Stephanie Danler

"From the author of the best-selling Sweetbitter comes an intimate, searingly honest memoir of growing up the child of addicts, of how that turbulent, often harrowing experience has affected her at every stage of her life, and of how she has struggled to transcend this unwanted legacy"--

A Memoir

Stray

I adore this book. I find Stephanie’s prose heartbreakingly beautiful yet cruel. Her observations of California feel very Joan Didion meets Lisa Taddeo’s “The Animal” but with a voice of its own. 

This book makes no conclusions. It’s a journey through the questions with no answers and its honesty cuts straight to the heart.

Renee Blankenship

"Epiphanies aren't lightning bolts. They are a hummed note, a prayer mumbled constantly, brought to the surface given the right conditions."

So much of what I loved about Sweetbitter shined even more brightly in Stephanie Danler's memoir STRAY. The writing! The writing. Oh gosh, the writing. I feel inadequate to describe what exactly kept me turning these pages. When it comes to the way Danler is able to meander through her life, connecting feelings and emotions about everything from a neglected childhood to a complicated adult relationship. Danler's descriptions of her childhood, adolescence and the lessons she still was learning through early adulthood were stark, harsh and yet still invoked hope and emotion with each line in a way that kept me hanging on her every word.

Ana Couto

Although I didn't love STRAY quite as much as the author's debut novel, SWEETBITTER, I still found it incredibly captivating. Danler doesn't hold back in this memoir --- she criticizes herself, her parents, and her relationships. I love a highly introspective viewpoint, and Danler certainly delivered in that regard. I'm still not quite sure how Danler managed to cover so many topics (addiction, fear of commitment, precarious relationships with both her parents, etc.) in just 233 pages, but she did. And she did it brilliantly. Needless to say, Danler has definitely cemented herself as an auto-buy author for me!

Thank you to Knopf & NetGalley for the free book in exchange for an honest review!

Meniah

Alexandra Coleman

Kelly Wynne

kate

Rachel O.

From the bestselling author of Sweetbitter, a memoir of growing up in a family shattered by lies and addiction, and of one woman's attempts to find a life beyond the limits of her past. After selling her first novel--a dream she'd worked long and hard for--Stephanie Danler knew she should be happy. Instead, she found herself driven to face the difficult past she'd left behind a decade ago: a mother disabled by years of alcoholism, further handicapped by a tragic brain aneurysm; a father who abandoned the family when she was three, now a meth addict in and out of recovery. After years in New York City she's pulled home to Southern California by forces she doesn't totally understand, haunted by questions of legacy and trauma. Here, she works toward answers, uncovering hard truths about her parents and herself as she explores whether it's possible to change the course of her history. Stray is a moving, sometimes devastating, brilliantly written and ultimately inspiring exploration of the landscapes of damage and survival.

Stray A Memoir

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