The Clasp

I took so much pleasure in every sentence of THE CLASP, fell so completely under the spell of its narrative tone--equal parts bite and tenderness, a dash of rue--and became so caught up in the charmingly dented protagonists and their off-kilter caper, that the book's emotional power, building steadily and quietly, caught me off-guard, and left me with a lump in my throat.

Michael Chabon

A touching but never sentimental portrait of a trio of quasi-adults turning into adult adults, this is one of those rare deeply literary books that also features -- a plot! From the shores of Florida to the coast of Normandy, wonderful, unforgettable things happen in this enormously hilarious novel. And they are written in a language so beautiful, I gnashed my teeth at Sloane Crosley's talent.

Gary Shteyngart

I opened THE CLASP and immediately realized that I'd been waiting far too long for Sloane Crosley to write a novel. Crosley is a literary addiction. There is no substitute. She is curious. She is smart. She is hilarious and edgy and generous and impossible to stop reading. Moreover, she misses nothing. Her attention to the seemingly smallest details—material, social, psychological—reveal, as the pages turn, an intricately tooled world that is as familiar as it is dazzling and new.

Heidi Julavits

Sloane Crosley's debut novel is hilarious, insightful, and full of characters and situations that only Sloane Crosley could devise. The laugh-out-loud observations and dialogue that make her essays such a delight to read shine through in her fiction too. The Clasp is a gem.

J. Courtney Sullivan

A shrewd exploration of the modern-day late-quarter-life crisis…her signature wit is sharp as ever here. [Crosley] is startlingly good at portraying comically awful characters who would seem cartoonish if they weren’t also so recognizable…Crosley is an incisive observer of human nature in general and of a generation in particular – people circling the age of 30 who foster undue fondness for the retro culture of their youth…For all its humor, Crosley’s prose is equally sharp in delineating her character’s despair…in this highly comic, highly affecting novel

The New York Times

What results is a novel with more verve and imagination than much of the plot-light fare that typically gets the high-literary treatment, a story that shares at least some DNA with ambitious capers like Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch and Marisha Pessl’s Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Crosley, who made her name as a high-profile book publicist, and then as an essayist, chronicling her humorous escapades in the city first for the Village Voice and then in two best-selling collections (2008’s I Was Told There’d Be Cake and 2010’s How Did You Get This Number), brings both sets of skills to bear on The Clasp. Fans of her essays will be pleased to find that she’s just as funny and tenderly deprecating with her fictional characters as she is with herself

Vogue US

It’s laugh-out-loud funny, heart-in-your-throat melancholy and manages to be a Parisian-set caper as well. Joy.

The Debrief

to describe [The Clasp] as a list of its parts does this intelligent, charming book a disservice. Its fast-paced, eventful plot is layered over a warm and insightful look at the intricacies of adult friendship

The Bookseller

Sharp-nibbed…the take-home lessons in integrity and self-knowledge are winningly delivered

Daily Mail

Sharp and funny

Good Housekeeping

Part comedy of manners, part adventure story, this is an inspired first novel…a blast from start to finish

Tatler

Seriously impressive…as smart as it is funny

Glamour

A smart, witty read with a lot of heart

Red

[Crosley’s] prose is the literary equivalent of a light-as-air soufflé, made from recipes by Candace Bushnell and a young Donna Tartt…consistently witty…a real comic talent

Independent on Sunday

Brilliant writing and astutely drawn characters…I couldn’t put it down

Grazia

A thing of pure joy…The Clasp is an absolute delight

Stylist

Crosley’s debut novel showcases much of the same razor-sharp wit as her New York Times bestselling essay collections…she nails it

The Independent

An entertaining homage to Maupassant…There is barely a page of the novel that doesn’t glitter with some nugget of wit or wisdom

Guardian

A sharp, witty coming of age tale – if you work on the principle that of age is now more likely to be 30 than 21

The Pool

A huge hilarious pleasure from start to finish

Woman and Home

Elegant storytelling

i Paper

Perfect beach read, smart, funny and heartfelt.

Ion Magazine

An entertaining homage to Maupassant…There is barely a page of the novel that doesn’t glitter with some nugget of wit or wisdom

Guardian

Crosley’s debut novel showcases much of the same razor-sharp wit as her New York Times bestselling essay collections … she nails it

The Independent

A smart, witty read with a lot of heart

Red

Brilliant writing and astutely drawn characters … I couldn’t put it down

Grazia

[Crosley’s] prose is the literary equivalent of a light-as-air soufflé, made from recipes by Candace Bushnell and a young Donna Tartt … consistently witty … a real comic talent

Independent on Sunday

Sharp and funny

Good Housekeeping

A thing of pure joy…The Clasp is an absolute delight

Stylist

Highly comic, highly affecting novel

The New York Times

Seriously impressive…as smart as it is funny

Glamour

A novel with more verve and imagination than much of the plot-light fare that typically gets the high-literary treatment, a story that shares at least some DNA with ambitious capers like Donna Tartt’s The Goldfinch and Marisha Pessl’s Special Topics in Calamity Physics.

Vogue US