“A lovely memoir in essays. . . [‘The Crane Wife’ is] about what we need, what we can survive with, what we deny ourselves while lying to ourselves. And it’s no surprise to learn that the entire memoir is as outstanding as that initial essay. . . The writing is elegant, airy, precise. The author has a really compelling voice. . . I highly urge you to add it to your to-read list if you enjoy the title essay.”
—Roxane Gay

"In The Crane Wife, Hauser undertakes a new way for her to tell stories from her life, playing with history and personal history, exploring the possible hidden truths in her family's past and her own. The result is like interconnected short stories but about her life, the person she is and was, maybe even the person she never knew herself to be. Funny, exciting, vulnerable—truly visionary."
—Alexander Chee, author of Edinburgh and Queen of the Night

"The Crane Wife is brilliant and beautiful - the vulnerability of her viral essay is expanded to include immense humour, pondering and further misadventures of the heart. An absolute must-read. I will be gifting this book all year long" 

-- Frances Cha, internationally bestselling author of IF I HAD YOUR FACE

"In this perceptive and probing work, Hauser brilliantly parses the myths that shaped her understanding of love. . . Sparkling. . . A thrillingly original deconstruction of desire and its many configurations" 

― Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Hauser is a delightful and agile writer, capable of speaking in multiple registers, but what all of her essays have in common is honesty, wisdom, a certain loopiness-she's an old soul with a fresh perspective and an energetic, wandering mind. The result is an imaginative and beautiful memoir, one that'll be passed through the secret sisterhood of crane wives for years" 

-- Jennifer Senior,  author of All Joy and No Fun and former New York Times opinion columnist

Readers looking for something a little different in a memoir will not be disappointed. The strongest essays exemplify Hauser's keen awareness about life so far: things don't always work out as planned, love is complicated, and trusting your gut is, sometimes, the best option. 

― Library Journal

Intimate, witty and beautifully crafted 

― Elle (UK)

"I am a kind of breakup pro," Hauser writes late in thislively, thoughtful, and often funny set of personal essays-at a point when the reader has learned much about how unlucky in love she's been. . . Hauser makes a welcome effort to talk about both love and culture in unconventional ways. . . A smart, inviting, and candid clutch of self-assessments 

― Kirkus Reviews

A staccato, funny, barbed, metaphor-laced, and thought-provoking memoir-in-essays. . . No matter her focus, Hauser's deductions about human nature are always arresting, delving, fresh, and exhilarating 

― Booklist

“Perceptive and witty...A principal pleasure of [Hauser’s] first work of nonfiction is the fact that she’s ‘a kind of joyful sponge for the affectations and interest of the people I love.'...For readers, Hauser’s agony is, if not ecstasy, then enchanting.”
—Shelf Awareness

"Utterly brilliant."
—The Bookseller (UK)