Kept Animals

February 15, 2020
A toddler's death and a vast wildfire bracket a coming-of-age story set at a horse ranch in Topanga Canyon in the summer of 1993. Rory Ramos is 15 the year her alcoholic stepfather, Gus, is responsible for the car accident that kills Charlie Price. Charlie is the 19-month-old son of a movie star and his wife, the only sibling of their beautiful, troubled teenage daughter, Vivian. Rory has enjoyed spying on this family from her bedroom window, which perches above their spread in the canyon, but the night of the accident she was busy getting bitched out by her shrewish barmaid mother. Rory and Gus are both employed at Leaning Rock Ranch, locus of much of the action and a slew of other characters, including wealthy teenage twins June and Wade Fisk. June is out as a lesbian, and her attentions to Rory will help the latter realize she's in love with Vivian. While Vivian is dating the racist, classist pig Wade, she is also happy to toy with Rory as well as her former AP English teacher. In addition to being an accomplished horsewoman, Rory is a promising photographer--"I can't teach this" says her photo teacher in admiration--and in fact she will grow up to become a war correspondent, as we learn in a second narrative line set in 2015, narrated by her daughter. If this sounds complicated, it is, and this is not the half of it. Milliken writes well about horses, photography, Southern California, taxidermy, lifestyles of the rich and famous, and more--if only she had chosen a subset of these topics. This gifted author has packed enough material for at least two books into her debut.

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March 1, 2020
Milliken's debut is a surprisingly suspenseful coming-of-age novel starring an earnest young woman who loves horses and, maybe, girls. In 1993, Rory works as a ranch hand at the stable her stepfather, Gus, manages in Topanga Canyon. Their clientele includes a famous plastic surgeon's kids, June and Wade. June, an out lesbian, begins a friendship, and possibly more, with Rory, and also makes Rory see the ranch's rich neighbor Vivian, the daughter of a movie star, in a different light. After Gus is involved in an accident that kills Vivian's little brother, relationships get extremely complicated, and Rory seeks solace in photography and her friendship with T?mas, another ranch hand. All of this is interspersed with present-day narration from Rory's daughter, Charlie, who's trying to figure out who her father is and what happened to the ranch and Rory's beloved horses. While the plot is swift-moving and engaging, it is occasionally overstuffed and secondary characters could be better developed. Still, Rory is a lovely companion, and readers will enjoy following her through her trials and tribulations.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

May 4, 2020
In Milliken’s moving debut, a California ranch becomes the stage for tense conflicts of class and family. In 1993, 15-year-old Rory Ramos is a talented horseback rider working at Leaning Rock Ranch alongside her stepfather, Gus. Through the job she becomes friends with June Fisk, the daughter of a rich neighbor who comes for riding lessons, sparking feelings that make Rory confront her own sexuality. After Gus inadvertently causes a car accident that kills the son of a famous actor who lives nearby, Rory becomes close with Vivian Price, the actor’s troubled older daughter, who begins carrying on a secret romantic relationship with Rory while dating June’s twin brother, Wade. But as wildfire season approaches, tensions rise among Rory and Vivian, until one fateful night changes Rory forever. In a separate narrative, Rory’s daughter, Charlie, must untangle what actually happened between the group of friends 22 years earlier. Changing perspective throughout, Milliken excels at capturing each character’s unique voice and perspective—particularly Rory’s guarded quietness and Vivian’s performed jadedness. Her attention to details of place and time, as well as the casual cruelties those of privilege can inflict on those who have less, provide astute undercurrents to the propulsive plot. Milliken’s electric tale keenly documents the power of first love and the lingering hurt of trauma.

Starred review from April 1, 2020

DEBUT NOVEL After her award-winning story collection If I'd Known You Were Coming, Milliken offers a gripping debut novel that sweeps back and forth from Topanga Canyon in 1993 to Little Snake, WY, in 2015. Fifteen-year-old Rory Ramos, mostly adrift but a talented photographer, lives with stepfather Gus Scott and neglectful mother Mona at the Leaning Rock Ranch, where Gus is the lead horse trainer. with Sonja, Jorge, and son Tomas maintaining the ranch for its wealthy owner. Rory is both stable hand and skilled rider, training with well-to-do friends June and Wade Fisk, twins who board their horses at Leaning Rock. The twins are wild and undisciplined, and both hit on Rory. Nearby at a palatial estate, self-absorbed movie star Everett Price neglects mentally fragile wife Sarah, aimless teenage daughter Vivian, and demanding baby Charlie. The teenagers' lives crisscross recklessly, and Rory is pulled into danger. Then a car crash affects everyone from clueless Everett to hardworking Sonja and Jorge, and a devastating wildfire engulfs the canyon. VERDICT Milliken pulls out all the stops to deliver a riveting page-turner, an unforgettable story of loss and renewal. She is a powerful talent to watch. [See Prepub Alert, 2/4/20.]--Donna Bettencourt, Mesa Cty. P.L., Grand Junction, CO

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2019

Riding horses for the rich patrons of the stable managed by her stepfather in arid Topanga, CA, Rory Ramos attracts the attention of peacock-proud-queer June even as Rory herself falls for the beautiful Vivian, daughter of a movie star. The uneasy balance maintained by these three desire-struck teenagers is upset by a car accident, then completely undone when a forest fire roars through the canyon nearby. From the author of the Iowa Short Fiction Award-winning story collection, If I'd Known You Were Coming; with a 150,000-copy first printing.

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.