1. Stray By Stephanie Danler
2. Stephanie Danler Instagram
3. Stephanie Danler Age
4. Stephanie Danler Divorce
5. Stray By Stephanie Danler By John

By Stephanie Danler In her carefully concocted but unfermented new memoir, “Stray,” Stephanie Danler writes that when she was born, in the winter of 1983, her mother actually named her Jessica. Stephanie Danler knows about the long-term damage of substance abuse in the family, how the trauma can manifest itself decades later, and how recovery is never out of the cards. Danler's is a reflective redemption story told from experience.

When Stephanie Danler published her debut novel in 2016, her status in the literary world skyrocketed. Sweetbitter, which traced the turbulent coming of age of a back waiter in New York City, received glowing reviews, was adapted for television and changed Danler’s life. Selling her book meant she no longer had to wait tables and, at 31 years old, could finally afford to live alone. Danler documents the years that followed her life-altering book deal in her new memoir, Stray. But the book isn’t a rags-to-riches story. Instead, Danler explores the ugly areas of her past, sorting through troublesome memories to make room for positive change.

In Stray, Danler splits her life into sections. The first and second, titled “Mother” and “Father,” describe her relationships with her parents. The former is an alcoholic and, when Danler was in college, became disabled because of a brain aneurysm. The latter, with whom Danler lived in high school, struggled with an addiction to cocaine. The third and final section of the book, “Monster,” recounts Danler’s affair with a married man. In those pages, the author wrestles with how many of her parents’ self-destructive tendencies she absorbed while growing up, and then acted on as an adult.

The memoir centers on damaging behavior— substance abuse, physical abuse and painful cycles of neglect—but is written in gripping and refreshingly plain terms. While in a fight with her mother, Danler pushes her down a flight of stairs. In the aftermath, she is disturbed by the physical manifestation of her rage. Afterward, Danler writes, “Once I had tipped the power balance, I was at sea, sinking with regret.” Years later, she watches her now handicapped mother lose control while driving her car. The crash yields a devastating conclusion for the author—that someone must be responsible for her mother, and that it can’t be her. The same goes for her father.

Quietly, as Danler realizes the role she needs to play in both her parents’ lives, Stray becomes a memoir about loss. In these moments she asks what it means to lose someone who is still very much alive, and how to rebuild broken bonds. Rootless and in mourning, Danler realizes that in order to usher in the new life she has earned, she’ll have to excavate the one she grieves.

Stray By Stephanie Danler

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Stephanie Danler Instagram

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Stephanie Danler Age

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. Stray is a moving, sometimes devastating, brilliantly written and ultimately inspiring exploration of the landscapes of damage and survival.

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.

Stephanie Danler Divorce

Lucid and honest, heart-breaking and full of hope, Stray is an examination of what we inherit and what we don’t have to, of what we have to face in ourselves to move forward, and what it’s like to let go of one’s parents in order to find a peace–and family–of one’s own.

Stray By Stephanie Danler By John

If you liked the read, vote for Stray for the May LibraryReads list by 4/1!