What do you think?
Rate this book
The Clasp
Part comedy of manners, part treasure hunt, the first novel from the writer whom David Sedaris calls "perfectly, relentlessly funny" Named a Hot Fall Read by Huffington Post, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, The Chicago Tribune, Buzzfeed, Library Journal, Hello Giggles, Bustle and TIME Kezia, Nathaniel, and Victor are reunited for the extravagant wedding of a college friend. Now at the tail end of their twenties, they arrive completely absorbed in their own lives--Kezia the second-in-command to a madwoman jewelry designer in Manhattan; Nathaniel the former literary cool kid, selling his wares in Hollywood; and the Eeyore-esque Victor, just fired from a middling search engine. They soon slip back into old Victor loves Kezia. Kezia loves Nathaniel. Nathaniel loves Nathaniel. In the midst of all this semi-merriment, Victor passes out in the mother of the groom's bedroom. He wakes to her jovially slapping him across the face. Instead of a scolding, she offers Victor a story she's never even told her son, about a valuable necklace that disappeared during the Nazi occupation of France. And so a madcap adventure is set into motion, one that leads Victor, Kezia, and Nathaniel from Miami to New York and L.A. to Paris and across France, until they converge at the estate of Guy de Maupassant, author of the classic short story "The Necklace." Heartfelt, suspenseful, and told with Sloane Crosley's inimitable spark and wit, The Clasp is a story of friends struggling to fit together now that their lives haven't gone as planned, of how to separate the real from the fake. Such a task might be possible when it comes to precious stones, but is far more difficult to pull off with humans.
385 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 6, 2015
279 people are currently reading
10071 people want to read
About the author
Sloane Crosley
24 books2,639 followersSloane Crosley is the author of the novels Cult Classic and The Clasp, as well as three books of essays collections, most recently Look Alive Out There and the New York Times bestsellers I Was Told There'd Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number. A two-time finalist for the Thurber Prize for American Humor, her work has been selected for numerous anthologies. Her next book, Grief Is for People, will be out in early 2024. A contributing editor at Vanity Fair, she lives in New York City.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 939 reviews
October 30, 2015
Damn you, Mindy Kaling and your "everyone cool is reading The Clasp" tweet. It was over-written, boring and had no likable characters. And slow as hell - it took me two long weeks to read. Never again, Mindy.
November 24, 2015
Well this was absolutely splendid.
I like Sloane a lot, but I've always liked her with a kind of aggressive defensiveness -- I know she is the cute new thing (still, even after two bestsellers), that many people find her overly precious and frivolous, but I know too that I am squarely in her target demo, and that, as I've said elsewhere, reading her essays is a bit like reading a rarefied version of my own life. I put her in whatever category it is that also holds Emily Gould: a smart young(ish) lady writer whom many find to be especially perceptive and clever and zeitgeisty -- and just as many others find trite and intolerable, and long ferociously for her to fail.
And just like Emily, after a few very successful collections of essays, Sloane has turned to fiction. So I was wary; although I did like Emily's Friendship, I knew that it was not high art, not really great literature, just perfectly serviceable and fun -- in short, something that I would have to defend myself for enjoying. I was expecting as much from The Clasp.
Delightfully, I was wrong. This book is terrific.
Here we have the story of three college friends now a half-dozen years post-graduation. They are in a bit of a nonurgent love triangle, they are all creating greater or lesser fictions of the lives they've crafted for themselves and trying to believe them. They are brought together at the wedding of another friend, which winds up setting into motion a quest that will bring them all to France, each on a very different journey although they do it (sort of) together. Kezia, a jeweler's assistant, is searching for the only artisan seemingly in the entire world who can save the weird prototype her loony boss has created. Victor, recently fired and teetering on the brink of serious isolation and depression, is searching for a necklace that has not been seen since the Nazis stole it from its rightful owner. Nathanial, a self-obsessed screenwriter who, in his mid-twenties, is beginning to fear that his best days are irretrievably behind him, is searching for... well, a good time, some French girls to fuck, and some delicious cheese. The overlapping adventure that ensues is zany, hilarious, tragic, poignant, and revelatory.
So first of all, these characters are marvelous. Our mains especially, but the supporting cast too is well drawn and believable. For ex, here's a very cool thing Sloane does: for various reasons, at different times, each character describes the plot of de Maupassant's "The Necklace," and each explains it pretty differently, revealing huge chunks of personal slant, memory, and motivation. How clever is that? What a great way to do characterization!
Or another for ex: all the parts in France (not Paris, mind you, but the little town of Rouen) are so, so real -- clearly Sloane has been there, walked those cobblestones and eaten in those restaurants. She even has a bead on the particulars of a French person trying to speak English, replete with articles wrongly left in: "And if you have not eaten food, I have made the anchovies avec cream. Unless you are not eating the fish?" says the sweet but stern proprietress of a bed & breakfast in which two of our heroes find themselves one evening.
Second of all, Sloane's trenchant wit is very much on display, so all the way through, the book is ebullient and joyful to prance around in. Here's an incisive little bit I liked:
Here's another:
Third -- and most delightfully -- this book is just extremely well done, on a nuts-and-bolts level, which, gallingly, is rarer and rarer these days. It's well put-together in terms of plot arc, character development, and pacing; it's got real layers, from surface characterization to deeply built-in literary allusions to well-researched and well-explained digressions on jewelry and history and culture. It moves confidently and smartly through time and space, hauling you along by the scruff while you giggle all the way.
So anyways, in summation: ooh la la, trés bien, Sloane. I was expecting to be pleased and instead I was totally wowed. More, more, more!
I like Sloane a lot, but I've always liked her with a kind of aggressive defensiveness -- I know she is the cute new thing (still, even after two bestsellers), that many people find her overly precious and frivolous, but I know too that I am squarely in her target demo, and that, as I've said elsewhere, reading her essays is a bit like reading a rarefied version of my own life. I put her in whatever category it is that also holds Emily Gould: a smart young(ish) lady writer whom many find to be especially perceptive and clever and zeitgeisty -- and just as many others find trite and intolerable, and long ferociously for her to fail.
And just like Emily, after a few very successful collections of essays, Sloane has turned to fiction. So I was wary; although I did like Emily's Friendship, I knew that it was not high art, not really great literature, just perfectly serviceable and fun -- in short, something that I would have to defend myself for enjoying. I was expecting as much from The Clasp.
Delightfully, I was wrong. This book is terrific.
Here we have the story of three college friends now a half-dozen years post-graduation. They are in a bit of a nonurgent love triangle, they are all creating greater or lesser fictions of the lives they've crafted for themselves and trying to believe them. They are brought together at the wedding of another friend, which winds up setting into motion a quest that will bring them all to France, each on a very different journey although they do it (sort of) together. Kezia, a jeweler's assistant, is searching for the only artisan seemingly in the entire world who can save the weird prototype her loony boss has created. Victor, recently fired and teetering on the brink of serious isolation and depression, is searching for a necklace that has not been seen since the Nazis stole it from its rightful owner. Nathanial, a self-obsessed screenwriter who, in his mid-twenties, is beginning to fear that his best days are irretrievably behind him, is searching for... well, a good time, some French girls to fuck, and some delicious cheese. The overlapping adventure that ensues is zany, hilarious, tragic, poignant, and revelatory.
So first of all, these characters are marvelous. Our mains especially, but the supporting cast too is well drawn and believable. For ex, here's a very cool thing Sloane does: for various reasons, at different times, each character describes the plot of de Maupassant's "The Necklace," and each explains it pretty differently, revealing huge chunks of personal slant, memory, and motivation. How clever is that? What a great way to do characterization!
Or another for ex: all the parts in France (not Paris, mind you, but the little town of Rouen) are so, so real -- clearly Sloane has been there, walked those cobblestones and eaten in those restaurants. She even has a bead on the particulars of a French person trying to speak English, replete with articles wrongly left in: "And if you have not eaten food, I have made the anchovies avec cream. Unless you are not eating the fish?" says the sweet but stern proprietress of a bed & breakfast in which two of our heroes find themselves one evening.
Second of all, Sloane's trenchant wit is very much on display, so all the way through, the book is ebullient and joyful to prance around in. Here's an incisive little bit I liked:
Rich people had a thing for outdoor showers. The needed to reconnect with nature. Victor, who had the occasional roach problem, knew just how unnecessary this was. If you do nothing, nature will reconnect with you. Only people safe in the knowledge that their moments of roughing it are fake and their moments of comfort are real get a kick out of standing on a rock and fiddling with a corroded knob.
Here's another:
She debated sharing her thoughts with him. Was this a person to whom confessions are made? All of a sudden their whole relationship felt unreal, as if she had fabricated it, even in college. Nathaniel was a guy she had met because they had been smart and stupid in equal measure, and that landed them on the same campus.
Third -- and most delightfully -- this book is just extremely well done, on a nuts-and-bolts level, which, gallingly, is rarer and rarer these days. It's well put-together in terms of plot arc, character development, and pacing; it's got real layers, from surface characterization to deeply built-in literary allusions to well-researched and well-explained digressions on jewelry and history and culture. It moves confidently and smartly through time and space, hauling you along by the scruff while you giggle all the way.
So anyways, in summation: ooh la la, trés bien, Sloane. I was expecting to be pleased and instead I was totally wowed. More, more, more!
February 12, 2021
I wish all books were this much fun.
January 24, 2016
A central plot device/metaphor in this book involves an over-the-top costume jewelry necklace ("the Starlite Express") whose magnetic clasp is not up to the task of supporting the overly extravagant and weighted, rough-edged, unprocessed ornaments the necklace's iconoclastic, self-centered designer insists on hanging upon it. The dreamy necklace thus sheds, rejects, its wearer.
Similarly, the designer insists on using cloisonné -- (please bear with me on the QVC jewelry show talk here) -- insists on incorporating cloisonné into the necklace in a manner in which it is not intended to be used. Cloisonné is one of those things you'd recognize if you see it. Basically, it involves pouring brightly colored enamels into an ornate, usually flowery setting, where they harden and set into a beautiful and durable pattern. However, this young diva designer insists on pouring the enamels into an unstable, essentially warped base. Hence, the usually durable and beautiful cloisonné ornamentation cracks and flakes away, leaving behind a mere unfinished "color by numbers" outline, as one character describes it. Essentially, the necklace resets itself, catalyzes a kind of do-over or forced restart.
How does all these jewelry and necklace imagery work as metaphors for conveying essential identity conflicts that arise when one's emerging adult self reveals itself as somehow incompatible with all the fanciful dreams with which one has been freighted since idealistic and inexperienced youth? Very well, I think, in the case of this book- at least a 3.5 star degree of well.
Now, I'm not a jewelry person. With the exception of two significant rings, the only ornaments I ever wear are necklaces and bracelets from the fair trade store, which are usually made out of recycled bottle caps or bike chains or plastic grocery bags or something. And when they break, as they inevitably must, it never generates in me the desire to engage in deep postmodern musings about the palimpsest and the simulacra and whatnot. I usually just chalk it up to, what can I expect when I'm unwilling to ever pay more than twelve dollars for some trinket? So, imagine my surprise to find myself so very engaged by Crosley's novel, which uses not only jewelry-making and jewelry and necklaces as motifs for conveying meaning, but is also structured around and based off yet another literary work also "about" jewelry and necklaces: specifically, Guy de Maupassant's "THE Necklace" (emphasis mine), a story which also functions as a central plot device in the novel. Yet - perhaps like a repaired V.2 of the Starlite Express necklace - somehow all this unlikely mish-mash works.
I read the second half of this during arduous travel that involved questing for something in a way, and this worked out extremely well, since the latter 50% of the book involves a kind of European scavenger hunt/road trip/Amazing Race kind of scenario.
This portion of the novel also functions as a kind of Bildungsroman, or whatever that genre might be called in our modern era, when very-late-blooming is oh so common. And so, our questing young (but not that young) adult protagonists, experiencing different degrees of unsuccess in their professional fields and in search of maturation and self actualization, are, as they themselves admit, several solid years too old anymore to chalk up their developmental delays and lost-ness to a quarterlife crisis. Nor, with our longer lifespans, are they yet safely within the broad realm of what could be termed a midlife crisis. There would need to be some new interim descriptive term for what they are going through, and the novel is concerned with exploring this limbo.
I'm aware Crosley is a successful humorist/essayist, and though I've never read any of her prior works, it seems to me that her talent in these areas must have helped her create a debut novel that avoids the mumblecore banality of your typical "privileged liberal arts college grads in postgrad crisis" work of fiction. Instead, Crosley is witty and deft enough to offer up something vaguely reminiscent of Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Joseph Andrews, or Tom Jones. Like Fielding and Austen, Crosley has a bighearted and sympathetic "people who live in glass houses..." view of her bumbling, misguided, sometimes annoying protagonists, and her seeming "there but for the grace of God went I" brand of empathy is contagious and redeeming.
In the end, Crosley offers an accomplished first novel that explores our nascent adulthood revelations that the raw, collegiate dreams on which we've hung our futures may or may not be held up by our mature wants and capabilities, and maybe that's okay - probable, desirable, even? - and what do we do then?
Similarly, the designer insists on using cloisonné -- (please bear with me on the QVC jewelry show talk here) -- insists on incorporating cloisonné into the necklace in a manner in which it is not intended to be used. Cloisonné is one of those things you'd recognize if you see it. Basically, it involves pouring brightly colored enamels into an ornate, usually flowery setting, where they harden and set into a beautiful and durable pattern. However, this young diva designer insists on pouring the enamels into an unstable, essentially warped base. Hence, the usually durable and beautiful cloisonné ornamentation cracks and flakes away, leaving behind a mere unfinished "color by numbers" outline, as one character describes it. Essentially, the necklace resets itself, catalyzes a kind of do-over or forced restart.
How does all these jewelry and necklace imagery work as metaphors for conveying essential identity conflicts that arise when one's emerging adult self reveals itself as somehow incompatible with all the fanciful dreams with which one has been freighted since idealistic and inexperienced youth? Very well, I think, in the case of this book- at least a 3.5 star degree of well.
Now, I'm not a jewelry person. With the exception of two significant rings, the only ornaments I ever wear are necklaces and bracelets from the fair trade store, which are usually made out of recycled bottle caps or bike chains or plastic grocery bags or something. And when they break, as they inevitably must, it never generates in me the desire to engage in deep postmodern musings about the palimpsest and the simulacra and whatnot. I usually just chalk it up to, what can I expect when I'm unwilling to ever pay more than twelve dollars for some trinket? So, imagine my surprise to find myself so very engaged by Crosley's novel, which uses not only jewelry-making and jewelry and necklaces as motifs for conveying meaning, but is also structured around and based off yet another literary work also "about" jewelry and necklaces: specifically, Guy de Maupassant's "THE Necklace" (emphasis mine), a story which also functions as a central plot device in the novel. Yet - perhaps like a repaired V.2 of the Starlite Express necklace - somehow all this unlikely mish-mash works.
I read the second half of this during arduous travel that involved questing for something in a way, and this worked out extremely well, since the latter 50% of the book involves a kind of European scavenger hunt/road trip/Amazing Race kind of scenario.
This portion of the novel also functions as a kind of Bildungsroman, or whatever that genre might be called in our modern era, when very-late-blooming is oh so common. And so, our questing young (but not that young) adult protagonists, experiencing different degrees of unsuccess in their professional fields and in search of maturation and self actualization, are, as they themselves admit, several solid years too old anymore to chalk up their developmental delays and lost-ness to a quarterlife crisis. Nor, with our longer lifespans, are they yet safely within the broad realm of what could be termed a midlife crisis. There would need to be some new interim descriptive term for what they are going through, and the novel is concerned with exploring this limbo.
I'm aware Crosley is a successful humorist/essayist, and though I've never read any of her prior works, it seems to me that her talent in these areas must have helped her create a debut novel that avoids the mumblecore banality of your typical "privileged liberal arts college grads in postgrad crisis" work of fiction. Instead, Crosley is witty and deft enough to offer up something vaguely reminiscent of Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Joseph Andrews, or Tom Jones. Like Fielding and Austen, Crosley has a bighearted and sympathetic "people who live in glass houses..." view of her bumbling, misguided, sometimes annoying protagonists, and her seeming "there but for the grace of God went I" brand of empathy is contagious and redeeming.
In the end, Crosley offers an accomplished first novel that explores our nascent adulthood revelations that the raw, collegiate dreams on which we've hung our futures may or may not be held up by our mature wants and capabilities, and maybe that's okay - probable, desirable, even? - and what do we do then?
October 14, 2015
Dallas Morning News, 10 October 2015 07:28 PM
In Sloane Crosley’s debut novel The Clasp, sad-sack Adrien Brody look-alike Victor Wexler has lost his job as a “mid-level data scientist” at Mostofit.com, “the Internet’s seventh-largest search engine.” Victor tells no one about his layoff and retreats into his New York apartment, “where so many hours were spent alone, plowing through toilet paper because his prime toilet hours were on his own dime now.”
The last time I lost a job, I spent my newly found free time using my own paper goods and office supplies and trying not to worry about money while reading Crosley’s hilarious essay collections I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number. They did the trick, distracting and cheering me with their funny observations about a young woman’s life in Manhattan and the weird situations she encounters while moving or volunteering at the American Museum of Natural History and accidentally walking out with a live butterfly from an exhibit.
Is Crosley as engaging a novelist as she is an essayist and humorist? Well, yes and no. The plot of The Clasp is totally wackadoo, seemingly cobbled together from stuff Crosley felt like writing about, such as Florida, Paris, L.A., college friendships and Guy de Maupassant. The relative of a minor character reveals her secrets to Victor and then promptly dies, and we don’t learn that she was even sick until after she’s already departed. Three friends independently decide to fly to Paris from New York and L.A. on the same weekend. Thugs materialize to randomly beat up Victor, leaving him with a black eye and then disappearing from the novel.
Yet Crosley makes every madcap page enjoyable. Who knew Guy de Maupassant was such a stitch?
The Clasp begins with a standard literary device in which long-separated college friends come together at a wedding. Unemployed Victor, Kezia, his college crush who works in the jewelry industry, and their friend Nathaniel, the golden boy turned L.A. screenwriter of limited success, about to turn 30, converge on a Florida mansion where their hotel heiress friend is marrying an equally wealthy man.
Victor loves Kezia, Kezia loves Nathaniel, and Nathaniel loves himself and also a hot Hollywood starlet named Bean. As Kezia retreats to a man’s hotel room to almost have a one-night stand, Victor drowns his sorrows and ends up passed out in the bedroom of the groom’s mother, Johanna.
The next morning, Johanna gently suggests that Victor’s been snooping and then reveals where she keeps her jewelry collection, together worth as much as the Hope Diamond. A sketch of a necklace believed to be the one that inspired Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace,” “the most famous and tragic short story in [the] history of French letters,” captures Victor’s attention. Johanna tells a fascinating tale that suggests the necklace is hidden in a French chateau.
From then on it’s as if Crosley said, forget this tired wedding-reunion literary device, I’m going rogue. Kezia’s demanding and insane boss, the jewelry designer Rachel Simone, orders her to fix a faulty clasp on one of her creations. Victor researches Guy de Maupassant and sets out on a wild goose chase. Nathaniel comes to terms with his own failures. Crazy stuff happens, and the setting shifts to France, where Mostofit, the search engine that’s moribund in the U.S., is inexplicably revered.
Along the way, Crosley delights with her droll observations, such as: “Rich people had a thing for outdoor showers. They needed to reconnect with nature. Victor, who had the occasional roach problem, knew just how unnecessary this was. If you do nothing, nature will reconnect with you. Only people safe in the knowledge that their moments of roughing it are fake and their moments of comfort are real get a kick out of standing on a rock and fiddling with a corroded knob.”
The Clasp includes moments of reflection about friendship and the way people change, such as Nathaniel’s thought about Kezia: “If she stopped remembering him the way he used to be, he feared that version of himself would cease to exist.” But mostly, The Clasp excels in its one-liners and goofy situations, as Crosley proves that her wit would be fresh enough to enliven even yesterday’s leftovers.
Jenny Shank’s novel, “The Ringer,” won the High Plains Book Award and her satire has appeared in McSweeney’s, The Rumpus, The Toast and The McSweeney’s Book of Politics and Musicals.
In Sloane Crosley’s debut novel The Clasp, sad-sack Adrien Brody look-alike Victor Wexler has lost his job as a “mid-level data scientist” at Mostofit.com, “the Internet’s seventh-largest search engine.” Victor tells no one about his layoff and retreats into his New York apartment, “where so many hours were spent alone, plowing through toilet paper because his prime toilet hours were on his own dime now.”
The last time I lost a job, I spent my newly found free time using my own paper goods and office supplies and trying not to worry about money while reading Crosley’s hilarious essay collections I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number. They did the trick, distracting and cheering me with their funny observations about a young woman’s life in Manhattan and the weird situations she encounters while moving or volunteering at the American Museum of Natural History and accidentally walking out with a live butterfly from an exhibit.
Is Crosley as engaging a novelist as she is an essayist and humorist? Well, yes and no. The plot of The Clasp is totally wackadoo, seemingly cobbled together from stuff Crosley felt like writing about, such as Florida, Paris, L.A., college friendships and Guy de Maupassant. The relative of a minor character reveals her secrets to Victor and then promptly dies, and we don’t learn that she was even sick until after she’s already departed. Three friends independently decide to fly to Paris from New York and L.A. on the same weekend. Thugs materialize to randomly beat up Victor, leaving him with a black eye and then disappearing from the novel.
Yet Crosley makes every madcap page enjoyable. Who knew Guy de Maupassant was such a stitch?
The Clasp begins with a standard literary device in which long-separated college friends come together at a wedding. Unemployed Victor, Kezia, his college crush who works in the jewelry industry, and their friend Nathaniel, the golden boy turned L.A. screenwriter of limited success, about to turn 30, converge on a Florida mansion where their hotel heiress friend is marrying an equally wealthy man.
Victor loves Kezia, Kezia loves Nathaniel, and Nathaniel loves himself and also a hot Hollywood starlet named Bean. As Kezia retreats to a man’s hotel room to almost have a one-night stand, Victor drowns his sorrows and ends up passed out in the bedroom of the groom’s mother, Johanna.
The next morning, Johanna gently suggests that Victor’s been snooping and then reveals where she keeps her jewelry collection, together worth as much as the Hope Diamond. A sketch of a necklace believed to be the one that inspired Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace,” “the most famous and tragic short story in [the] history of French letters,” captures Victor’s attention. Johanna tells a fascinating tale that suggests the necklace is hidden in a French chateau.
From then on it’s as if Crosley said, forget this tired wedding-reunion literary device, I’m going rogue. Kezia’s demanding and insane boss, the jewelry designer Rachel Simone, orders her to fix a faulty clasp on one of her creations. Victor researches Guy de Maupassant and sets out on a wild goose chase. Nathaniel comes to terms with his own failures. Crazy stuff happens, and the setting shifts to France, where Mostofit, the search engine that’s moribund in the U.S., is inexplicably revered.
Along the way, Crosley delights with her droll observations, such as: “Rich people had a thing for outdoor showers. They needed to reconnect with nature. Victor, who had the occasional roach problem, knew just how unnecessary this was. If you do nothing, nature will reconnect with you. Only people safe in the knowledge that their moments of roughing it are fake and their moments of comfort are real get a kick out of standing on a rock and fiddling with a corroded knob.”
The Clasp includes moments of reflection about friendship and the way people change, such as Nathaniel’s thought about Kezia: “If she stopped remembering him the way he used to be, he feared that version of himself would cease to exist.” But mostly, The Clasp excels in its one-liners and goofy situations, as Crosley proves that her wit would be fresh enough to enliven even yesterday’s leftovers.
Jenny Shank’s novel, “The Ringer,” won the High Plains Book Award and her satire has appeared in McSweeney’s, The Rumpus, The Toast and The McSweeney’s Book of Politics and Musicals.
May 19, 2016
Maybe I'm just a sucker for novels that talk about people like me at exactly the moment I'm living in my life... and I'm also a sucker for sassy, witty writing...
All in all, I really enjoyed this. It's not perfect, it's not even all that spectacular - but it felt like the kind of novel I wanted it to be. The English major in me loved it, as did the 27-yr-old BC grad who has known his wacky friends for (nearly) ten years now.
In all seriousness, I can't imagine that all of these connections and the threading through of the Maupassant story were accidental or done for a lark. Crosley is trying to write quite seriously and intelligently about the way we who've come of age with some kind of academic privilege and means in the 21st century are finding our way after having largely been trained to do little more than drink, screw (up and around), and write exceptionally deep papers on outrageously superficial topics. Yes, it is a little rough around the edges and it does at times lean too much on its academic bases... but it's charming and smart and reminds me of myself, my friends, and my life. We're lucky to have books like this for bright, spring afternoons.
More at RB (on Friday): http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2016/05...
All in all, I really enjoyed this. It's not perfect, it's not even all that spectacular - but it felt like the kind of novel I wanted it to be. The English major in me loved it, as did the 27-yr-old BC grad who has known his wacky friends for (nearly) ten years now.
In all seriousness, I can't imagine that all of these connections and the threading through of the Maupassant story were accidental or done for a lark. Crosley is trying to write quite seriously and intelligently about the way we who've come of age with some kind of academic privilege and means in the 21st century are finding our way after having largely been trained to do little more than drink, screw (up and around), and write exceptionally deep papers on outrageously superficial topics. Yes, it is a little rough around the edges and it does at times lean too much on its academic bases... but it's charming and smart and reminds me of myself, my friends, and my life. We're lucky to have books like this for bright, spring afternoons.
More at RB (on Friday): http://ragingbiblioholism.com/2016/05...
June 29, 2015
Crosley’s writing is the gem of this novel with her constant wit that had me laughing out loud (which isn’t an easy fete with me). As someone in her late twenties, I found the main characters relatable and sympathetic in their own, individual ways, as they reflect this time in our lives when we begin to question our self-purpose and what people we choose to remain in touch with from our younger years. The plot does drag at times, but the writing is so beautiful and spot on that I kept turning the page. I’m excited to see what Crosley has in store for her second novel.
December 9, 2015
Ugh. A group of college friends, sociopaths, meet up again for a fancy rain-soaked wedding in FancyLand and the group’s luckless misanthrope, I’ve forgotten his name already, stumbles drunkenly into the matriarch’s bedroom and gets a tour of her jewels (not a euphemism) and is told a story of a mysterious necklace that is so compelling that he takes his last nickels and heads to Europe to find this sure-thing bundle of gems. Meanwhile, his best gal pal from college who he’s desperate for, is also in Europe on assignment for the super famous jewelry designer she works for and she’s sharing a bed (there is a pillow barrier) with the far more successful third of their awkward threesome.
I had to quit at halftime because the plot kept taking me places my yawn didn’t want to go. Super annoying characters. Also: too co-inky-dinky for someone who was really struggling to suspend disbelief.
I had to quit at halftime because the plot kept taking me places my yawn didn’t want to go. Super annoying characters. Also: too co-inky-dinky for someone who was really struggling to suspend disbelief.
March 29, 2016
I was dubious when I read the description, but put my faith in Crosley's previous writing and was well rewarded. Clever and humorous, real people living real lives and having real crises, and a mystery which was fun and unlikely enough to keep the story fresh. I loved it, plain and simple.
August 13, 2020
3.5 stars
Kezia, Nathaniel and Victor were really good friends in college, but then they graduated, moved to different cities and started to drift apart. Many years later, they’re reunited at the wedding of another college friend. At this wedding, Victor accidentally falls asleep in the groom’s mother’s bedroom. When he comes to, the groom’s mother has discovered him; the two of them start conversing and she reveals a family secret, telling him a story about a long-lost necklace. Victor decides to try and find this necklace and the story takes off from there.
There’s another interesting layer to this novel, and that’s the author’s inclusion of the short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. This story served as inspiration for this book and is also incorporated into the plot. I really enjoyed this blend of history with the present and it made me want to sit down and read the short story (which I still need to do!).
I liked Crosley’s writing- it’s clever in a subtle and cheeky way. I also think she did a great job developing the characters. They felt like fully-formed people to me. Crosley explores the theme of friendship in a set of characters that are still on the path to “adulthood.” With older friends, it’s interesting to consider if you would befriend the person they are today (if you weren’t already friends with them). Naturally, people change, for better or worse, and the person you first became friends with may not really exist years later.
Although the plot did become rather outlandish, I enjoyed this novel and the questions it raised. I’m curious if I’d enjoy her nonfiction works (I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number?) more or less than her first novel.
Kezia, Nathaniel and Victor were really good friends in college, but then they graduated, moved to different cities and started to drift apart. Many years later, they’re reunited at the wedding of another college friend. At this wedding, Victor accidentally falls asleep in the groom’s mother’s bedroom. When he comes to, the groom’s mother has discovered him; the two of them start conversing and she reveals a family secret, telling him a story about a long-lost necklace. Victor decides to try and find this necklace and the story takes off from there.
There’s another interesting layer to this novel, and that’s the author’s inclusion of the short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. This story served as inspiration for this book and is also incorporated into the plot. I really enjoyed this blend of history with the present and it made me want to sit down and read the short story (which I still need to do!).
I liked Crosley’s writing- it’s clever in a subtle and cheeky way. I also think she did a great job developing the characters. They felt like fully-formed people to me. Crosley explores the theme of friendship in a set of characters that are still on the path to “adulthood.” With older friends, it’s interesting to consider if you would befriend the person they are today (if you weren’t already friends with them). Naturally, people change, for better or worse, and the person you first became friends with may not really exist years later.
Although the plot did become rather outlandish, I enjoyed this novel and the questions it raised. I’m curious if I’d enjoy her nonfiction works (I Was Told There’d Be Cake and How Did You Get This Number?) more or less than her first novel.
November 9, 2015
I was disappointed with this novel probably because my expectations were off based on what I'd heard about it. Maybe it isn't the worst book of the year if I didn't expect something different. I expected more literary fiction because of the link to Maupassant but it is cheap chick lit. I knew it was a problem when the short story, The Necklace, was described no fewer than six times throughout the book. Some lines are funny but I think a reader needs to be younger than 20 years old to care. It isn't even a quick read because so much makes no sense since the writing is so bad. I had to reread passages to try to understand. For instance: "like two hairs coming out of one pore but pleasant"?! The author confused scurvy with vitamin D deficiency. The entire plot is ridiculous from stealing a drawing to everyone ending up in France. Stupid book that should never be associated with Maupassant.
December 19, 2015
This book was worth the library wait. It initially caught my eye because it came in so many bright colors. And I'm glad it did. Victor, Kezia, and Nathaniel were fully realized, interesting characters. They felt completely and utterly real, as did their relationships. Add to that a mysterious literary jewelry search, and the novel becomes bizarre and fantastical all the while being rooted in a world we recognize, populated by people we know and maybe are.
I look forward to Crosley's next work!
I look forward to Crosley's next work!
October 17, 2015
I'm definitely not the target audience for this book. I personally found the story and characters silly and pretentious. I think younger people would like it more then I did.
March 18, 2023
Great. Approaches the level of insight of Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix Plus, which I'm also currently reading.
Which is fucking ridiculous.
Which is fucking ridiculous.
November 23, 2015
Five years ago I happened upon Crosley's "I Was Told There'd Be Cake" and loved it. Her voice was so sharp and clear in it. I still pick it up from time to time. So when I heard she was publishing her first novel I was so excited. Unfortunately, after getting around 50 pages into it, the book was nowhere close to living up to my expectations.
The story centers around three college friends meeting up years after graduation, first for a glamorous wedding and then by chance (kind of) in France on a whirlwind adventure. There's Kezia, a jewelry designer's assistant; Nathaniel, a Hollywood writer wannabe; and Victor, a loser working for a third rate company who gets caught up in a magical story about a necklace whose history is intertwined with that of Guy de Maupassant.
Frankly, the story is over-the-top. Don't get me wrong - it's meant to be. But Crosley makes such real characters that they seem so out of place in the super unrealistic story. The dialogue at times can be hard to swallow and cheesy. Unfortunately, I have a feeling this book will date quickly due to the kind of references Crosley chooses to employ.
If you're going to read anything by Crosley, I would highly recommend starting with one of her essay collections.
The story centers around three college friends meeting up years after graduation, first for a glamorous wedding and then by chance (kind of) in France on a whirlwind adventure. There's Kezia, a jewelry designer's assistant; Nathaniel, a Hollywood writer wannabe; and Victor, a loser working for a third rate company who gets caught up in a magical story about a necklace whose history is intertwined with that of Guy de Maupassant.
Frankly, the story is over-the-top. Don't get me wrong - it's meant to be. But Crosley makes such real characters that they seem so out of place in the super unrealistic story. The dialogue at times can be hard to swallow and cheesy. Unfortunately, I have a feeling this book will date quickly due to the kind of references Crosley chooses to employ.
If you're going to read anything by Crosley, I would highly recommend starting with one of her essay collections.
October 16, 2015
Despite the fact that it’s utterly ridiculous at times, I really enjoyed this witty twenty-something self-examination/jewelry heist first novel of comic essayist (I Thought There’d Be Cake) Sloane Crosley. I liked the (mostly) fast pace, the made-for-movies snappy dialogue and the literary references. The characters have some minor realizations, which I think is more plausible than any major overhauls, and I liked their inner musings as they fumble their way to semi-adulthood.
One complaint, and it’s not specific to this book as it seems I’ve come across this in several books recently, but I just hate long (or short, actually) passages in a foreign language with the assumption that the reader is multi-lingual. Forgive me for forgetting my high school Spanish and my one year of college French! Please spare me from Google Translate.
One complaint, and it’s not specific to this book as it seems I’ve come across this in several books recently, but I just hate long (or short, actually) passages in a foreign language with the assumption that the reader is multi-lingual. Forgive me for forgetting my high school Spanish and my one year of college French! Please spare me from Google Translate.
October 4, 2015
A laugh-out-loud funny-but-still=poignant story about expectations, old friends, and how adulting is hard.
October 16, 2015
Hilarantes, mes amie!
If there is a town named Crosleyville, I want to be elected mayor. Sloane Crosley had me laughing from first page to last as I read her brilliant debut novel, and I want what she has, whether it be something in her drinking water or the mulch on her vegetables. This is not a book of funny one-liners; rather The Clasp has a viable plot based in part on Guy de Maupassant's short story, The Necklace.
Aside from its biting wit, much of which I could identify with, this is a grownup book with characters I fell in love with. Having been college friends, they are now on the cusp of 30 when they meet at the extravagant wedding of two former classmates. Each character, with the exception of the bride, exudes a special charm and joy, and they genuinely care for one another. Their quirky personalities do not define them, but they result in many laugh out loud moments.
I envision Sloane Crosley as a member of a modern day Algonquin Round Table. Her brand of humor is that of a thoughtful writer and is often situational. The mental images of the characters during various escapades had me laughing hysterically, but she did not have to hit me on the head to elicit a maniacal guffaw. And a lesson to budding writers of humor, no scatological jokes necessary. Enjoy your visit to Crosleyville; you won't want to leave.
If there is a town named Crosleyville, I want to be elected mayor. Sloane Crosley had me laughing from first page to last as I read her brilliant debut novel, and I want what she has, whether it be something in her drinking water or the mulch on her vegetables. This is not a book of funny one-liners; rather The Clasp has a viable plot based in part on Guy de Maupassant's short story, The Necklace.
Aside from its biting wit, much of which I could identify with, this is a grownup book with characters I fell in love with. Having been college friends, they are now on the cusp of 30 when they meet at the extravagant wedding of two former classmates. Each character, with the exception of the bride, exudes a special charm and joy, and they genuinely care for one another. Their quirky personalities do not define them, but they result in many laugh out loud moments.
I envision Sloane Crosley as a member of a modern day Algonquin Round Table. Her brand of humor is that of a thoughtful writer and is often situational. The mental images of the characters during various escapades had me laughing hysterically, but she did not have to hit me on the head to elicit a maniacal guffaw. And a lesson to budding writers of humor, no scatological jokes necessary. Enjoy your visit to Crosleyville; you won't want to leave.
October 28, 2015
4.5 stars. The weird thing for me with this book was how little I care for the story that inspired it, Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace. That famous tale is essentially an account of vapid people doing stupid things, to their own detriment, exactly the kind of thing I have little patience for (looking at you, Fates And Furies.) But Sloane Crosley's The Clasp is hilarious and heartfelt, and while her characters are far from perfect, they are also, at least, struggling towards the self-awareness that is markedly different from the self-absorption that seems to be the hallmark of too many fictional protagonists nowadays.
And that perfect, perfect ending. While I would love to read what our terrible trio make of the rest of their lives, I also reveled in the deliciousness of the way and the where Ms Crosley chose to end her book. A terrific tale of adult friendships and of how time shapes love and emotions, couched in humorous observations of a certain cross-section of American society. Very well done.
And that perfect, perfect ending. While I would love to read what our terrible trio make of the rest of their lives, I also reveled in the deliciousness of the way and the where Ms Crosley chose to end her book. A terrific tale of adult friendships and of how time shapes love and emotions, couched in humorous observations of a certain cross-section of American society. Very well done.
November 19, 2017
It seems I'm in the minority among my fellow Goodreads reviewers for loving this book. I thought Crosley did an excellent job assembling a cast of characters and following them from their college days through their postgrad escapades. Being five years out of college myself, the experience of seeing college friends you haven't seen in ages at a friend's wedding and feeling distant and confused about what your friendship was truly like struck a chord with me.
The love triangle between Kezia, Victor, and Nathaniel was amusing, and I appreciated that it wasn't resolved in any typical, predictable way. Instead, Kezia gets to move on from both of them, knowing that she doesn't actually want or need either one of them.
I also appreciated the literary vibes and references throughout this novel. It made it really fun and entertaining. Would definitely recommend this novel for any millennials with a love of literature. It's an amusing read that'll hold your attention. I flew through it in a mere 5 days. Great job, Crosley!
The love triangle between Kezia, Victor, and Nathaniel was amusing, and I appreciated that it wasn't resolved in any typical, predictable way. Instead, Kezia gets to move on from both of them, knowing that she doesn't actually want or need either one of them.
I also appreciated the literary vibes and references throughout this novel. It made it really fun and entertaining. Would definitely recommend this novel for any millennials with a love of literature. It's an amusing read that'll hold your attention. I flew through it in a mere 5 days. Great job, Crosley!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 28, 2016
I have read Crosley's two essay collections with great enjoyment, but this one just confused me. By the end, either due to lack of attention on my part or lack of explanatory power on her part, I was just turning pages without really understanding who was doing what to whom, or why. Sheer failure of the book and reader to connect, I'm afraid.
September 10, 2022
Three college friends — two men and a woman — are still in an emotional triangle of sorts long after they are out of school. Each is insufferably self absorbed, and they, like the other characters in this witty book, are hysterically funny. There is a treasure hunt that overlays the characters, which keeps things even more interesting. This author is a gifted writer. What a fun book!
June 3, 2022
I loved this
November 24, 2015
I was so disappointed in this book. I thought I would be reading a witty mystery about three friends, whose lives haven't turned out as expected, banding together to find this special necklace.
It was not witty. It was not a mystery. They do not band together to find a necklace.
If you like books about people facing their failures while still maintaining a guise of success to those around them, then this book might interest you.
I found the alternating focus of each chapter on a different one of three main characters off putting. I ended up not really caring about any of the characters as there wasn't much to like about any of them.
The story was boring. About halfway through Victor hears the story about this necklace (that story is the most interesting thing in the book). He does some research and decides to go to France to hunt it down. I thought, now this will get good. Not! So disappointed since the book in my head was so much better than the one on the page.
It was not witty. It was not a mystery. They do not band together to find a necklace.
If you like books about people facing their failures while still maintaining a guise of success to those around them, then this book might interest you.
I found the alternating focus of each chapter on a different one of three main characters off putting. I ended up not really caring about any of the characters as there wasn't much to like about any of them.
The story was boring. About halfway through Victor hears the story about this necklace (that story is the most interesting thing in the book). He does some research and decides to go to France to hunt it down. I thought, now this will get good. Not! So disappointed since the book in my head was so much better than the one on the page.
June 14, 2017
A bright and fast-reading novel, riffing on the famous French short story "The Necklace," about three friends who are really too far removed from college to be so co-dependent with their college friends. Takes a while to get going and you need a Curb-Your-Enthusiasm level of tolerance for people making bad decisions and pointlessly saying the wrong thing - there's a lot of cringing and it's a little tough to sympathize with the characters. However, it's very clever and funny and well-observed, lots of the great turns of phrase that have served Crosby well as an essayist, and once the plot catches momentum it's fun to see where it goes.
July 10, 2017
I love Sloane's essays, they always get me to break character. This being her first novel, I was hesitant because I wanted to keep loving her and didn't want this to taint my option of her.
Dumb me.
This shit is smart, funny and very enjoyable. If you liked Where'd You Go, Bernadette and are a geek about casual literary references, get a copy of The Clasp (or listen to the audiobook, it's fantastic).
Go Sloane, you're still my dude.
Dumb me.
This shit is smart, funny and very enjoyable. If you liked Where'd You Go, Bernadette and are a geek about casual literary references, get a copy of The Clasp (or listen to the audiobook, it's fantastic).
Go Sloane, you're still my dude.
October 15, 2015
I was so disappointed. I adore the short story The Necklace and supposedly this played a part in this. Reallly all this is is a bunch of whiny unlikeable people chasing a necklace down in Paris. Don't waste your time like mine was wasted.
November 29, 2015
The self absorbed characters in this book really annoyed me
January 2, 2016
It had potential but some plot lines seemed a bit rushed or not fully flushed out to me. I didn't love how the book ended, there wasn't enough resolution with multiple characters' development.
November 9, 2015
The Clasp is, very cleverly, centred around one of my most favourite short stories of all time, "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant so I knew I was going to enjoy it from the outset.
Sloane Crosley is well known for her non-fiction and this is her first novel. The Clasp follows the fortunes of three old college friends - Nathaniel, Kezia and Victor - who find themselves reunited at another mutual friend's wedding at the beginning of the book. They're all about to turn 30 and are finding life hasn't quite worked out in the ways they thought it would. Victor has just lost his job and feels directionless, talented jeweller Kezia works for a psychopath and Nathaniel, a screenwriter, can't get anyone in L.A to pick up his television pilot. Throw in a bit of urequited love and a quest to find a family necklace stolen by the Nazis, all written with Crosley's trademark thigh-slapping wit and shrewd observations about life, and you've got a great read.
I like the title too. It's a lovely nod to "The Necklace" but also symbolic of both events in the story, an exploration of how you learn to spot what's fake and what's real, and the fact that, as a clasp holds a necklace together, all three of these main characters go on a journey to figure out how (or what) might hold them and their lives together.
With thanks to the publishers for providing me with a review copy via NetGalley.
Sloane Crosley is well known for her non-fiction and this is her first novel. The Clasp follows the fortunes of three old college friends - Nathaniel, Kezia and Victor - who find themselves reunited at another mutual friend's wedding at the beginning of the book. They're all about to turn 30 and are finding life hasn't quite worked out in the ways they thought it would. Victor has just lost his job and feels directionless, talented jeweller Kezia works for a psychopath and Nathaniel, a screenwriter, can't get anyone in L.A to pick up his television pilot. Throw in a bit of urequited love and a quest to find a family necklace stolen by the Nazis, all written with Crosley's trademark thigh-slapping wit and shrewd observations about life, and you've got a great read.
I like the title too. It's a lovely nod to "The Necklace" but also symbolic of both events in the story, an exploration of how you learn to spot what's fake and what's real, and the fact that, as a clasp holds a necklace together, all three of these main characters go on a journey to figure out how (or what) might hold them and their lives together.
With thanks to the publishers for providing me with a review copy via NetGalley.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 939 reviews