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The Long Answer
A woman considers pregnancy, motherhood, and the nature of female relationships in this profound and provocative novel.
Twelve weeks pregnant for the first time, Anna speaks to her sister on the other side of the country and learns she has just miscarried her second child. As this loss strains their bond and complications with Anna's own pregnancy emerge, her tenuous steps towards motherhood are shadowed and illuminated by the women she meets along the way, whose stories of the children they have had, or longed for, or lost, crowd in.
The Long Answer is a stunning novel of secrets kept, and secrets shared. Deeply empathetic and hugely absorbing, it unravels the intimate dynamics of female friendship, sisterhood, motherhood and grief, and the ways that women are bound together and pulled apart by their shared and contrasting experiences of pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage, and infertility.
Twelve weeks pregnant for the first time, Anna speaks to her sister on the other side of the country and learns she has just miscarried her second child. As this loss strains their bond and complications with Anna's own pregnancy emerge, her tenuous steps towards motherhood are shadowed and illuminated by the women she meets along the way, whose stories of the children they have had, or longed for, or lost, crowd in.
The Long Answer is a stunning novel of secrets kept, and secrets shared. Deeply empathetic and hugely absorbing, it unravels the intimate dynamics of female friendship, sisterhood, motherhood and grief, and the ways that women are bound together and pulled apart by their shared and contrasting experiences of pregnancy, abortion, miscarriage, and infertility.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published June 21, 2022
58 people are currently reading
6617 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 248 reviews
February 3, 2023
no matter how much i read, i will never ever ever get sick of the feeling of picking up a book with no expectations at all and just loving it right away.
this book, which i knew almost nothing about besides the publisher usually does right by me, was immediately unputdownable. it was emotional and full of heart, so clever and real and so lovely. an incredibly complex topic that often comes out saccharine and clichéd was made totally new here.
i'm blown away!
bottom line: this book is so underrated. help.
4.5
------------------
tbr review
going to start a design company dedicated to making these blobs of color book covers and become a bajillionaire
(thank you to the publisher for the copy)
this book, which i knew almost nothing about besides the publisher usually does right by me, was immediately unputdownable. it was emotional and full of heart, so clever and real and so lovely. an incredibly complex topic that often comes out saccharine and clichéd was made totally new here.
i'm blown away!
bottom line: this book is so underrated. help.
4.5
------------------
tbr review
going to start a design company dedicated to making these blobs of color book covers and become a bajillionaire
(thank you to the publisher for the copy)
September 26, 2023
3,5/5
Kiedy już ją czytałam to byłam mocno zaangażowana, ale jakoś nie miałam potrzeby do niej wracać.
Ciekawa, trudna i smutna.
Kiedy już ją czytałam to byłam mocno zaangażowana, ale jakoś nie miałam potrzeby do niej wracać.
Ciekawa, trudna i smutna.
July 1, 2022
After trying to slowly push my way through a book that I didn't like (or didn't like the characters in it), I finally decided to give up and try to find something I liked.
Well, I'm grateful I picked this up. Several stories bound together by one narrator and the issues of babies--having them, losing them, not having them for whatever reasons and choices.
And, of course, the timing could not have been better in terms of current events.
I read this in two sittings--the stories of the sisters and the strangers the narrator meets--all stories of girls growing into women who do or do not have babies, what becoming a mother means to different women--and something the book makes clear is that while there are commonalities, every woman's experience of pregnancy and motherhood is different.
The relationships are complicated as are the characters and I cared about them all. I guess that's part of what I look for, at least in a conventional novel: characters I care about.
Well, I'm grateful I picked this up. Several stories bound together by one narrator and the issues of babies--having them, losing them, not having them for whatever reasons and choices.
And, of course, the timing could not have been better in terms of current events.
I read this in two sittings--the stories of the sisters and the strangers the narrator meets--all stories of girls growing into women who do or do not have babies, what becoming a mother means to different women--and something the book makes clear is that while there are commonalities, every woman's experience of pregnancy and motherhood is different.
The relationships are complicated as are the characters and I cared about them all. I guess that's part of what I look for, at least in a conventional novel: characters I care about.
July 31, 2023
Sama nie wiem co myśleć o tej książce. Kiedy ją odkładałam nie miałam ochoty do niej wracać, a z drugiej strony niesamowicie mnie do niej ciągnęło.
July 6, 2022
A tender, thought-provoking portrait of how we are sustained by the stories of others, how the act of storytelling and storylistening can nurture and fuel us. One of the most nuanced and intelligent narratives on sisterhood and female friendship that I've ever encountered. I cannot wait to read what Hogeland writes next.
February 18, 2023
I truly do not know what to say about this book. I wept multiple times, and have been thinking about it since I picked it up months ago. It is an intensely personal and intensely difficult book for me to read, but every page was so worth it. I’ve never felt so seen as I have in The Long Answer.
The writing was incredible, full stop. The author’s choices made for an incredibly gut wrenching experience, and it reflected my own experiences with pregnancy loss so well that it took my breath away. I can’t recommend this book to everyone, but it is one of the best books I’ve read in recent memory.
The writing was incredible, full stop. The author’s choices made for an incredibly gut wrenching experience, and it reflected my own experiences with pregnancy loss so well that it took my breath away. I can’t recommend this book to everyone, but it is one of the best books I’ve read in recent memory.
July 20, 2022
This is the kind of book you lose yourself in for an entire weekend. The prose is delicate but magnetic, personal in detail and powerful in effect. A linked series of stories within stories, it follows the narrator Anna through pregnancy and a personal tragedy that reshuffles and refracts through the entire novel. She is drawn to the stories of the women she meets, mostly strangers, while trying to resolve her own difficulties with her sister — a subtle conflict deftly woven between these layered narratives.
The narration naturally shifts between first and third person, with Anna absorbing these women’s stories with affecting attention to detail and emotion. How Hogeland does this is a testament to her talents. Even when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it, and found my own thoughts and observations enriched by the experience of seeing through this narrator’s lens. Great significance is given to the seemingly trivial but deeply familiar aspects of daily living - to the chores, TV shows, and yoga classes that make up our lives - and I think this is part of what makes this book so compelling. The world it presents is recognizable, even cozy, but beneath all of that is terrible sadness, heartbreak, and secrets. Also how it moves between settings, the east coast and west coast, and how these landscapes infuse and influence each other through the personal stories lived within them.
This book is beautiful and heartbreaking, but also hopeful. It shows how the act of storytelling is foundational to how we understand, cope with, and live our own lives. I was especially moved by the Corrie chapter, and will be thinking of it for a long time.
The narration naturally shifts between first and third person, with Anna absorbing these women’s stories with affecting attention to detail and emotion. How Hogeland does this is a testament to her talents. Even when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it, and found my own thoughts and observations enriched by the experience of seeing through this narrator’s lens. Great significance is given to the seemingly trivial but deeply familiar aspects of daily living - to the chores, TV shows, and yoga classes that make up our lives - and I think this is part of what makes this book so compelling. The world it presents is recognizable, even cozy, but beneath all of that is terrible sadness, heartbreak, and secrets. Also how it moves between settings, the east coast and west coast, and how these landscapes infuse and influence each other through the personal stories lived within them.
This book is beautiful and heartbreaking, but also hopeful. It shows how the act of storytelling is foundational to how we understand, cope with, and live our own lives. I was especially moved by the Corrie chapter, and will be thinking of it for a long time.
August 4, 2022
Stumbled on this book in the new release section of my library. This was not on any of the “must read” lists I subscribe to but it is so much better than the books marketed to me.
I found this book fascinating for the following reasons
1-it a very different take on motherhood. The book covers a lot infertility, abortion, miscarriage, pregnancy and grief
2-the way it’s written held my attention. The book is tied together by a narrator named Anna. The chapters read like individual stories. Each of the chapters/stories are long. This may feel endless to some readers but I found it absorbing. Call them conversations with friends and strangers.
3-I googled the author and found an essay she wrote for LitHub about her own grief. And, wow!
I found this book fascinating for the following reasons
1-it a very different take on motherhood. The book covers a lot infertility, abortion, miscarriage, pregnancy and grief
2-the way it’s written held my attention. The book is tied together by a narrator named Anna. The chapters read like individual stories. Each of the chapters/stories are long. This may feel endless to some readers but I found it absorbing. Call them conversations with friends and strangers.
3-I googled the author and found an essay she wrote for LitHub about her own grief. And, wow!
July 18, 2022
Interesting project. Not really compelling as a novel. Hogeland assembles a series of narratives all related in some way to pregnancy--pregnancy and birth, miscarriage, various versions of abortion, difficulty conceiving, egg donation, etc. These stories are shared first or second hand with the narrator, who has her own pregnancy journey. The linked stories are very talky, with more telling than scene. Timely subject matter and skillfully put together, but the project (looking at different experiences related to pregnancy) dominates rather than the characters or a central story.
March 14, 2024
Based on the author's attempts to get pregnant, The Long Answer takes a deep dive into the world of pregnancy. In listening to other women's difficult experiences with pregnancies, egg donations, abortion, miscarriages and infertility, she creates a world were a bleak truth comes to light. There's never an easy or a happy ending. Strive is always around the corner. There's a bravery in baring your own tale and intertwining that difficult story (along with your sister's and mom's) with experiences of complete strangers. With a keen ear and heart-felt writing, Anna Hogeland's debut is one that will stay with you for a long time.
February 5, 2023
Such a powerful, moving novel. I loved it!
June 25, 2025
If you haven’t lived the experience of the women of this really interesting novel (with autobiographical breaks) it is probably hard to understand or to rate highly. But if you lived the loss, infertility, beholding babies who should be your baby’s age, and how that weaves into your relationships with those women. I know what it’s like to be this author and look for these women and wanting to hear the long answer.
I am a parent after RPL and will note I probably wouldn’t have liked this before having an earth side child since secondary infertility is covered in a story as well as TFMR. It covers such a wide range of experiences that for me personally would’ve been a struggle during infertility. But since I live in the “after”, I had a deep appreciation for this book for helping me reflect on my experience that still has an impact on me every day
I am a parent after RPL and will note I probably wouldn’t have liked this before having an earth side child since secondary infertility is covered in a story as well as TFMR. It covers such a wide range of experiences that for me personally would’ve been a struggle during infertility. But since I live in the “after”, I had a deep appreciation for this book for helping me reflect on my experience that still has an impact on me every day
July 20, 2022
Anna is a true pioneer, writing on a topic that so hungrily needs exposure. Through captivating short stories that each read like a book in themselves, The Long Answer covers the many different outcomes that can unfold when one becomes pregnant -- all told by the narrator, Anna, whose own story you won't forget.
Each evening after putting this book down, I felt less alone and more at peace with the way I have been navigating this unique life stage myself -- though nothing in my life had changed! The Long Answer is tenderly and so bravely written, demanding patience for one of the few things in modern life that must occur in its own time and way, with its own excruciating vulnerability. Patience...and yet I longed to read this book cover to cover in just one evening!!
Read this book, and you will find yourself making a mental checklist of close friends to whom you can gift it, already beginning in your head the achingly overdue conversations that it will open up. At once, a book that is both urgent and poetic that you won't want to put down.
Each evening after putting this book down, I felt less alone and more at peace with the way I have been navigating this unique life stage myself -- though nothing in my life had changed! The Long Answer is tenderly and so bravely written, demanding patience for one of the few things in modern life that must occur in its own time and way, with its own excruciating vulnerability. Patience...and yet I longed to read this book cover to cover in just one evening!!
Read this book, and you will find yourself making a mental checklist of close friends to whom you can gift it, already beginning in your head the achingly overdue conversations that it will open up. At once, a book that is both urgent and poetic that you won't want to put down.
June 22, 2022
This book was so beyond what I was expecting? I picked it up on a whim at the bookstore because it was displayed on a front shelf & I loved the cover, and I am so glad I did. A novel surrounding pregnancy and the impacts, motherhood, family, and what we sacrifice. The story begins with Anna and Margot, sisters, but not close, then manifests into three stories about Elizabeth, Corrie, and Marisol, as narrated by Anna, with perspectives on egg donation, infertility, pregnancy loss and complications, the right to choose, and motherhood. I loved this book, the diverse set of characters, and the stories told. I will say this book needs a massive TW for those sensitive to the topic of pregnancy - I am usually not super impacted but felt incredibly emotional reading the complications and subsequent D&E of Anna's pregnancy at 20 weeks. Beautiful debut novel by Anna Hogeland, and I am so glad to have picked it up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 7, 2024
an empathetic and honest portrayal of pregnancy, sisterhood, and grief.
Anna is pregnant for the first time and seeks to encourage her sister, Margo, who has just miscarried what would’ve been her second child. As the sisters seek to support one another through their own struggles, Anna learns about three different women and their own relationship with pregnancy.
More focused on the loss of the unborn than the joys of motherhood, I was really impressed with the nature of which heavy topics such as grief, abortion, and miscarriage were handled. Though the stories were told by Anna, it felt more like stand alone short stories. However, the underlining theme of two sisters reconnecting through similar experiences was what tied everything together. Ultimately, we never know someone’s story and death does not have to define you.
Anna is pregnant for the first time and seeks to encourage her sister, Margo, who has just miscarried what would’ve been her second child. As the sisters seek to support one another through their own struggles, Anna learns about three different women and their own relationship with pregnancy.
More focused on the loss of the unborn than the joys of motherhood, I was really impressed with the nature of which heavy topics such as grief, abortion, and miscarriage were handled. Though the stories were told by Anna, it felt more like stand alone short stories. However, the underlining theme of two sisters reconnecting through similar experiences was what tied everything together. Ultimately, we never know someone’s story and death does not have to define you.
September 26, 2022
Debating on my rating but sitting between 4 and 5 stars. I was totally absorbed into this intimate story and found it so unique and thoughtful.
I’ll circle back with more thoughts.
I’ll circle back with more thoughts.
February 13, 2023
My reading tastes as of late seem to fall in the camp of "lost women," if we can use "lost women" as a descriptor for women figuring out (their) life. THE LONG ANSWER is beautiful in its sparseness, questions of motherhood and sisterhood and womanhood haunting a series of loosely connected vignettes. I am woefully out of the loop on book news, so I can't tell if this title is truly going unnoticed or if it's just me, but let me publicly and loudly declare: this is one to grab. I loved it.
June 21, 2022
All my reviews live at https://deedispeaking.com/reads/.
TL;DR REVIEW:
The Long Answer is an emotional, sad, beautiful novel of stories within a story about pregnancy, motherhood, and grief. It begs not to be rushed but flows like water.
For you if: You like to cry, and you don’t mind relatively plot-less books.
FULL REVIEW:
Thank you, Riverhead, for thinking of me for this book and sending it my way — you were right, I loved it. The Long Answer is a sad, beautiful, deeply personal book of stories within a story.
Our narrator, who shares the author’s first name, is an MFA student expecting her first baby. The book begins when her sister calls to tell her that she’s had a very early miscarriage. That serves as a jumping off point for her to tell Anna about her best friend’s recently revealed past. In the next section, a young woman from Anna’s prenatal yoga class tells Anna her story. And so on — as Anna’s own difficult journey unfolds, she comes to nearly collect women’s stories about children they had, or didn’t have, or couldn’t have, or wished they’d had.
Somehow, this book manages to be absorbing but also unhurried; it flows like water but begs not to be rushed. Especially as you hit the halfway point, which rings like a gong and redirects the river more directly into your heart. I found myself completely absorbed in each woman’s story, forgetting, temporarily, that we were inside another novel. And after each one ended, my appreciation for this novel grew. The structure and stories here illuminate the deep, universal connections between women forged by pregnancy, motherhood, and grief. It’s about many parts of womanhood that people don’t talk about, yes, but also so much more than that. It’s also about sisterhood (literal sisterhood, like with her sister), which was another element I loved.
I am not a mother, nor have I attempted to become one, and yet this was still very emotional and deeply resonant. It will likely be a difficult read for many, but I imagine it could help release locked-up portions of a heart as well.
Thank you, Anna Hogeland, for giving us so much of your heart so generously.
CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Pregnancy; Miscarriage; Grief; Fetus with severe congenital abnormalities; choice of D&E; Abortion; Infertility; Body hatred, allusion to an eating disorder
TL;DR REVIEW:
The Long Answer is an emotional, sad, beautiful novel of stories within a story about pregnancy, motherhood, and grief. It begs not to be rushed but flows like water.
For you if: You like to cry, and you don’t mind relatively plot-less books.
FULL REVIEW:
Thank you, Riverhead, for thinking of me for this book and sending it my way — you were right, I loved it. The Long Answer is a sad, beautiful, deeply personal book of stories within a story.
Our narrator, who shares the author’s first name, is an MFA student expecting her first baby. The book begins when her sister calls to tell her that she’s had a very early miscarriage. That serves as a jumping off point for her to tell Anna about her best friend’s recently revealed past. In the next section, a young woman from Anna’s prenatal yoga class tells Anna her story. And so on — as Anna’s own difficult journey unfolds, she comes to nearly collect women’s stories about children they had, or didn’t have, or couldn’t have, or wished they’d had.
Somehow, this book manages to be absorbing but also unhurried; it flows like water but begs not to be rushed. Especially as you hit the halfway point, which rings like a gong and redirects the river more directly into your heart. I found myself completely absorbed in each woman’s story, forgetting, temporarily, that we were inside another novel. And after each one ended, my appreciation for this novel grew. The structure and stories here illuminate the deep, universal connections between women forged by pregnancy, motherhood, and grief. It’s about many parts of womanhood that people don’t talk about, yes, but also so much more than that. It’s also about sisterhood (literal sisterhood, like with her sister), which was another element I loved.
I am not a mother, nor have I attempted to become one, and yet this was still very emotional and deeply resonant. It will likely be a difficult read for many, but I imagine it could help release locked-up portions of a heart as well.
Thank you, Anna Hogeland, for giving us so much of your heart so generously.
CONTENT AND TRIGGER WARNINGS:
Pregnancy; Miscarriage; Grief; Fetus with severe congenital abnormalities; choice of D&E; Abortion; Infertility; Body hatred, allusion to an eating disorder
July 22, 2022
TW: Pregnancy, Infertility, Miscarriage, Abortion, Fetus with Abnormalities, chosen D&E
Anna is newly pregnant for the first time when she learns that her sister just miscarried her second child. A rift is created in an already strained relationship, but is quickly filled with stories of motherhood from other women she meets along the way. There is, if not diverse, a variety of experiences portrayed in this book, all which feel genuine to the author and her writing.
For me, this focused and compelling portrait on fertility, pregnancy, and the pursuit of motherhood was full of triggers. I don’t have many, but the triggers I have consume parts of me that I’ve buried. So, I usually avoid books with them. But, as distressed as I was while reading this, I couldn’t put the book down. And despite feeling exposed and unsettled, especially since a good portion of the book takes place in the “movie set”-like city I currently live in (and have lived in previously when I was much younger), I found myself entranced by Hogeland’s writing.
Usually when you read a book or consume any type of content, our instinct is to seek similarities. And yes, I found many. Even though the color of my skin, my upbringing, and my socio-economic status differed from the women in this book, which should and does color my experience of motherhood; what struck me was the intimacy of the grief we all shared.
I debated how much of myself I would share in this review. Instinctively, I wanted to share everything, as a means of healing for myself and others who need to hear it. But, as cathartic as this reading experience was, today, in this moment, I still feel like a ghost. I am both haunted by and haunting parts of myself, drifting through motherhood feeling like a fraud, feeling like I don’t deserve it. The honesty in Hogeland’s writing allowed me to confront my ghosts. I confronted them, but haven’t excised them. And that makes it difficult for me to give more of myself in this review, in this space.
But I did want to share, for those of you who need to hear it, that the road to motherhood and motherhood itself are extremely complicated and it’s okay if you feel defeated, afraid, and even angry. This book didn’t heal me. But it did open the door and let the light in.
Thank you to Riverhead for the gifted ARC!
Anna is newly pregnant for the first time when she learns that her sister just miscarried her second child. A rift is created in an already strained relationship, but is quickly filled with stories of motherhood from other women she meets along the way. There is, if not diverse, a variety of experiences portrayed in this book, all which feel genuine to the author and her writing.
For me, this focused and compelling portrait on fertility, pregnancy, and the pursuit of motherhood was full of triggers. I don’t have many, but the triggers I have consume parts of me that I’ve buried. So, I usually avoid books with them. But, as distressed as I was while reading this, I couldn’t put the book down. And despite feeling exposed and unsettled, especially since a good portion of the book takes place in the “movie set”-like city I currently live in (and have lived in previously when I was much younger), I found myself entranced by Hogeland’s writing.
Usually when you read a book or consume any type of content, our instinct is to seek similarities. And yes, I found many. Even though the color of my skin, my upbringing, and my socio-economic status differed from the women in this book, which should and does color my experience of motherhood; what struck me was the intimacy of the grief we all shared.
I debated how much of myself I would share in this review. Instinctively, I wanted to share everything, as a means of healing for myself and others who need to hear it. But, as cathartic as this reading experience was, today, in this moment, I still feel like a ghost. I am both haunted by and haunting parts of myself, drifting through motherhood feeling like a fraud, feeling like I don’t deserve it. The honesty in Hogeland’s writing allowed me to confront my ghosts. I confronted them, but haven’t excised them. And that makes it difficult for me to give more of myself in this review, in this space.
But I did want to share, for those of you who need to hear it, that the road to motherhood and motherhood itself are extremely complicated and it’s okay if you feel defeated, afraid, and even angry. This book didn’t heal me. But it did open the door and let the light in.
Thank you to Riverhead for the gifted ARC!
June 19, 2023
Yes, 5 stars! This book! Exquisite! It made me grip my chest, weep, stare into middle distance, whisper “wow” to myself. I picked this up at the library without knowing anything about it, and I’m so glad I did.
Anna Hogeland is such a great writer. I loooooooove the way this book grapples with truth and the thin line between fiction and nonfiction. It is so beautiful and compassionate and specific. She writes about sensations that I’d experienced but had not described to myself in words (hence the whispered wows). The book speaks to the universality and specificity of miscarriage and abortion and grief. It’s a hand reaching out for the reader. Really beautiful.
Also, I love that Anna is a therapist and a writer. I think that comes through in the way she listens to her characters and lets them unfold. Wonderful. And I love the title!!
Anna Hogeland is such a great writer. I loooooooove the way this book grapples with truth and the thin line between fiction and nonfiction. It is so beautiful and compassionate and specific. She writes about sensations that I’d experienced but had not described to myself in words (hence the whispered wows). The book speaks to the universality and specificity of miscarriage and abortion and grief. It’s a hand reaching out for the reader. Really beautiful.
Also, I love that Anna is a therapist and a writer. I think that comes through in the way she listens to her characters and lets them unfold. Wonderful. And I love the title!!
July 10, 2022
I read this book in 2 sittings, couldn't put it down. It is honest, intimate, courageous, and compelling. Beautifully written, it sends the message that we are connected through sharing our stories even those that are most difficult. This is a book that heals, and I believe will inspire others to share their stories as well. Highly recommend!
December 31, 2022
Loved this beautiful novel about pregnancy family and loss.
March 7, 2024
3.5*
This was an interesting experience. Intense and captivating.
As someone who likes to listen to people, and who is told a lot of stories, especially by women, I found the stories in this novel particularly raw and emotional.
The title makes so much sense now.
I also loved how real the storytelling was kept, because this is exactly how stories are shared. Through lots of winding details and contextualization. Otherwise, crucial bits would be missed.
This was an interesting experience. Intense and captivating.
As someone who likes to listen to people, and who is told a lot of stories, especially by women, I found the stories in this novel particularly raw and emotional.
The title makes so much sense now.
I also loved how real the storytelling was kept, because this is exactly how stories are shared. Through lots of winding details and contextualization. Otherwise, crucial bits would be missed.
September 3, 2022
This book felt like a beautiful short story collection connected with themes of infertility, motherhood, trauma, general pregnancy, and societal expectations of being a woman. While the book isn't necessarily an actual short story collection, it certainly feels like it, as you follow the interconnected stories of various women within the main character, Anna's, life. There don't appear to be many stories that delve so deeply into many different women's infertility or otherwise complicated pregnancies, so this book felt really raw, honest, and unique in that way. I also listened to podcasts about this book, which really enlightened me to see how personally connected Hogeland is to the novel's characters, as well. Hogeland endured a complicated pregnancy that, ultimately, ended due to potentially adverse health issues post-birth. Anna in the novel is also a literary person, so I liked her analysis of words society uses and intentionally doesn't use in relation to topics of abortion, infertility, and miscarriage. Overall, this book felt so beautiful and to me really displays the power and necessity of greater education of pregnancy, infertility, and potential complications that may come up within pregnancy.
July 19, 2022
This is such a beautiful, compelling book. I read it in two days and was unable to talk to anyone while I was reading it, it was so completely absorbing. The novel, which traces the narrator, Anna’s, pregnancy alongside other women's stories told to the narrator over the phone or on long walks. it's such a beautiful exploration of conversation and friendship: how we obscure, omit, and confess our stories to friends and sisters, but often more directly even to strangers. Each story on its own is perfect: a whole and complete world that has a time, place, and set of characters distinct from the rest. However, they all build together into a larger, gut-punch of a story as Anna the narrator turns to these stories in desperation halfway through the novel. I kept thinking in the sentences from the novel, wanting to know what happens next, and was sad to be done thinking and reading alongside Anna, her sister, the people she talks with or about (though – the ending was good enough to make up for the sadness). I have already sent this to friends and family members who have read it in single days. I cannot recommend it highly enough!
August 26, 2022
This novel is brilliant, friends. Absolutely brilliant, and like nothing I’ve ever read before. Hogeland’s writing style took my breath away, and left me speechless. The honesty and tenderness that the author writes with made it feel like I was sharing a bottle of wine with one of my closest friends, trading secrets, fears, and discussing some of our most private experiences. At times, it felt like reading someone’s diary. I’d be totally engrossed in the story, then snap out of it, look around and say, “Should I be reading this? It seems off-limits!” The stories told are very deep, personal, intense, and intimate. Pregnancy and motherhood are the central themes of this novel, so the trigger warnings are a bit lengthy. Miscarriage, abortion, infertility, loss of child due to complications, and grief are discussed at large. The subject matter is quite delicate, so please be aware. The Long Answer is one of the most powerful novels I’ve read in a long time, and these women and their fascinating stories will stick with me for years to come. 5/5 stars for this deeply moving story!
July 20, 2022
This novel is filled with writing so concise and incisive, so breathlessly rewarding that it might’ve been a distraction if not for the nature of the narrative--which is that these are stories that have crystalized in the dark. Stories that have shaped the women who silently carry them. Stories that have just now, gained a special freedom in the audience of a stranger--a permission to start at the beginning, and include every fear and doubt, reverie, and full description--and that is how stories are told in The Long Answer. From the beginning, without reservation, and once. This book is a feat in storytelling, in electric writing, and in a complex form of honesty that is okay losing track of the consequences of what we share--because what is a novel, if not a story told to us by a stranger.
5/5 Stars. I read this book in a day, and it will be with me into the nursing home.
-Richard Stock
5/5 Stars. I read this book in a day, and it will be with me into the nursing home.
-Richard Stock
July 26, 2022
I recently finished Anna Hogeland's The Long Answer. I think this is one of the most important books I have read in a very long time. I literally couldn't put it down. The characters were so real, the dialog rings true, but even more, the focus on women's lives - all kinds of women - all dealing with issues specific to women makes this a breakthrough novel. Pregnancy, motherhood, miscarriage, surrogacy, termination of a pregnancy - how is it that these events lived every day across the globe by half the human population have so rarely been written about? How is it that these powerful events that are central to women's identities and daily lives have not been shared by authors and readers? Especially now, as the rights of those who can become pregnant are under assault, this literary voice is so very needed. It is a must read.
Carol Stein-Payne
Carol Stein-Payne
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2022
This book was so touching that I woke up two nights in a row crying. Anna Hogeland brought back memories that I had never shared and had kept in my heart but which were too hard to talk about. I found friends in her characters who also had miscarriages, troubled pregnancies, or abortions. Carrying a child changes the way you live and alters your relationships if something goes wrong. Anna Hogeland concisely and kindly describes emotional traumas women experience when something negatively affects a pregnancy and what options a woman faces in a crisis. An excellent book for women and men, both of whom will recognize, appreciate, and understand more clearly similar situations in their lives. Also, even though the book was touching, it was addictive and a pleasure to read
June 20, 2022
I couldn't put this book down.
Hogeland writes with fire. I can't think of any other novel that deals so well with the question of becoming pregnant, the trials and travails that accompany this huge event. Hogeland weaves together the stories of a half-dozen women that the main character, Anna, meets when she's pregnant herself. There are stories within stories, stories told from one to another, and stories that flow within family.
The Long Answer is a book about friendship, secrets, and what it means to conceive in the world we live in now. I want to give it to everyone I know.
Hogeland writes with fire. I can't think of any other novel that deals so well with the question of becoming pregnant, the trials and travails that accompany this huge event. Hogeland weaves together the stories of a half-dozen women that the main character, Anna, meets when she's pregnant herself. There are stories within stories, stories told from one to another, and stories that flow within family.
The Long Answer is a book about friendship, secrets, and what it means to conceive in the world we live in now. I want to give it to everyone I know.
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