“Joe Stracci’s Whitney is rough, beautiful, and sad, with singular characters who will challenge you and break your heart. Rendered in spare, gorgeous prose, Whitney rattles our conventional notion of intimacy, of obligation. It’s a hot, disturbing book, socially astute and incredibly smart. Stracci writes with a gritty urban mouth and the heart of a poet.”

“Joe Stracci sets his unsentimental, unforgettable love story in a decaying Bronx of fast-food joints and drug spots; his lovers drink, drug, fight, hold down dead-end jobs, and ironize about their lost generation and their empty culture. But Stracci renders their messy lives in meticulous prose, and grants them a form of grungy grace—whether they like it or not.”

“Whitney is a remarkable novel...the story being told is one of love, desire, attachment, and all the things that come between two people who seem fated and ill-fated to be together.” Stracci’s prizewinning novel seems to be asking “how it’s possible to reach a point of balance or steady-state in this age of distraction...a book that’s fresh, surprising, and masterfully written on every page.”