Internet celebrity Melissa Broder’s third novel is what one Goodreads user accurately deemed an “existential horny cactus western.” In Death Valley, the unnamed narrator arrives alone at a Best Western to gather inspiration for her new novel and escape her personal tragedies in Los Angeles—a father in the ICU and chronically ill husband. On a desert trail, the woman encounters a surreal cactus whose size and shape suggest it is not native to California. Even weirder, a gash through its side looks like a door. So the woman goes inside, where she encounters a child-version of her father. She continues to visit the cactus and her father on successive hikes, and eventually, she gets lost in the desert and struggles to survive. Death Valley is a magical realist banger about grief and loss and also, staying alive. 

Over text, Melissa and I chatted about Coke Zero, feelings, and whether August Virgos have more fun (spoiler: they don’t). 

anna:
hiii melissa is this still a good time to talk death valley?? (it’s anna btw) 

melissa:
yes!

anna:
fabu, ok I loved this book so much! can you tell me how the idea developed? 

melissa:
in december of 2020, my father was in a car accident that put him in the ICU for six months before he died
he was in philadelphia where i’m originally from, i was on the west coast, and no one was allowed in to see him for the first months because of covid
i was experiencing anticipatory grief, though i didn’t know what that was at the time. i was just afraid that my own anxiety and depression were mutating…spawning some super-species of anxiety and depression babies. and i needed to escape these feelings
unfortunately, you can’t escape feelings, because feelings are inside you
still, I tried, driving back and forth through the desert between my home in la and my sister's in las vegas. i was driving through baker, ca, home of the world's largest thermometer, when the first two sentences of this novel came to me—also, an image of a magic cactus, where a protagonist, going through a similar grief journey, could go inside and encounter her father at various stages of his life
(ok that’s it lol)

anna:
i’m sorry about your father
i love the way the story developed from those drives from LA to vegas 

melissa:
oh yeah there is also another story regarding the lost in the desert element

anna:
go on 

melissa:
later, when i was researching the book, i went to death valley. i took a little hike in a touristy area of called zabriskie point where nobody gets lost. well, i got lost. my phone had no service. no one knew where i was. i had no water. only coke zero. i was crying. "how long have i been out here?" (it was like 45 minutes). and i did what you’re not supposed to do. i panicked. i got all scraped up climbing a rock face trying to get back. 
but once i made it back, i was excited, because i knew what had to happen in my novel. my protagonist was going to get lost in the desert. and she would get lost for longer than 45 minutes

anna:
perfect and omg that sounds terrifying!!! the desert makes me panic even when I’m not lost 
so like you, this book’s narrator is a novelist with a chronically ill husband, writing a novel about a chronically ill husband and a father in the ICU. would you call death valley autofiction? metafiction? just fiction? is this an annoying question? 

melissa:
i would say it could be seen as a send-up of autofiction
readers always want to know how much of a novel is based on an author’s life. after i finished recording the audiobook, the engineer at the studio asked me if it was a true story.
i was like “yes, i went into a magic cactus and encountered my father as a child.”

anna:
lolol relatable content! 
that’s awesome you read the audio. do you like doing that or is it tedious? 

melissa:
i love doing it! this time i went too hard on the first day and lost my voice and had to do a week of vocal rest between the first and second half
but love it

anna:
lol so circling back to coke zero, there is a fondness for american chains and heritage brands in your work that i adore. can you talk about your decision to set the first part of this book in a best western? 

melissa:
yes! i love a best western! and i’ve spent a lot of time in BWs across the country (unlike the narrator, i’ve totally earned enough points for free nights). i enjoy celebrating the nuance and complexity of flavors of places and products that don’t usually get such elaborate evaluation. i’m like a sommelier of frosted flakes.

anna:
lol yes I feel like chipotle is better than any fancy restaurant I’ve been to 
so i scanned goodreads and a lot of reviews wrote that it felt like you were in their brain, which seems like common feedback to all your writing. i have my own ideas, but why do you think your work resonates so strongly with people to the point that people think you share a brain? 

melissa:
it’s a good question and i’m not sure i know the answer. 
i will tell you that when i walk down the street, and i see people doing things, like taking photos of each other for Instagram, having babies, generally living their lives, i often wonder, “how do people just do stuff?” maybe they are masking? maybe everyone isn’t as okay as they seem to be? or at least, not as effortless. the weight of my own brain drags me out of life a lot. it makes it hard to “just live.” and i guess i communicate that well. so for those who feel this way, there is resonance i guess?
what do you think?

anna:
your writing is very interior obviously, and you write about universal human experiences—anxiety, depression, romantic obsession, alienation, grief, loss—and you write about them in a creative but also very accessible way, and the accessibility means everyone can recognize the observations and the creativity means everyone wants to own them because they aren’t basic 
also this is why you inspire me! it’s a lot harder to be accessible than people realize 
much easier to be esoteric 

melissa:
yes, at its core, writing is communication.
or at least, writing that is edited for a reader

anna:
true, so are you more esoteric on the first draft? 

melissa:
no, it’s just shittier

anna:
lmao 
so you started by publishing poetry, then an essay collection with so sad today, and for the past few years you’ve been banging out novels. do you think you’ll continue writing novels for a while or do you think you’ll return to poetry or essay? which is your favorite to write?

melissa:
i started doing a themed journal project a year ago in the vein of may sarton. the first draft is almost finished. and it would be very well-edited. but i’m not sure now how i feel about putting it in the world. and i have some budding ideas for a novel. so, perhaps a novel.
as for favorite to write, my favorite is the word by word line-editing process of a poem or novel. gotta edit the novel like a poem.

anna:
i can’t help but say that’s so very virgo of you 
the forest is whatever we’re living it up in the trees 

melissa:
oh honey you have no idea re:
virgoness
are you virgo??

anna:
i am 

melissa:
sept or aug

anna:
sept 16
what abt u 

melissa:
aug 29

anna:
i always thought august virgos were having more fun 

melissa:
uhhh, that’s a no on my end

anna:
lol ok i’m going to let you go but before i do i just wanna know what you’ve read recently that inspired you!

melissa:
faves i read this year are in a lonely place by dorothy b. hughes, y/n by esther yi, our spoons came from woolworths by barbara comyns (but not the ending!), long live the post horn! by vigdis hjorth (also but not the ending!), and the beginners by anne serre. also open throat by henry hoke rules! read that one in 2022 but had to give it a shoutout.

anna:
lovedddd open throat, i think about it every time i hike in griffith 
thank you melissa this has been fun and thank you for your amazing books that have inspired me so so much !! 

melissa:
thank you so much for doing this, love!!!