Want

A Novel

By: Lynn Steger Strong

Narrated by: Andi Arndt

Grappling with motherhood, economic anxiety, rage, and the limits of language, Want is a fiercely personal novel that vibrates with anger, insight, and love.

Elizabeth is tired. 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. 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.

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. But her timing is uncanny. 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.

In Want, 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.

©2020 Lynn Steger Strong (P)2020 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Good Reading!

I totally enjoyed Lynn Stegar Strong novel.
I highly recommend it. I read it while I traveled. Could’nt wait o see how it ended.

Actually really enjoyed this

I can see why some people wouldn’t like this book but I enjoyed it. If you are an educated woman with young kids struggling to survive and thrive in this economy it will probably resonate on some level. It’s a different type of book: diary/memoir style and not a story that fits into a neat package. I was hesitant to read after seeing negative reviews but I’m glad I went ahead with it.

A Little Disappointing

I expected to be more engaged and attached to the main character. I wanted to care more than I did.

Want

"We were just privileged enough to think that we could live outside the systems and the structures and survive it, but we failed."

"Want" not only offers an alternative path to my life choices, it painfully and tenderly describes a family's
"decision" to live hand-to-mouth without systematic protections and support. Elizabeth, the protagonist, and her husband pursue their passions over paychecks.

When Elizabeth decides to birth a child, she understands that her "body almost single-handedly bankrupted" them. It is only because of Elizabeth's privilege and her personal safety net that this family is able to survive the wreckage of the "American Dream."

Better than expected

This book similar to Luster which is a fantastic book. This book caught my attention and I couldn’t stop listening.