning the pages. Clem's epiphanies are often cliched, but her voice springs off the page as if she's speaking aloud. A little short on originality but so full of heart and humor that you keep reading anyway.A road-trip novel that will make readers want to hop into the car alongside Clem and keep driving, even if they've already seen all the sights and sounds before and know exactly how the journey ends.

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Starred review from October 1, 2014

Clem (Clementine) Jasper is a 27-year-old trust fund kid whose father is rock music royalty. A middle child, Clem drifts aimlessly through her days. When her dad dies at 58 of complications from a heart attack, her life takes an unexpected turn. Little sister, Dena, gets the Matisse, big brother, Simon, gets the guitars, and Clem gets...a stack of sealed letters that will take her on a road trip through California, visiting places her father wants her to see. He reveals his reasons for each destination in the missives, instructing Clem to open them on a specific schedule. Against her mother's wishes, Clem embarks on the life-changing journey and learns more about her father than she ever knew--or ever wanted to know. VERDICT Dutton's fiction debut is a stellar, thought-provoking novel about life, death, California, music, and more. Clem is a wry narrator, and the dialog is sharp and refreshingly realistic (F-bombs!). Born and raised in California, Dutton is well qualified to describe the various locales, and her renderings are poetically descriptive without being overdone or cloying. If you've never been to California, you might feel like you have visited after reading this creative and unforgettable story. For connoisseurs of singular fiction.--Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2014
At 27, wealthy Clem Jasper feels she is an empty soul, looking for a calling, a purpose. When her eccentric rock-star father dies, leaving her a bundle of letters, she may have found them. In the first letter, the father explains he wants her to visit places in California, their home state, that have been important to him; each new letter will direct her to a new place. A bit reluctantlyWhat might she find?the emotionally empty Clem sets off. Her journey will take her to such unlikely places as Wasco, Clovis, Walnut Grove, San Francisco, Harmony, and, finally, home again to Los Angeles. At each stop, she discovers something about her father but also, the reader soon learns, about herself. Her empty soul ever so slowly begins to fill with feeling. Don't expect large events in this coming-of-age novel but, instead, small ones that gradually loom large, as Clem gains self-knowledge, bolstered by knowledge about her father, including one shocking surprise. Though not terribly original, the novel satisfies as the story of a young woman looking, simply, to be.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)