Amanda Stern knows exactly how to keep us entangled and enthralled. She is A BRILLIANTLY PRECISE WRITER, and in this first novel she puts the right words in the right place to create a novel that is STARTLING, WRENCHING, BEAUTIFUL AND POWERFULLY RESONANT.” ––Joanna Scott (author of Arrogance and Various Antidotes)
“Elegant and spare, Amanda Stern’s daring first novel SPARKS THE HEART AND IGNITES THE IMAGINATION, introducing A BRIGHT NEW VOICE to the constellation of American Literature.” –Melanie Rae Thon (author of Sweet Hearts and First, Body)
“Amanda Stern’s prose is SPARE AND GORGEOUS. This tough little book is like AN ELEGANTLY CLAD PUNCH IN THE GUTS.“ –Maggie Estep (author of Diary of an Emotional Idiot)
“Amanda Stern has rendered A POWERFUL IMPRESSION of confusion, ambivalence, regret, rage, and occasional bliss with an exactitude that is, itself, funny and endearing.” –Hal Hartley (The Unbelievable Truth, Trust, Flirt)
The Long Haul is a harrowing novel about the selfish parts of love. A woman gives herself wholeheartedly to a guy only to find out he’s a worthless prick. What makes this novel special is that she renders the heartbreak with EASE AND GRACE. This touching story is less about the affair than a woman fighting to survive it.” — Victor LaValle (Slapboxing with Jesus and The Ecstatic)