The Hard Way

by Julie Luongo

Book Overview

Although gifted with wit and artistic talent, Lucy Venier lacks focus. As she tries various careers, from crime reporter to sleep-deprived law student, her offbeat life experiences fuel her insatiable desire to create. Unfortunately "starving artist" isn't a desirable job title, so Lucy hides her creativity under her business suit. As if figuring out her life isn't hard enough, all of Lucy's friends are getting married, but Lucy's not sure if she's...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0765355868
• ISBN13: 9780765355867
• Release Date: August 2010
• Publisher: Forge
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

great debut!

Fall in love with Lucy. She is quirky, flawed, a little hard of hearing, caring, confused..in other words, human with a heart. Lucy is not perfect, but she is beautiful. And in her I found a true kindred spirit. I want to sit with Lucy outside the 'crazy cabin', in front of a camp fire, drinking lagers and singing silly songs until the sun comes up! Lucy's story of self discovery is not foreign to any of us, but, unfortunately, many of us go it alone, too afraid to show anyone our vulnerable side. But, with Julie Luongo's book, in its warmth, in its comedy, in its pains and heartaches, in its tears and frustrations, we are shown a person who isn't afraid to learn, to grow, to laugh, to find comfort and acceptance in herself and the world around her, and to share. And, one of the BEST parts of this book for me is I found one quote deeply profound and it will stay with me forever...I don't want to give the story away, but I will say this paragraph shows Julie Luongo's mastery not only of story telling, but the softer, more poetic side to her writing...can you guess which passage I'm talking about? Just read the book to find out ;p

You've Got A Friend

Lucy Venier is a good friend! Her story parallels the lives we live every day, lives that take such twists and turns with people weaving in and out and then becoming a part of us in such a subtle way. Julie Luongo weaves a tale of the ups and downs of relationships. Lucy's family and friends, oh, and Lucy, herself, are characters that we've all known and loved. As Lucy struggles to find her truth, we laugh out loud and occasionally cringe at the choices she makes. But the development of Lucy and her relationships is a triumph and a true example of living life with gusto! Philadelphia color looms large in this narrative. Well structured and fun to read, I plan to take the book "down the shore" and read it again.

wonderful character study

In 1990 with the death of the family Venier's patriarch, the three female survivors, his wife and two daughters, cope differently. His spouse Margaret finds a new love Eli; his oldest daughter the married pharmacist Nancy lights candles every night; his younger offspring by almost two decades Lucy returns to journalism school. A few years later, Lucy graduates from college. She seeks contentment in her chosen writing career and her personal relationships. However Lucy finds little happiness in terms of deciding between becoming a big city crime beat reporter, working the Web where the future lies, or following the money into advertising. On her love front, she goes through men like potato chips Over time Lucy and Nancy, somewhat estranged due to their age difference and their reaction to their dad's death begin to reconcile and then there is another second chance with Ben. Lucy may have found that elusive butterfly of life in the normally tragic third act as she wisely understands that people support those they care about even if that means acting as a compassionate bridesmaid. In a way this is more a series of vignettes of a coming of age young woman whose choices at times hurt her, but she is the epitome of the Sinatra tune, That's Life: "Each time I find myself, flat on my face, I pick myself up and get back in the race." Readers will appreciate this wonderful character study that is a deep chick lit tale in which Lucy finds her groove THE HARD WAY, but her way. Harriet Klausner

A triumph of character development and genre-bending

Let's hope that this is just the beginning of a long line of Luongo's books... and don't pigeonhole this book as chick lit -- it speaks far more to the human condition. Lucy Venier (the protagonist) is the equivalent of a modern day Everywoman -- forever searching, enlightening, living, growing, loving. And like Lucy the emerging artist, Luongo has create an artwork, no an art gallery, of her own -- No longer confined to the traditional structure of a novel, Luongo has created a fascinating new genre yet to be named... how about `Collage in Vignettes' or `Braided Shorts'? But, no it's more than those...this new genre perfectly compliments the journey of the protagonist, from scene to scene, job to job, relationship to relationship, artwork to artwork. A great read!

You need this book

Funny, smart, touching, and superbly well written. You'll love this book, your friends will love this book. Julie has done an amazing job with Lucy - we all know a Lucy in our own lives, and you can't help but love her. I can't wait for the next book!