Review: California Gold

California Gold by John Jakes
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A novel set in California 1886-1910

All sorts of famous Californians made guest appearances in this novel set in San Francisco and various other California locations. Despite the title of the book it does not include the California gold rush years.

Author John Jakes is known for producing extremely long novels set in various parts of the USA. As I'm a Californiaphile and member of the California Reading Goodreads group I wanted to read this book, and as far as learning more about California history, I was not disappointed.

Sadly, the novel contained some graphic gratuitous sex scenes that I could have lived better without. Because of that, I won't attempt to read any of his other novels. I agree with the reviewer who wrote that California Gold is a "romance novel written for white males." [Peter Kalnin]

It was disconcerting to see well-known Californians showing up. It felt like a literary form of name-dropping. For example, when Mack and Nellie were eating dinner near a campfire in Yosemite, who should hike up to them but John Muir himself. Nellie introduces Muir to Mack as "my friend." Later in the novel we get to meet fictionalized Jack London. Nellie's employer is William Randall Hearst. At one time Mack takes on a job working for Leland Stanford, founder of Stanford University. Thomas Starr King makes an appearance as well. He was a Unitarian minister whose grave is one of the few known resting places allowed in the San Francisco city limits. It is on Unitarian property.








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