“I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness” by Claire Vaye Watkins

When Claire Vaye Watkins opens her powerful new “I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness” with “I’ve tried to tell this story a bunch of times. This will be my last try………”, you know that you have just boarded an emotional rollercoaster that will be hard to get off before being deeply impacted..

We get to meet 3+ generations of families usually with limited resources, doing what they have to do just to get by. There are times when you wish that people were making better choices, but you have to admire their courage and daring. It is generally the women that do what can be done to hold things together (as always). The insights, hopes, and struggles are profound, real and visceral.

The settings are each in their own way sparse, desolate, spiritual, and spectacular — the Mojave Desert, Mendocino and Humboldt Counties and The Lost Coast in Northern California, Death Valley, Reno, Las Vegas. Each is “off the grid” in its own way, inhabited by spirits, waifs, seekers, and healers, some close to the end of their line.

I first “met” Ms. Vaye Watkins through hearing about her work with “The Mojave School” which teaches creative writing to youth in Nevada. I do similar work and was and continue to be inspired by her commitment. I then read “Gold Fame Citrus” and still see it as the best depiction of the dystopia to which we are headed through our continued denial of climate change.

I concurrently learned more about Ms. Vaye Watkins’ background and life. I am quite familiar with the experiences that have shaped her. I understand how brave and eloquent she is to share them with us through her work. “I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness” is sage, wise, and prescriptive, simply a wonderful piece of work..

Thank you to Riverhead and NetGalley for the eARC.