The Mars Room (Google Books ⧉, Amazon ⧉, Bookshop ⧉)

by Rachel Kushner

Contributed by NobleBibliophile506

Visualize Connections

Places Map

References To Other Books

Direct References

Killed Twice

When I was five or six years old I saw a paperback cover in the supermarket that was a drawing of a woman and her nude body had two knives coming out of it, blood pooling around her. The cover of the book said, 'Killed Twice.' That was its title.

Guinness Book of World Records

Even people like Gordon’s father, who owned few books, had a copy of the Guinness Book of World Records in their home. The prison library had several copies. It was a bible for the bookless under God.

CDC Offender’s Handbook

After several hours of this, they gave us each a bedroll and a CDC Offender’s Handbook, as well as a forty-page Guide to the CDC Offender’s Handbook.

Guide to the CDC Offender’s Handbook

After several hours of this, they gave us each a bedroll and a CDC Offender’s Handbook, as well as a forty-page Guide to the CDC Offender’s Handbook.

The Bobbsey Twins

You two are like the Bobbsey Twins,' Fernandez said, not quietly.

Walden

K was even a reader of Walden, Alex wrote. It’s on the list of books from his cabin.

Danielle Steel novels

One year I read eight Danielle Steel novels in ad seg. She did a prison novel that is straight-up killer. Everybody was reading it.

Book of Daniel

When I was young and stupid, Betty had me convinced the Book of Daniel is really about aliens coming to Earth.

Judges

This time, her ramble was all about Judges. “Hey, Sammy. What’s sweeter than honey and stronger than a lion?”

My Ántonia

Hauser had gotten me three books: My Ántonia, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Hauser had gotten me three books: My Ántonia, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

To Kill a Mockingbird

Hauser had gotten me three books: My Ántonia, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Pick-Up

I got more books. One, called Pick-Up, was about two drunks in San Francisco in the 1950s. I started reading it and could not stop.

Factotum

He had gotten me two other books, Charles Bukowski’s Factotum and Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson.

Jesus’ Son

He had gotten me two other books, Charles Bukowski’s Factotum and Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson.

Julie of the Wolves

He passed out photocopied sections of books, Julie of the Wolves, Laura Ingalls Wilder, but he didn’t tell the prisoners they were children’s books, and it didn’t matter if the women enjoyed them.

Laura Ingalls Wilder

He passed out photocopied sections of books, Julie of the Wolves, Laura Ingalls Wilder, but he didn’t tell the prisoners they were children’s books, and it didn’t matter if the women enjoyed them.

The Red Pony

When his class discussed a chapter of The Red Pony by John Steinbeck, the women talked about the mountains in the book and the ones they could see from main yard.

Educating Your Loved Ones About Your TBI

The doctor gave him a pamphlet, “Educating Your Loved Ones About Your TBI.” It was what they gave out at that hospital, which did not treat convicts unless it was forced to.

Jesus’ Son

I told Hauser I read Jesus’ Son, and asked him why he chose that book. I was paranoid he thought I was a no‐good ex‐junkie like the characters in the stories. He said he gave it to me because it was excellent. That it was one of his favorite books.

The Brothers K

At the end of The Brothers K, Alyosha asks the children to always remember the good feeling they share, in praising and celebrating the life of their beloved dead friend, the lost child. Remember this always, Alyosha says, and he means, as an antidote. Retain the innocence of the most wholesome feeling you ever had in your life. Part of you stays innocent forever. That part of you is worth more than the rest.

Chickenhawk

He got his book out, Chickenhawk, a Vietnam thing he’d been trying to read for three years.

Ted diaries

I thank James for his friendship and his help, his willingness to engage in extensive dialogues over the past several years, and for the use of his Ted diaries.

Telex from Cuba

Get to know more of her work by taking a look at her previous novels, Telex from Cuba and The Flamethrowers.

The Flamethrowers

Get to know more of her work by taking a look at her previous novels, Telex from Cuba and The Flamethrowers.

The Flamethrowers

Rachel Kushner is the bestselling author of The Flamethrowers, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Folio Prize and a New York Times top ten book of 2013.

Telex from Cuba

Her first novel, Telex from Cuba, was also a finalist for the National Book Award and was reviewed on the cover of the New York Times.

Telex from Cuba

ALSO BY RACHEL KUSHNERTelex from CubaThe Flamethrowers

The Flamethrowers

Telex from CubaThe FlamethrowersThe Strange Case of Rachel K

The Strange Case of Rachel K

The FlamethrowersThe Strange Case of Rachel K

Ted Kaczynski’s coded diary

Excerpts adapted from Ted Kaczynski’s coded diary, deciphered by James Benning.

Entrückung

The epigraph on p. vii is from “Entrückung” by Stefan George, translated by Carl Engel.

Referenced By

No books reference this book

Places Referenced

San Francisco, California
"“Dang,” the person across from me said. “I’m from San Francisco and a trans to me is nothing new, but this person truly looked like a man. Shoulders as broad as the aisle, and a jawline beard…”"
Victorville, California, United States
"“There’s a Culpepper’s shoe repair, see, in Victorville, but there’s no relation.”"
Buena Vista Park, San Francisco, California, United States
"…House by house, I looked at all there was to see, pressed my face to the breezeway gates of the Victorians along the eastern ridge of Buena Vista Park, the blue of the water softened by the faintest residue of fog…"
The Presidio, San Francisco, California, United States
"…you could see Golden Gate Park, then the Presidio, the matte red points of the Golden Gate Bridge, and behind it the steep, green-crinkled folds of the Marin Headlands."
Marin Headlands, California, United States
"…and behind it the steep, green-crinkled folds of the Marin Headlands."
The Embarcadero, San Francisco, California, United States
"My mother offered to mortgage her condominium, a studio apartment on the Embarcadero in San Francisco…"
Castaic, California, United States
"We were passing Castaic, the last stop before the Grapevine."
Grapevine, California, United States
"We were passing Castaic, the last stop before the Grapevine."
Central Valley, California, United States
"Our bus hurtled along in the downhill grade into the Central Valley."
Fresno, California, United States
"I had read about a gas leak, about pounds of pollution issuing into the sky in Fresno or someplace."
Orlando, Florida, United States
"“Dang, I dropped twenty G there,” Conan said. “In three days. Brought my girl. Her kids. Jacuzzi suite. All-access pass. Alligator steaks. Orlando is dope. A lot doper than this bus, that’s for sure.”"
Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia, California, United States
"“Oh! Oh look! It’s Magic Mountain!” —a reference repeated when Laura Lipp described the place where a lady on our unit stole children."
Colma, California, United States
"…doing cocaine with strangers in a motel in Colma, by the cemetery."
California Institution for Women, Corona, California, United States
"…I bunked with her at CIW and she told me the whole story—she would be sitting there knitting and offer to keep an eye on the cell."
Tenth Avenue, Moraga, California, United States
"On Tenth Avenue at Moraga, where I had lived with my mother when I was a kid, you could see Golden Gate Park, then the Presidio, the matte red points of the Golden Gate Bridge…"
Wasco, California, United States
"“We make those road crew vests at Wasco. You glue on the reflectors,” Conan yelled."
San Francisco, California
"The trouble with San Francisco was that I could never have a future in that city, only a past."
Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California
"…to the Great Highway, where a sea of broken glass glittered along the endless parking strip of Ocean Beach."
Great Highway, San Francisco, California
"…to the Great Highway, where a sea of broken glass glittered along the endless parking strip of Ocean Beach."
Ninth Avenue, San Francisco, California
"…or got hired at John John Roofing on Ninth Avenue between Irving and Lincoln."
Irving Street, San Francisco, California
"…got hired at John John Roofing on Ninth Avenue between Irving and Lincoln."
Lincoln Way, San Francisco, California
"…got hired at John John Roofing on Ninth Avenue between Irving and Lincoln."
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California
"A few days later Tyra called me and we made a plan to go to Golden Gate Park on a Sunday, to the bridge, where people roller‐skate and hang out."
Noriega Street, San Francisco, California
"The night I met her I was in someone’s car, driving around drinking Löwenbräu lights… We picked up Tyra on Noriega, at a house that was an informal foster home for girls."
Point Lobos, Carmel-by-the-Sea, California
"One of them was known for taking girls out to Point Lobos instead of to the police station on Taraval."
Tenderloin, San Francisco, California
"…even thinking of what happened later, Eva a crack addict in the Tenderloin, the Polaroid photos with the bat was still the worst thing that anyone had done to her."
West Portal, San Francisco, California
"The first time she stole Valium from her mom, we each took one and went to West Portal."
Judah Street, San Francisco, California
"We stopped at 7-Eleven on Judah."
Laguna Honda, San Francisco, California
"I was at the bus stop on Laguna Honda, across from Forest Hill Station."
Forest Hill Station, San Francisco, California
"I was at the bus stop on Laguna Honda, across from Forest Hill Station."
Masonic Street, San Francisco, California
"The house that interested me more belonged to a group of people called the Scummerz. Eva took me there. It was on Masonic, near Haight."
Haight, San Francisco, California
"…It was on Masonic, near Haight."
Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California
"“On Tenth Avenue at Moraga, where I had lived with my mother when I was a kid, you could see Golden Gate Park, then the Presidio, the matte red points of the Golden Gate Bridge…”"
Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California
"…you could see Golden Gate Park, then the Presidio, the matte red points of the Golden Gate Bridge, and behind it the steep, green-crinkled folds of the Marin Headlands."
Broadway, Los Angeles, California
"I saw the lights along Broadway."
Great Highway, San Francisco, California
"…Someone overdosing in a bedroom in the white people projects on the Great Highway."
Market Street, San Francisco, California
"I would stick to hustling my income as a lap dancer at the Mars Room on Market Street."
Russian River, California
"But then Bob vanished; he literally disappeared. His body was later found under a log in the Russian River."
Chino, California
"…My seatmate offered her full name, Laura Lipp, and said she was being transferred from Chino up to Stanville, as if we each had nothing to hide."
Mission, San Francisco, California
"I carried the bag through the lobby and shoved it in a trash can on the way to my car, which I’d parked several blocks away, in a garage on Mission, because I didn’t want this guy to know anything about me."
Apple Valley, California
"“My father-father was a Culpepper. That’s the Culpepper’s of Apple Valley, not Victorville.”"
Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California
"…mud from the puddles in the parking lot of Ocean Beach."
Geary Street, San Francisco, California
"The Shuffler was another occasional sighting. That was on the other side of the park, near the Baskin-Robbins on Geary where I worked in high school."
Bayview, San Francisco, California
"Her dad was strict. He worked for a security service that had him posted at the entrance of the gigantic old Lucky Lager brewery in Bayview, which had closed down."
Richmond District, San Francisco, California
"…but people started going to Anton LaVey’s house, where everyone worshipped Satan together as a group. It was in the Richmond, on the other side of Golden Gate Park."
Taraval Street, San Francisco, California
"…instead of to the police station on Taraval."
Anton LaVey’s house, Richmond District, San Francisco, California
"Before people started going to Anton LaVey’s house, where everyone worshipped Satan together as a group. It was in the Richmond, on the other side of Golden Gate Park."
Oakland, California
"Gordon had not understood this until he got to NCWF, which he’d chosen because it was commutable from Oakland, and because working with women seemed to him less threatening than a prison classroom of men."
San Francisco, California
"His first placement had been with juveniles in San Francisco. He did that for six months, but it was too depressing. Kids in cages telling him stories about their foster homes, about sexual abuse, all kinds of abuse."
Martinez, California
"Gordon’s father had said to him when he’d picked up young Gordon from the Martinez public library, which was bigger than their own tiny library in the town near the Carquinez Strait where Gordon grew up."
Carquinez Strait, California
"…their own tiny library in the town near the Carquinez Strait where Gordon grew up."
Los Angeles County, California
"Slippers that said LA County on the side of each shoe."
San Bernardino County, California
"Mr. Coronado has bench warrants in San Bernardino County,"
Inglewood Forum, Inglewood, California
"He practically floated. It was a walk that belonged on the streets of Compton, or in the parking lot of the Inglewood Forum, out at the Pomona car show."
Compton, California
"It was a walk that belonged on the streets of Compton, or in the parking lot of the Inglewood Forum, out at the Pomona car show."
Pomona, California
"He practically floated. It was a walk that belonged on the streets of Compton, or in the parking lot of the Inglewood Forum, out at the Pomona car show."
San Francisco, California
"San Francisco was like that, a city where the layers of my history all compressed together onto a single plane."
Market Street, San Francisco, California
"It was where I got my school gym uniforms as well. Later, I passed it as an adult, on my way to the Mars Room. (Army‐navy place on Market Street)"
SF General, San Francisco, California
"Jackson was born at SF General, where they have to take you even without insurance."
Tenderloin, San Francisco, California
"Between the army‐navy place and the Mars Room was Fascination, where Eva and I spent many hours as teenagers while Eva flirted with the cashier, before she was lost to the Tenderloin, north of Fascination..."
Crazy Horse, San Francisco, California
"Jackson’s dad was a doorman at the Crazy Horse, a club down the street from the Mars Room where I also worked on occasion."
Pier 39, San Francisco, California
"She kept talking about what good money she made as a waitress on Pier 39. 'I make my money respectably.' Pier 39 is garbage."
Oakland, California
"Gordon left downtown Oakland in the late afternoon, and drove east, and south."
Berkeley, California
"The guy had briefly been a young professor at Berkeley."
Highway 99, California
"Tunneling through the dark and flat expanse of big agriculture along Highway 99, a burnt smell of synthetic fertilizer coming into the air vents..."
Corcoran, California
"Stanville is synonymous with its prison. Like Corcoran is, and Chino, Delano and Chowchilla and Avenal, Susanville and San Quentin, scores of towns that house prisons and share a name, up and down the state."
Chino, California
"Stanville is synonymous with its prison. Like Corcoran is, and Chino, Delano and Chowchilla and Avenal, Susanville and San Quentin, scores of towns that house prisons and share a name, up and down the state."
Delano, California
"Stanville is synonymous with its prison. Like Corcoran is, and Chino, Delano and Chowchilla and Avenal, Susanville and San Quentin, scores of towns that house prisons and share a name, up and down the state."
Chowchilla, California
"Stanville is synonymous with its prison. Like Corcoran is, and Chino, Delano and Chowchilla and Avenal, Susanville and San Quentin, scores of towns that house prisons and share a name, up and down the state."
Avenal, California
"Stanville is synonymous with its prison. Like Corcoran is, and Chino, Delano and Chowchilla and Avenal, Susanville and San Quentin, scores of towns that house prisons and share a name, up and down the state."
Susanville, California
"Stanville is synonymous with its prison. Like Corcoran is, and Chino, Delano and Chowchilla and Avenal, Susanville and San Quentin, scores of towns that house prisons and share a name, up and down the state."
San Quentin, California
"Stanville is synonymous with its prison. Like Corcoran is, and Chino, Delano and Chowchilla and Avenal, Susanville and San Quentin, scores of towns that house prisons and share a name, up and down the state."
Sierra Foothills, California
"Gordon Hauser found a place to rent sight unseen, a cabin up the mountain from Stanville proper, in the western Sierra foothills."
El Cortez Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
"…They were in Las Vegas, partying on her life insurance money. She asked a security guard at the El Cortez casino if he would murder the cop for a payoff."
Berkeley, California
"That Christmas, his week off, he drove up to Berkeley to sleep on Alex’s couch."
Crater Mountain, Washington
"In late spring I went and camped out, hoping to shoot up a helicopter in the area east of Crater Mountain."
Taylor Street, San Francisco, California, United States
"I moved to Taylor Street. Eva‐land, as I thought of it."
Simi Valley, California, United States
"…Betty worried he was turning on her, so she had her hit man killed by a dirty cop she met at a bar in Simi Valley."
Central Valley, California, United States
"They kicked him down the Central Valley like a can down a hallway."
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada
"“Honey, it was NOT the El Cortez,” Betty yelled up the air vent. “It was Caesars Palace. And honestly, if you’re going to tell my story and you don’t know the difference between Caesars and the El Cortez, there is just so much else you can’t know.”"
San Francisco, California
"“Frisco, huh,” he said, “where they were doing that extended‐axle thing back in the nineties. Pokers. Man, you guys have something to answer to.” To say “Frisco” is as goofy and wrong as an extended axle…"
Tenderloin, San Francisco, California
"…That was before I’d moved from the avenues downtown, when the city was invaded and I could no longer afford anything but a place in the Tenderloin."
Compton, California
"…Once they were in a fight and Sammy was trying to buy heroin at the hamburger stand in Compton."
Bell Gardens, California
"“It ain’t Smokey from Bell Gardens you’re talking about, is it?” …“It was,” Sammy said. “Smokey was your boyfriend? I’m from Bell Gardens, and the Smokey I know is a she.”"
Berkeley, California
"…I could have gone to college. I got into UC Berkeley."
Hanford, California
"…They married at a county courthouse not far from Stanville, in Hanford, a dusty farming town in the Central Valley."
Estrada Courts, East Los Angeles, California
"…She was a Mexican girl from Estrada Courts in East LA, living in a small town in the Central Valley with a corny white husband."
Valencia, California
"…Jimmy Darling used to do math with Jackson, for fun. It started with a lesson about the history of counting, at the picnic table on the ranch in Valencia."
Japan, Asia
"“There’s a new Nissan coming out called The Cube,” Conan said. “You can only get it in Japan. But who wants a square car?”"
San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco, California
"…“Gretchen Becker, it says here. Died in a car accident last Sunday, November thirtieth.” “No. That can’t be right.” “She and a child were both admitted to San Francisco General Hospital, Child sustained non‐life‐threatening injuries.”"
New Folsom, Folsom, California
"The time he was serving was life without, on the Sensitive Needs block at New Folsom."
Old Folsom, Folsom, California
"There were red roses going full bloom outside the gates of Old Folsom, where he had served time first."
Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California
"The bar in Eagle Rock he liked to go to, place called Toppers."
Los Angeles, California
"Doc had become a great connoisseur of the bars in Los Angeles where prostitution took place in a frank and natural manner."
Beverly and Western, Los Angeles, California
"Bobby London on Beverly and Western, which catered only to Korean men and LAPD, and only LAPD as bribery, and only Doc of the LAPD, and technically it wasn’t bribery it was blackmail."
Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"Las Brisas on a rangily barren stretch of Sunset Boulevard near Dodger Stadium, where cars went seventy miles an hour."
Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California
"Las Brisas on a rangily barren stretch of Sunset Boulevard near Dodger Stadium, where cars went seventy miles an hour."
American River, California
"The American River was the rear boundary of the prison."
Las Vegas, Nevada
"There was that kid in tiny, Sweet Tart–pink shorts who nicked off her instructor in Las Vegas."
Magnolia Street, Burbank, California
"at the soda fountain on Magnolia Street in Burbank."
Bulgaria
"Doc was once married to a girl from Bulgaria."
Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California
"I was walking along the balcony outside the rooms. It was daytime and I could hear the traffic on Figueroa."
Angola, Louisiana
"He was in Angola from age seventeen to twenty-two."
South Los Angeles, California
"The garages are in secret locations all over South LA."
Las Vegas, Nevada
"We liked to travel. We went to Vegas."
San Francisco, California
"We liked to travel. We went to Vegas. San Francisco."
Sierra Madre, California
"We would go up to Sierra Madre, where there was an illegal shooting range, to practice."
Laguna Niguel, California
"Later the guy calls and says he’s stuck in Laguna Niguel and wants us to come down there."
Los Angeles, California
"When we’d first moved to LA, Jackson heard the horn of the vegetable truck that parked on our street and went running outside to see what the commotion was."
Los Angeles County Jail, Los Angeles, California
"I had been in Los Angeles county jail when the towers of the World Trade Center went down."
Apple Valley, California
"Hi there, I’m Laura Lipp and I’m from Apple Valley."
Mojave Desert, California
"That’s in the Mojave Desert. It’s drier than any bone and there are no apples. Applebee’s, though."
Alvarado Street, Los Angeles, California
"When a man came down Alvarado Street swinging a golf club, hitting telephone poles and then the side of the bus shelter, Jackson said the man had a problem inside his brain..."
Powell and Market, San Francisco, California
"When I was a kid there was a large Woolworth’s at Powell and Market, with a wig department in the center of the store."
Van Ness, San Francisco, California
"Sometimes we went to Zim’s on Van Ness afterward, ordered a lot of food and left without paying."
Taraval, San Francisco, California
"It was something different from dining and dashing at the more familiar Zim’s on Taraval."
North Beach, San Francisco, California
"Later that night, after lights out, I thought about North Beach and tried to revisit places I went with Jimmy Darling, who lived and worked over there. I saw the lights along Broadway. Big Al’s. The Condor Club and its vertical sign, Carol Doda’s nipples glowing cherry red, Chinatown red. The Garden of Eden down the street, its pink and green neon bright against the fog."
Long Beach Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"Eventually I switched to the Hub Motel on Long Beach Boulevard in Compton, where they didn’t bother with how many uncles I brought to the room."
Gonzales, California
"Rodney was from Gonzales, Louisiana."
Hugo Street, San Francisco, California
"When he was still a nerd, he invited a bunch of kids who cut school to his father’s place on Hugo Street and we drank all his dad’s liquor and set the curtains on fire."
Contra Costa County, California
"I’m from just across the Bay, Contra Costa County."
Tilden Park, East Bay, California
"It was autumn, and my mother came with us to Tilden Park, in the East Bay. There were trees above us that had turned a color I might have dyed my hair, a bright, rich magenta."
San Mateo County, California
"He climbed a fence at a San Mateo county jail and ran all the way to San Francisco."
San Francisco, California
"I told him I hated San Francisco, that there was evil coming out of the ground there, but that I liked Pick-Up because it reminded me of things about the city that I missed."
Syracuse, New York
"The movie director got on a Greyhound bus and went all the way to Syracuse, New York, where Magic Tom was originally from. The movie director knocked on the door of Magic Tom’s mother’s house."
Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, California
"There was a club on Columbus where feminist strippers made eleven feminist dollars an hour."
The Condor Club, San Francisco, California
"I saw the lights along Broadway. Big Al’s. The Condor Club and its vertical sign, Carol Doda’s nipples glowing cherry red, Chinatown red. The Garden of Eden down the street, its pink and green neon bright against the fog."
Stanville, California
"by the time Gordon Hauser was into his second year at Stanville, he would not have mistaken the shriek of an animal for the shriek of a woman."
California, United States
"Like all California prisons, Stanville flew three flags: state, nation, and POW MIA."
Iraq, Middle East
"President Bush went on TV and said he was building hospitals and schools for the Iraqi people."
Willow Creek drainage
"I followed the noise, to learn it came from a logging operation at Willow Creek drainage. Logging off one of my favorite wild spots."
Filipinotown, Los Angeles, California
"Doc had been to Las Brisas the night he got the call about the burglary of a pawnshop on Beverly in Filipinotown."
Beverly and Vendome, Los Angeles, California
"Doc’s police radio statics out a message: backup is on its way to Beverly and Vendome."
Virgil/Temple/Silver Lake/Beverly junction, Los Angeles, California
"Doc hears sirens wailing toward the Virgil/Temple/Silver Lake/Beverly junction."
Western, Los Angeles, California
"officers all over town were fooling dispatch into thinking they were out on calls while they sat around eating and gambling, or going to the gym, or banging box in an hourly joint down on Western, the Snooty Fox, a popular spot for guys on the force."
605 Freeway, Los Angeles, California
"…they tortured a victim, a manager at a gentleman’s club under the 605 freeway…"
710 Freeway, Los Angeles, California
"…and when they were done they dumped the body near the 710 freeway."
Three Rivers, California
"on an afternoon like that he’d go to the biker bar in Three Rivers, leave the woman, whichever one, at the cabin…"
South Los Angeles, California
"…a rustic log cabin where he injected meth and fucked women he brought up from South LA."
Neptune’s Net, Malibu, California
"…as you often see parked outside Neptune’s Net on the PCH, the rider handling it like with butler’s gloves because the thing is leased."
Rampart, Los Angeles, California
"…he would have these conversations with the guys down at Rampart, and Doc always said the same thing."
Los Angeles, California
"I felt free of Kurt Kennedy in Los Angeles, though several times I had to double-take men who shared his generally repulsive physical qualities, thick bunched calves, ruddy skin, bald and dented cranium, and once I mistakenly thought I heard the gravelly voice."
San Francisco, California
"I began to relax, to feel free of the suffocating familiarity of San Francisco."
Valencia, California
"In truth I moved me and Jackson to Los Angeles not only to get away from Kurt Kennedy, but so that I could be with Jimmy Darling after he got the teaching job in Valencia."
Echo Park Lake, Los Angeles
"The apartment I’d sublet was near Echo Park Lake, on a curving street of collapsing Victorians just above downtown."
Burbank, California
"I drove past the ugly power plant in Burbank and see the steam billowing from its reactor mouths and be faced with what I did not like to admit..."
Alaska, United States
"It belonged to a girl I knew from San Francisco, a stripper who was away in Alaska, working up there at the gentlemen’s clubs."
Japan, Asia
"The property he sublet belonged to an eccentric old painter who was away in Japan."
Guatemala, Central America
"This girl I was subletting from had a plumber who was always coming around. He was from Guatemala and really friendly."
Glendale, California
"The auto shop I went to was off Glendale, and it was an easy bus ride home."
Venice Boardwalk, Los Angeles
"That morning, a Sunday, it was ninety degrees when I got up. Jackson and I went to the beach with Jimmy Darling. I’d never been to the Venice boardwalk, and perhaps taking me there was Jimmy Darling’s own idea of a practical joke."
Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
"I would drive past the ugly power plant in Burbank and, as I drove toward downtown LA with Jackson in the backseat, I felt I was going down into a solitude that was too airy and roomy."
Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"I drove him to Kaiser Hospital in Hollywood, the Burger King of health care, running my horn through intersections along Sunset Boulevard."
San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California
"This girl had a nice apartment because at home in LA she made great money at the clubs in the San Fernando Valley."
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
"“You remind me of someone,” Garcia said to Sammy. “Back home in Philadelphia. Where you from?”"
Santa Clarita, California, United States
"One night we passed a trailer park in Santa Clarita with a shabby sign that said ADULT LIVING."
Pacific Coast Highway, Los Angeles, California
"…parked outside Neptune’s Net on the PCH."
Valencia, California
"I dreamed one night that I was in Jimmy Darling’s bed, at the ranch in Valencia. Jackson was asleep on a cot."
Telegraph Avenue, Berkeley, California
"the coffeehouses on Telegraph that were filled with good‐looking women who worked hard at appearing effortless and natural."
Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California
"the barbecue place on Shattuck and the blues club next door, which could have had a sign, when they were in college, Smokiest Tavern on Earth."
Oakland, California
"On New Year’s, he and Alex went to a party in Oakland, a typical situation of people jammed in a kitchen and asking pointless questions like, What do you do? And, Where are you from?"
San Francisco, California
"Gordon went over the bridge to San Francisco alone, ate at a Vietnamese restaurant downtown that his student Romy Hall had told him about."
Sixth Street, San Francisco, California
"he would not tell her he’d gone to her Vietnamese place on Sixth Street."
Salinas Valley, California
"One had just blown his head off in a guard tower at Salinas Valley."
Iraq, Middle East
"Just after Christmas, the new Iraqi government hung Saddam Hussein."
Stemple Pass Road
"A few years ago some fuckers built a vacation house just across Stemple Pass Road."
Lodi, California
"The doctor explained to Doc that he was in a hospital in Lodi. “Fuck, I hate Lodi.”"
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
"He’d discovered it on the wall of a tattoo parlor in Hollywood, among the designs customers could choose."
Westlake, Los Angeles, California
"Doc had shown up on the scene of a trailer fire in Westlake in the early 1980s. It was a slovenly place vandalized by its own inhabitants, Mexicans who mixed their beer with clam and tomato juice, lit superstition candles, and passed out. Forgot about the candles and one fell over ‘Par-tee shack,’ Doc had said."
Los Angeles, California
"Put their bodies in his trunk, and eject them into the dumping ground of desert between LA and Vegas."
Las Vegas, Nevada
"Put their bodies in his trunk, and eject them into the dumping ground of desert between LA and Vegas."
Beverly, Los Angeles, California
"…the scene outside the pawn shop on Beverly."
Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, Tennessee
"Doc told her what Judge Hay had said to Minnie Pearl when she was just starting out, green as the hills of Tennessee, and nervous to go on out there on the big-time stage at the Grand Ole Opry, in front of so many people."
San Francisco, California
"I had written to a few friends from San Francisco. None of them wrote back."
Tenderloin, San Francisco, California
"I could roam neighborhoods, visit my apartment in the Tenderloin, with the Murphy bed, my happy yellow Formica table, and above it, the movie poster of Steve McQueen in Bullitt. If you’re from SF, you love Bullitt and are proud because it was filmed there."
Corcoran, California
"From here I’m going up to Corcoran to visit a guy who got five life sentences, and another who is life without. You look healthy."
Santa Barbara, California
"We ended up in Santa Barbara, and slept on the beach and dumpster dove for food."
Bell Gardens, California
"We had to go live with my mom and her boyfriend in Bell Gardens."
Sunland, Los Angeles, California
"My little brother and I stayed with my grandmother when we were little. She lived up in Sunland. There were horse farms there."
Apple Valley, California
"“I’m from Apple Valley,” she said."
Pelican Bay, California
"This one is from Tiny, up at Pelican Bay, for Lulu, aka Bonita Blue Eyes. Tiny wants to tell Lulu he loves you more than anything, and his heart will always be yours."
Grand Ole Opry, Nashville, Tennessee
"When Doc was a teenager, President Richard Nixon performed on the Grand Ole Opry."
Nashville, Tennessee
"President Nixon came out onstage at the big new theater in Nashville and greeted the people of Opryland, USA."
Opryland, Nashville, Tennessee
"President Nixon came out onstage at the big new theater in Nashville and greeted the people of Opryland, USA."
Mississippi, United States
"A jug band from Mississippi began to play."
Dickerson Road, Nashville, Tennessee
"Four months ago, as many of you know, he was murdered, along with his wonderful wife, Estelle, by two lowlifes from down Dickerson Road."
USC Campus, Los Angeles, California
"Sanchez and two other teenagers had assaulted a Chinese college student near the USC campus."
Florida, United States
"…the inopportune mug shot available to all, especially in Florida and California, where they were uploaded by county clerks, making it seem as if a disproportionate share of screw-ups came from those states."
California, United States
"…the inopportune mug shot available to all, especially in Florida and California, where they were uploaded by county clerks, making it seem as if a disproportionate share of screw-ups came from those states."
Inland Empire, California, United States
"Geronima had apparently dropped her husband’s torso off a bridge somewhere in the Inland Empire."
Disneyland, Anaheim, California
"Candy Peña had worked concessions at Disneyland in Anaheim."
Lower East Side, New York, New York
"It was 1981 and they put poor Abbott in a halfway house on Manhattan’s Lower East Side."
Central Valley, California, United States
"…men in construction and farming, who made it seem as if the Central Valley was not about prison."
Richmond, California, United States
"If you were from Richmond, or East Oakland, or, like Sanchez, South LA, you might be trained from birth practically to represent your block, your gang, to rep hard, to have pride, to be hard."
East Oakland, Oakland, California, United States
"If you were from Richmond, or East Oakland, or, like Sanchez, South LA, you might be trained from birth practically to represent your block, your gang, to rep hard, to have pride, to be hard."
First Avenue, Seattle, Washington
"Took out his knife and stuck it deep in his attacker’s heart. Guy died immediately, there on First Avenue."
Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California
"‘Did you ever see the green flash,’ she asked him after class, ‘down at Ocean Beach?’"
New Folsom, Folsom, California
"One day they put him in prison clothes and shuttled him back to New Folsom, but not his former block."
Montana, United States
"The following November I traveled from Montana back to the Chicago area, mainly for one reason: So that I could more safely attempt to murder a scientist, businessman, or the like."
Susanville, California
"“Has anyone gotten past an electric fence?” I asked Sammy. “Two guys at Susanville.”"
Salinas Valley, California
"“But how.” “They used something wood to wedge up the bottom of the fence and went underneath. A broom handle, I think. Dude at Salinas Valley climbed. He grounded himself somehow. Almost got over and they shot him down.”"
Los Angeles, California
"“Coyotes had lived in the alley behind the place I’d sublet in Los Angeles. They trotted along the sidewalk past our house in the middle of the day.”"
Graceland, Memphis, Tennessee
"Jimmy Darling had gone to Graceland with a camera and said there was nothing to film there. Nothing to see. Except for the graffiti on the wall surrounding it."
Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California
"Hauser, too, knew the mechanical museum at Ocean Beach. “See Susie Dance the Can-Can,” he said, as proof. The Camera Obscura, where a large dish showed the froth of the waves."
Camera Obscura, San Francisco, California
"The Camera Obscura, where a large dish showed the froth of the waves."
Grace Cathedral, San Francisco, California
"My son likes churches, I told Hauser. When I brought Jackson into Grace Cathedral he had a natural instinct to quiet in the home of someone’s god, not his, as we weren’t religious."
LA River, Los Angeles, California
"One night, I had two dreams about water. In the first one, there was a rainstorm and we watched as the LA River rose. It went over the concrete banks. Hauser dove in to swim, but without having noticed the swift speed of the water."
Martinez, California
"when a convict named Bo Crawford escaped from the old county jail in downtown Martinez."
San Pablo Bay, California
"An occupying force descended around San Pablo Bay."
Pinole, California
"There were stakeouts, armored military vehicles, sharpshooters, teams of dogs, road closures, and thrilling reports that Bo Crawford had left traces or been sighted in Pinole, in Benicia, in Vallejo, Pittsburg, Antioch."
Benicia, California
"There were stakeouts, armored military vehicles, sharpshooters, teams of dogs, road closures, and thrilling reports that Bo Crawford had left traces or been sighted in Pinole, in Benicia, in Vallejo, Pittsburg, Antioch."
Vallejo, California
"There were stakeouts, armored military vehicles, sharpshooters, teams of dogs, road closures, and thrilling reports that Bo Crawford had left traces or been sighted in Pinole, in Benicia, in Vallejo, Pittsburg, Antioch."
Pittsburg, California
"There were stakeouts, armored military vehicles, sharpshooters, teams of dogs, road closures, and thrilling reports that Bo Crawford had left traces or been sighted in Pinole, in Benicia, in Vallejo, Pittsburg, Antioch."
Antioch, California
"There were stakeouts, armored military vehicles, sharpshooters, teams of dogs, road closures, and thrilling reports that Bo Crawford had left traces or been sighted in Pinole, in Benicia, in Vallejo, Pittsburg, Antioch."
Crockett, California
"Two children saw Bo Crawford near the parking lot of the C&H refinery in Crockett."
Rodeo, California
"A waitress at Flippy’s in Rodeo said he came in one morning at dawn, ordered bacon and eggs."
Carquinez Strait, California
"until they finally caught Bo Crawford, hiding in an abandoned shack along the Carquinez Strait just beyond Port Costa."
Port Costa, California
"until they finally caught Bo Crawford, hiding in an abandoned shack along the Carquinez Strait just beyond Port Costa."
San Francisco, California
"He was going to bring his own beverages on the airplane for the long flight from Cancún to San Francisco."
North Beach, San Francisco, California
"Clown Alley was in North Beach, around the corner from a place Kennedy used to frequent, when he didn’t know better."
Market Street, San Francisco, California
"after he started going to the Mars Room, on Market Street, he never went back to the place with the booths."
Powell Street, San Francisco, California
"like the tourists who lined up for the cable car on Powell."
Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, California
"he had worked security for the Warfield Theatre, which was a block down Market from the Mars Room."
Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California
"He’d crashed outside the projects on Potrero Hill and mangled his leg."
Germany, Europe
"He was stationed in Germany."
Central Valley, California, United States
"The whole world, at least this one, the Central Valley, from the mountains to the western horizon, was a gigantic prison."
Taylor Street, San Francisco, California, United States
"He followed that Luxor cab, on his motorcycle, to a residential hotel on Taylor Street. It was on the upper edge of the Tenderloin, at Nob Hill, the Tenderknob, a skeezier building than he would have pictured but it was where she lived."
Nob Hill, San Francisco, California, United States
"It was on the upper edge of the Tenderloin, at Nob Hill, the Tenderknob, a skeezier building than he would have pictured but it was where she lived."
O’Farrell, San Francisco, California, United States
"He parked near her building some mornings, around the corner, on O’Farrell, with a good view of the entrance."
Mexico City, Mexico
"There had been talk of Mexico between Vena and Bo and, before heading there, a quick stop off at Vena’s place to kill her husband, Mack."
Woodside, California
"His apartment on Woodside became a waiting room with no end to the waiting."
Irving Street, San Francisco, California
"There’s a pizza place up Irving, Hauser said. I saw the shining lid of the ocean from Irving Street, the way it rose, on a clear day, like something that breathed, that was alive, down at the end of the avenues."
Tenderloin, San Francisco, California
"It was on the upper edge of the Tenderloin, at Nob Hill, the Tenderknob, a skeezier building than he would have pictured but it was where she lived."
Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico
"He’d been out all night in Cancún and had about ten nightclub stamps inked over the back of his hand."
Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico
"He was more or less on twenty-four‐hour surveillance when this trip he’d planned to Cancún came up. Cheap package thing he’d booked months earlier, before he met Vanessa. He used to like to travel, and it was sad how reluctant he was to go."
Interstate 5, California, United States
"His knee felt like a thing made of brittle plaster that someone had been repeatedly bashing with a ball-peen hammer. It made a crunching noise when he walked. He’d had to use that leg to shift gears all the way down the 5."
Point Reyes, California
"I wish Jackson could see these trees. I never took him here. I didn’t know this place. That it was. Is. He saw redwoods at Point Reyes. These are the other kind, bigger, stranger."
Oakland, California
"Thanks also to Ayelet Waldman; Molly Kovel; Joanna Neborsky; Maya Andrea Gonzalez; Amanda Scheper; Justice Now of Oakland, California; and Paul and Lori Sutton."
San Francisco, California
"Outside is the world from which she has been severed: the San Francisco of her youth and her young son, Jackson."
Great Highway, San Francisco, California
"fog and Irish bars and liquor stores all the way to the Great Highway' (page 33)."
Los Angeles, California
"She lives in Los Angeles."
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York
"For information, address Scribner Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020"
New York, New York
"Description: New York, NY : Scribner, 2018."
Berlin, Germany
"Jacket photograph: Nan Goldin, Amanda in the Mirror, Berlin, 1992"
North Beach, San Francisco, California
"There were times she went to some scumbag’s house, an apartment in North Beach, instead of her own."
Geary Street, San Francisco, California
"If she came out, he put his face shield down, circled on his bike, and was able to follow if she got on the Geary Street bus."
Central Valley, California, United States
"2003 and Romy Hall is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility, deep in California’s Central Valley."
Chicago, Illinois
"The following November I traveled from Montana back to the Chicago area, mainly for one reason: So that I could more safely attempt to murder a scientist, businessman, or the like."
Los Angeles, California
"When I’d moved to Los Angeles three years earlier, that amusement park had seemed like the gateway to my new life. It was the first big vision off the freeway hurtling south, bright and ugly and exciting…"
Los Angeles, California
"The doorman, big bearded guy, said, 'You’re looking for Vanessa, right? She left a message for you, said to give you her address.' She had moved to Los Angeles."
San Francisco, California
"Romy L Hall. Hall prison Stanville. San Francisco life sentence Hall. Jimmy San Francisco teach Art Institute."
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
"After unloading the sink at my apartment, he tried to get me to go drink flaming margaritas with him at a Mexican place; later I drove him to Kaiser Hospital in Hollywood, the Burger King of health care."
Sierra Nevada, California
"This morning I saw a peregrine falcon eating babies from a sparrow’s nest, he replied. A lot of commotion. High drama in the Sierra Nevada."
Reno, Nevada
"…because we were both into classic cars and he was always saying he wanted to take me to Hot August Nights, in Reno."
Sunset District, San Francisco, California, United States
"The city to me was the Sunset District, fog-banked, treeless, and bleak, with endless unvaried houses built on sand dunes that stretched forty‐eight blocks to the beach, houses that were occupied by middle- and lower-middle-class Chinese Americans and working-class Irish Catholics."
Wilshire, Los Angeles, California
"The Polished Knob on Wilshire in Koreatown, a medieval‐themed restaurant with a dungeon in the basement."
Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, California
"For goodbye beers at their bar on Shattuck Avenue, Alex gave Gordon, as a kind of joke, a Ted Kaczynski reader."
South Los Angeles, California
"If you were from Richmond, or East Oakland, or, like Sanchez, South LA, you might be trained from birth practically to represent your block, your gang, to rep hard, to have pride, to be hard."
Whittier, California, United States
"…“I didn’t know that when I met him,” Sammy said, “This fine‐ass guy … and the next thing I know I’m in a motel in Whittier, and it’s two days later.”"