Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams, The Recovering, and The Gin Closet Once I started reading this book, I kept reading it compulsively-in a kind of fever-and since finishing, I’ve found myself returning frequently to its insights, grateful for their fervor, their complexity, and their grace.' It’s less that this novel peels away the surfaces of daily life-school pick-up, subway commutes, vomiting toddlers-to expose the deeper truths dwelling underneath, and more that it exposes the ways those deep truths already saturate every crevice of our day-to-day lives. The voice is electric and nuanced it feels possessed by a rare, inexplicable urgency. 'Lynn Steger Strong’s Want is a fierce, funny, and consistently surprising exploration of friendship, bankruptcy, motherhood, and that slippery thing we call privilege.

Victor LaValle, author of The Changeling I tore through this book in two days and when it was over I wanted to start it again.”

Want is honest and funny and profoundly moving. Is there any time or space left for Elizabeth outside of these roles? Lynn Steger Strong illustrates the heroic act of one woman trying her best to keep it all together succeeding and failing and trying again. 'Teacher, mother, best friend, wife and more. Strong ingeniously undercuts conventional wisdom about what it means to be a success in this world.' 'A deeply intelligent and sneakily moving novel about having the ground fall away beneath your feet. Emma Cline, NYT bestselling author of The Girls 'Furious, aching and razor sharp, Want is a beautiful book.' In Want, Lynn Steger Strong explores the subtle violences enacted on a certain type of woman when she dares to want things-and all the various violences in which she implicates herself as she tries to survive. Sasha is facing a crisis, too, and perhaps after years apart, their shared moments of crux can bring them back into each other’s lives. When she reaches out to Sasha, her long-lost childhood friend, it feels almost harmless-one of those innocuous ruptures that exist online, in texts. As she tries to balance her dream and the impossibility of striving toward it while her work and home lives feel poised to fall apart, she wakes at ungodly hours to run miles by the icy river, struggling to quiet her thoughts.

Years after coming to New York to try to build a life, she has found herself with two kids, a husband, two jobs, a PhD-and now they’re filing for bankruptcy. Grappling with motherhood, economic anxiety, rage, and the limits of language, Want is a fiercely personal novel that vibrates with anger, insight, and love.Įlizabeth is tired. We will be presenting this event virtually, using Zoom.

Lynn steger strong want