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For readers of Emma Cline and Melissa Broder, the story of an untethered, sardonic young woman falling for an older radio host… and then for his daughter.
When aspiring writer Allison moved to L.A., she expected her life to finally take shape. After years of dwelling in grief over her brother's unexpected and untimely death and allowing her mercurial parents' feelings and desires to infect her own, she feels ready become the main character in her own story again. Yet Allison continues to feel inextricably tied to both her parents, particularly her unpredictable father, and weighed down by her the loss of her brother. In L.A., as with anywhere else, she feels lonely and adrift, unable to write and barely scraping by as an English teacher.
After a serendipitous run in with famed radio DJ Reid Steinman, an idol of her father's and her late brother's, Allison is rapidly drawn under his spell, while also developing an unanticipated, tangled relationship with his adult daughter, Maddie. She's forced to balance her romance with Reid with her gnawing desire for the intoxicatingly charming Maddie, as it becomes increasingly evident that she and Allison's late brother share more than a few qualities. As Allison's relationships with the equally self-possessed father and daughter deepens, she struggles to establish the boundaries of her own identity.
Through candid self-awareness, keen observations, and deliciously wry humor, First Time, Long Time asks, what happens to a young woman's goals when she becomes involved with a famous man whose needs seem so much louder than her own? And how might she move forward when so much in her past remains unresolved?
" Allison's wry humor and searching nature make her a companionable narrator, but the plot sputters...It's a mixed bag." —Publishers Weekly
"A novel with many threads that never quite come together." —Kirkus Reviews
"It's bold to create a fictional persona with a strong resemblance to the provocateur and radio host Howard Stern. It's even bolder to imagine a love-triangle between an aspiring novelist, the Stern-esque radio host, and his twenty-something daughter. Amy Silverberg has the wit, insight, and gumption to pull it off." —W Magazine
"[A] funny, high-spirited novel...The book humorously describes a lesser-seen side of Los Angeles: the unglamorous neighborhood of Van Nuys, the shame and humiliations of fame, the agony of trying—and failing—to be someone else, and the thrill of discovering yourself along the way." —Oprah Daily
"First Time, Long Time by Amy Silverberg is the consummate L.A. story. Here is a brilliant novel about searching for answers that can't be found and making grand mistakes and becoming more the person you're meant to be, all held together by the yearning and striving and ambition of any creative person who finds themselves in the City of Angels. Silverberg is a witty, charming storyteller with a bold, unique voice that makes the writing leap off the page and into your heart." —Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist and Hunger
This information about First Time, Long Time was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Amy Silverberg is a writer and comedian. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing & Literature from USC. Her fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories, The Paris Review, Granta, The Idaho Review, TriQuarterly, The Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. Her stand-up has been featured on Comedy Central, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. She also writes television, most recently for The Movie Show on the SYFY Channel.
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