Stray: A Memoir

This woman knows how to write. She has an incredible nuanced voice. Her experiences are tender and painful and beautiful and raw and entertaining to boot. I cannot say enough about how talented of a writer Stephanie is. I just hope she keeps blessing us all with more books.

Just stunning. Not an uncommon story. But the way she writes, with jewel after jewel on the page, analytical descriptions, poetic beauties, she is one of the great American novelists I think. This is one of those books you could start reading immediately after you finished it. I did not find it depressing at all. And it captures LA like no other book.

The writing is good. The author had a sad formative life and I,m glad she was able to rise above iT. But I didn’t learn much and it is not really a must-read distinctive book (for me).

A Wonder-filled book of survival and recovery from an alcohol and drug filled family. When I read the first half of the book, I thought what a spoiled & blaming person the writer was. . As I read further, the author shared the growth of survival.The author's recovery into an adult person, with awareness of past baggage, was a joy to witness. The pain and suffering, reality testing, and uncertainty all seemed very real. The author's emergence into a viable adult was a journey that many adult children can relate to.For me, this was a book of catharsis, sharing, and becoming as whole as possible. I recommend the book highly.

This was heavy but so well done and beautifully written. It captures Southern California, particularly LA, in intimate, honest detail. It characterizes how addiction doesn’t discriminate with much of Stephanie’s upbringing involving well-educated and successful family members. Through flashbacks and Stephanie’s introspection, it shows the profound consequences addiction has on children and what they carry into their adult lives. It’s raw and painful, but what really did it for me was the sense of homelessness she created. Each short chapter is titled after a significant location, and they jump back and forth in time, coming together in a disjointed, almost nomadic way that creates this unsettling feeling of belonging nowhere and having nothing to hold on to - which is exactly what, I think, the title refers to.

...., family, addiction, harmful romantic relationships and all. If you loved Sweetbitter or memoirs like Wild, Educated, Glass Castle or Leslie Jamison's The Recovering, Stray is for you. The author is not easy on herself as she moves from a childhood marred with violence and addiction to adulthood. There are many tender moments (of a single mom trying to raise two girls before a tragic accident) and renewal (how to accept a more stable kind of love and adult relationship not based on conflict is something many of us can relate to, I'd wager). One of those books where the effect will linger long after you put it down. A short, intense read. Like Dept. of Speculation, the kind of book you'll pick up year after year.

Very depressing book. The story jumped around, each segment equally discomforting. Difficult to finish, did so only because of the price paid and hoping for something redeeming.

I was captivated by this book. Sadly, it brought up a lot of things from my childhood…things I’d forgotten. I kept having to set it down to pull up something long-forgotten. The writing is so good, so authentic. I’m very sensitive to writing that feels contrived. This wasn’t. I think I will read it again.

I felt at times that it was a bit confusing in relation to timeline, but a very powerful story all around. Would recommend.

Ich habe das Buch im englischen Original gelesen und habe erst ein wenig gebraucht, um mich an den Schreibstil zu gewöhnen. Dann konnte ich das Buch nicht mehr weglegen, weil ich gefesselt war von den Erzählungen und Erinnerungen aus der Vergangenheit der Autorin, die sie bis in die Gegenwart begleiten und geformt haben. Die Autorin schreibt sehr persönlich über Themen wie Abhängigkeit, Missbrauch oder Vernachlässigung, die sie beim Heranwachsen innerhalb der Familie erlebt hat, wie sie diese Erfahrungen in Beziehungen geprägt haben und ihre eigenen Lebenseinstellungen und Lebensgewohnheiten stark beeinflussen. Aber sie schreibt auch von der Suche diese Muster zu durchbrechen, von der Liebe zu Menschen, von der Hoffnung und trotz aller schwierigen Umstände von Dankbarkeit über alle Erfahrungen. Denn diese Erfahrungen haben ihr letztlich auch eine eigene Familie beschert.