The Los Angeles Times
The female characters in this debut collection inhabit some of the more disorienting landscapes in Southern California -- Newport Beach and environs. Waitresses, single mothers, teenagers -- their bodies are often described in the language of Cubism: planes and angles and unreliable, shifting surfaces. The proportions of things, from utensils to emotions, often fail to fit the environment -- the hallways and beaches and temporary living spaces meant to contain Victoria Patterson's characters. Light glows in their blond hair as though it is trapped; sexuality and cannibalism are discussed in tandem; punishments and guilt often come long after the character's transgressions. Things are out of sync, making these stories infinitely disturbing. What happened to childhood? Is numbness the most a girl can hope for? "She wonders how she will function this day, the next, and all the days that follow." Even wondering, in this memorable collection, is a form of prayer.
- Susan Salter Reynolds
Starred review from Publisher’s Weekly
Patterson illustrates how deceiving initial impressions can be in her dark debut, a collection of 13 interconnected stories. At first glance, the characters seem to be blessed, living in tony Newport Beach, Calif., but Patterson quickly scrapes off the glitter, examining the complicated lives of Rosie, a confused teenage girl; John Wayne, a brain-damaged, homeless stoner; Anne, a lesbian psychologist in love with Rosie's mother; Melody, a trophy wife cheating on her husband, Henry Wilson, who has a secret of his own; and Joe/Christina, a transvestite. The majority of the stories feature Rosie, a nerdy teenager whose attempts to make sense of her life lead her down increasingly self-destructive paths, though she remains touchingly aware of others' suffering. In “Winter Formal: A Night of Magic,” Rosie and a seemingly perfect blonde princess have a nightmare evening; in “The First and Second Time,” Rosie violently loses her virginity. Later, in “Joe/Christina,” Rosie, now an alcoholic community college student, finds an unlikely savior in the local transvestite. Patterson's unflinching account of the seedy side of a real-life Xanadu is frightening, immersive and wonderfully realized. (June)
From: Booklist
Set against the affluence of Newport Beach, Patterson’s debut collection often focuses on the enclaves’ outcasts--waitstaff, divorcées, alcoholics, and drug addicts--as her characters confront personal battles, the limits of friendship, and the bleary anticipation of a different way of life. In “Castaways,” a newly separated father resists coming to terms with his impending divorce, especially when it comes to the changing relationship with his young son. In “Holloway’s: Part One,” a waitress risks her job to help one of the restaurant’s psuedoproprietors, self-destructive Willy, the only way she knows how. Many of Patterson’s loosely linked stories follow the introspective Rosie as she grows from an insecure, lonely child struggling with her parents’ divorce and mother’s adultery to an adolescent exploring the bounds of sexuality and friendship and, eventually, to a hard-partying community college student living in a seedy apartment complex. Her only constant in life is a homeless skateboarder named John Wayne, who offers quiet companionship in the face of Rosie’s isolation. Patterson’s 13 engaging tales offer keen perspectives on life lived on the fringe.
- Leah Strauss
From: Three Guys One Book
“Holloway’s: Part Two” from Drift
“If I could write just a single story as beautiful and heartbreaking and intelligent as
the thirteen linked together in Drift, I’m pretty sure I could die a happy man. Victoria Patterson makes me envious as hell, and I applaud her for it.”
Donald Ray Pollock, author of Knockemstiff
“Victoria Patterson’s Newport Beach is a privileged world of wealth and heedless consumption that trails a wake of human damage. By giving us nuanced portraits of
the sidelined, she somehow evokes the complex, glittering whole. Patterson is our generation's heir to John O'Hara and Edith Wharton. And nobody else writes about female sexuality with such sensitivity and fearlessness. Several times I had to put this book down just to catch my breath."
Michelle Huneven, author of Jamesland
“Victoria Patterson’s beautiful stories break our hearts as they inform us. Through her characters we see the complications and trauma of not fitting into one’s surroundings, in a version of California we are rarely allowed to see. Haunting, affirming, and often comic, her stories make the reader grateful for this writer’s documentation of our human alienation -- and our unexpected bonds. A gifted storyteller, a fresh, essential new voice."
Dana Johnson, author of Break Any Woman Down
“Drift is one of the truest depictions of Southern California I’ve read yet. Set fifty miles south of Los Angeles, amidst the rampant materialism and manicured malls of Newport Beach, Patterson depicts characters simultaneously at odds with, and in sync with, the cultural void around them. The work is subtle, honest, and a great pleasure to read.”
Danzy Senna, author of Caucasia