Buy The Hard Way.

Kristine Huntley reviewed The Hard Way for Booklist Magazine 4/15/08:

The Hard Way
By Julie Luongo
Release: June 2008.

272p. Forge, paperback, $13.95 (9780765316677).
REVIEW. First published April 15, 2008 (Booklist).

Like the novels of Melissa Bank, Luongo’s first offering is a novel-in-stories. Her protagonist, Lucy Venier, spends her twenties floundering in careers and relationships that are wrong for her. Lucy tries her hand at journalism, advertising, sales, and even law school, but none of the professions feel like the right fit for the artistic Lucy, who is most at home when painting or filling her surroundings with her creations. Her taste in men is even more misguided: she dates a feckless, unfaithful newspaper editor; an arrogant cad who magnifies her self-loathing; and an incomprehensible loser who gambles away $800 on her credit card. The only winner of the bunch is Ben, who is both charming and funny and believes in Lucy, but his proposal and their subsequent engagement feel suffocating. Though Lucy’s boyfriends aside from Ben are almost unrealistically unappealing, her sharp observations (“I’ve stopped reading women’s magazines, so I feel less and less trivial everyday”) make her a heroine worth rooting for. — Kristine Huntley

The Hard Way was reviewed on 2/25/08 in Publisher’s Weekly:

The Hard Way Julie Luongo. Forge, $13.95 paper (272p) ISBN 978-0-7653-1667-7

After college, Lucy Venier’s search for happiness takes her on a bumpy but ultimately fulfilling ride in Luongo’s witty debut. Should Lucy be a Philly crime reporter, a Web content writer, an advertising whiz, or should she follow in her sister’s footsteps and go to law school? Or should she embrace her gifted inner artist? Although Lucy’s amazingly adjusted in some ways, she’s woefully behind in others. Sometimes her boyfriends—an older newspaperman who uses her for sex; an abusive recovering alcoholic and a boorish store manager who talks like a wasted rapper—lead her down some unfortunate paths. But Lucy’s irrepressible spirit helps her survive, while surprise reconnections with her sister and a former fiancé support her realization that life is an act of art-in-progress. Though it has the trappings of chick lit, this is much wiser and frequently funnier; it reads like a novel-in-stories, each piece contributing to the overall effect of a young woman coming—often roughly—into her own. (June)

Stephanie Lessing, Author of Miss Understanding and She’s Got Issues, read it and said:

“I absolutely fell in love with Lucy. Julie Luongo is a masterful writer, nimble and quick and insanely sincere. I will from this day forward read every word she ever writes, unless of course she decides to do stand up instead. In that case, I’ll be in the front row, clapping my ass off.”

Daisy Fried, Author of She Didn’t Mean to Do It and My Brother is Getting Arrested Again said:

“These linked stories, about the years in a young woman’s life between coming-of-age and being-of-age are highly entertaining and highly intelligent, formally invigorating and emotionally satisfying. Lucy’s blunders and triumphs as she negotiates sex, love, family, and the difficulties of living a creative life, make for a terrific tale, thanks to Julie Luongo’s wit, her timing—and her big heart.”

Juliet Latham, English Professor, Temple University & Ursinus College said:

“The Hard Way is relentlessly funny and wise. Lucy stumbles over the obstacles of relationships and career and brings the reader right along with her, laughing the whole way. Julie Luongo’s wry one-liners belie a sensitive and honest story about maturity and self-awareness. Lucy is exactly what we love and hate about ourselves, and we love her all the more for pointing it out with such wit and forgiveness!”

Jason Schossler, Writer, Poet, and Creative Writing Professor, Ursinus College said:

“In ten swiftly moving stories Ms. Luongo gives us a strong female protagonist who is up to her frizzy-haired head with the tough and often grotesque complexities of love. And yet through it all our heroine never loses her sense of humor. It is her most endearing trait. I would treat Lucy to sautéed foie gras at Le Bec Fin just for the side-splitting pleasure of hearing her tell me why I’m not going home with her at the end of the evening.“

Lucy Venier changes careers and boyfriends as often as she changes her socks. Although gifted with wit and creativity, the one thing Lucy lacks is focus. While being someone she’s not, be it a crime reporter or a sleep-deprived law student, Lucy’s one constant is art. Her insatiable desire to create is fueled by her offbeat life experiences. But unfortunately by day Lucy must hide her creativity under her business suit.

As if figuring out her life isn’t hard enough, all of Lucy’s friends are getting married, and Lucy’s not sure if she’s capable of living happily ever after. With a string of loser former flames, giving up seems to be the best option. Then there’s Ben—Lucy’s Mr. Right, who comes along at completely the wrong time.

In the tradition of The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing, The Hard Way is a scrapbook of stories from Lucy’s life. As she discovers more about the people around her, will she finally begin to understand herself?

***
Early Praise for The Hard Way

“I absolutely fell in love with the character of Lucy. Julie Luongo is a masterful writer, nimble and quick and insanely sincere.”
—STEPHANIE LESSING, AUTHOR OF MISS UNDERSTANDING

“These linked stories are highly entertaining and highly intelligent, formally invigorating and emotionally satisfying. Lucy’s blunders and triumphs as she negotiates sex, love, family, and the difficulties of living a creative life, make for a terrific tale, thanks to Julie Luongo’s wit, her timing—and her big heart.”
—DAISY FRIED, AUTHOR OF SHE DIDN’T MEAN TO DO IT

Read more early praise.