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The title may be CALIFORNIA GIRL, but the story is of the Becker family, specifically three brothers from Tustin who grew up in the 50s. Most of the story is set in 1968, when young Janelle Vonn is found murdered; the Beckers and the Vonns had history, the boys facing off against each other early on. Later, as Nick became a cop, Andy a newspaper reporter and David a minister, they again interacted with the revolting, abusive behavior of the Vonns against the women of the family. The mother kills herself with rat poison, the two daughters are damaged. The weakest part of this book for me was something that tends to occur in 'modern historical' works; that is, books that look back at history that is within modern memory. When Parker puts predictions in the mouths of his characters about how "someday, they'll be able to identify a criminal from a single drop of blood" or about the powers and growth of televangelism, it comes across as unauthentic to me. Hindsight makes us all great predictors of the future. Even the stuff about COINTELPRO (which I've read about at length) targeting the right wing isn't very meaningful here; that program was far stronger and more effective against the Black Power movement and radical anti-war movement than it was against the Klan or the John Birch Society. Hoover was far more antagonistic toward the left than the right. The FBI is tangential to the main story and comes across as unconvincing; more effective are the cameos, if you will. of such figures as Timothy Leary, Richard Nixon and Charles Manson. The real part comes in the portrayal of Tustin and Laguna Beach and of the individual lives being portrayed, not in the bigger pictures. The parents, Mike and Monika, who seem to exist to show us right-wing Orange County Birchers, are inauthentic, and cardboard. They may have a story to tell, but there is simply no explanation for their opinions, their feelings; yes, they lost a son in the war, but there wasn't anything before his death to show their opinions or feelings either. Setting the story within the wider picture of the sixties doesn't quite click for me (and the sixties? Yeah, I was there.) But the sons? They have life and dimension. Andy's desire to be a writer, and at the same time to do a good job, to be a fair reporter and a trustworthy one makes him worth watching. . And although David's faith doesn't connect with me, it's clear that it is important to him and his family and helps provide a bond for the Becker family. Janelle Vonn was 'Miss Tustin' before she had to give up her tiara when she posed for Playboy magazine. She's found dead, killed in a horrid way, and it's Nick's first crime as lead investigator. Andy not only covers the story but also at times, discovers clues, in ways that today probably would get him indicted for interfering with an investigation but in 1968 in a small town, well David, who helped rescue Janelle from some of the worst of her life, is, like his brothers, wound up in this story. None of the brothers is exactly likeable; David just seems to tread water much of the time, at sea with his faith, not knowing what to do, Nick? Well, his behavior puts the confidentiality of the case at stake when a newspaper publisher uses infidelity as a way to pressure Andy to write negatively about the investigation. Parker kept me guessing until the end about the whodunit; you know at the beginning that there is a question that the wrong man was convicted, but only late in the book do you learn who was convicted. I thought the ending a bit rushed however, with a confrontation that for me, did not quite satisfy, or resolve the many threads introduced into the story. I did like this book but it was no SILENT JOE. And while I tend not to, or at least try not to, compare books by authors, that book for me was such a powerful example of sensitive and good and creative writing that CALIFORNIA GIRL pales in comparison.
Reviewed by Andi Shechter, October 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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