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Made for Love: A Novel Paperback – July 3, 2018
Purchase options and add-ons
Now an HBO Max series starring Ray Romano and Cristin Milioti
NAMED A RECOMMENDED READ BY
GQ • PopSugar • NPR • Huffington Post • Electric Literature • The New Yorker • Publishers Weekly • New York Magazine • Buzzfeed • Refinery29 • Vulture • Nylon
From the exciting and provocative writer of Tampa, a poignant, riotously funny story of how far some will go for love—and how far some will go to escape it.
Hazel has just moved into a trailer park of senior citizens, with her father and Diane—his extremely lifelike sex doll—as her roommates. Life with Hazel’s father is strained at best, but her only alternative seems even bleaker. She’s just run out on her marriage to Byron Gogol, CEO and founder of Gogol Industries, a monolithic corporation hell-bent on making its products and technologies indispensable in daily life. For over a decade, Hazel put up with being veritably quarantined by Byron in the family compound, her every movement and vital sign tracked. But when he demands to wirelessly connect the two of them via brain chips in a first-ever human “mind-meld,” Hazel decides what was once merely irritating has become unbearable. The world she escapes into is a far cry from the dry and clinical bubble she’s been living in, a world populated with a whole host of deviant oddballs.
As Hazel tries to carve out a new life for herself in this uncharted territory, Byron is using the most sophisticated tools at his disposal to find her and bring her home. His threats become more and more sinister, and Hazel is forced to take drastic measures in order to find a home of her own and free herself from Byron’s virtual clutches once and for all. Perceptive and compulsively readable, Made for Love is at once an absurd, raunchy comedy and a dazzling, profound meditation marriage, monogamy, and family.
- Print length320 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJuly 3, 2018
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.72 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100062280597
- ISBN-13978-0062280596
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
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From the Publisher
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Smart, riveting ... The book begins, and races along, as an antic thriller...Made for Love crackles and satisfies by all its own weird rules, subversively inventing delight where none should exist. How can a book be so bright, and so dark?” — New York Times Book Review
“[Hazel] is the rare literary heroine in whose company it would be a pleasure to absolutely wreck my life...The book is a total joyride, dizzying and surprising, like a state-fair roller coaster that makes you queasy for a moment but leaves you euphoric in the end.” — The New Yorker
“Bizarre and brutally funny… relentlessly entertaining… Made for Love is a whip-smart critique of our relationship with technology and the ways we connect to other humans.” — Harper's Bazaar
“Provocative and irreverent, Made for Love is an absurdly hilarious musing on love and marriage.” — W Magazine
“Alissa Nutting’s Made for Love has to be this summer’s most heartwarming novel.” — LitHub
“[A] wacky, hysterical and crazy-compelling story. Virtually every sentence of this book is laugh-out-loud hilarious... With [Nutting’s] wit plus the intrigue of the plot, it really is impossible to put down.” — New York Daily News
“Embrace the absurdity in this bonkers romp.” — Cosmopolitan
“Easily one of the funniest books about sex and modern technology you’ll read this year.” — NPR.org
“Made for Love will be one of the funniest, most absurd books you’ll read this summer....Hilarious, clever, and strikingly original, Made for Love speaks to the absurdity of our societal obsessions with technology and wealth.” — Buzzfeed
“Nutting is the perfect writer to examine this absurdity, and what she’s done in Made for Love is remarkable. Let’s just put it out there: go read this book.” — The Millions
“As absurd and hilarious as it is poignant.” — Cosmopolitan, “11 Books You Won’t Be Able to Put Down This Summer”
“Alissa Nutting has written the most hilarious and downright bananas book of the summer” — San Diego Magazine
“Easily one of the funniest books about sex and modern technology you’ll read this year.” — VICE
“Nutting’s uniquely hilarious voice is the perfect guide to this darkly surreal, extremely relatable universe, in which the absurd becomes expected and our own personal hells feel like they’ve been perversely rendered in neon, airbrushed paint.” — Nylon Magazine
“This is the raunchy, absurd, intelligent romp you’ve been looking for.” — Refinery 29
“Hilarious...Nutting’s smart, ribald, and hugely entertaining new novel provokes many chuckles. Occasionally, she reaches higher, and grants the reader flashes of something truly great: a striking view of the pathetic, that Gogolian, absurdist sublime.” — The Rumpus.com
“Nutting deftly exploits the comic potential of perverse attachments... The novel charms in its witty portrait of a woman desperate to reconnect with her humanity.” — Publishers Weekly, ’Best Summer Books of 2017’
“So blisteringly smart and feverishly inventive that it’s difficult to decide which element pins most precisely the absurdity of our present or the terror of our future. This is a novel as frightening as it is hilarious, melding pathos, comedy, and delight as only great satire can.” — Garth Greenwell, author of What Belongs to You
“Alissa Nutting’s Made for Love is bizarre and vivid and unexpected and wickedly funny. I promise you will enjoy the ride.” — Jami Attenberg, author of The Middlesteins
“There is no one who negotiates the absurd as vigorously yet poignantly as Nutting. In her second novel…there are sex dolls and a senior citizen trailer park and brain chips and a con man who loves dolphins and still, the story makes sense like a motherfucker. Brilliant, dense, hilarious writing.” — Roxane Gay
“Oh god I just love every page. It’s fantastic.” — Lynda Barry, author of One! Hundred! Demons! and The Good Times Are Killing Me
“Alissa Nutting is one of the most daring writers in America. She has the courage and recklessness to look our crazy culture in the eye, laughing as the headlights bear down upon her. This book is hilarious, and deeply sad, and hilarious.” — Dan Chaon, author of Ill Will
“A sly satire of our tech- and prosperity-obsessed society.” — Booklist
“Made for Love is an argument for that wilder life, as dirty and maniacal as it may be, as well as a plea: interrogate functionality, accept the risk in letting humans exist: not as machines or robots or fantasies, but as they desire to be.” — The Fanzine
From the Back Cover
Hazel has just moved into a trailer park of senior citizens, with her father and Diane—his extremely lifelike sex doll—as her roommates. Life with Hazel’s father is strained at best, but her only alternative seems even bleaker: She’s just run out on her marriage to Byron Gogol, CEO and founder of a monolithic corporation hell-bent on making its products and technologies indispensable to daily life. For over a decade, Hazel put up with being veritably quarantined by Byron in the family compound, but when he demands to wirelessly connect the two of them via brain chips in a first-ever human mind-meld, she decides what was once merely irritating has become unbearable.
The world Hazel escapes to is a far cry from the dry and clinical bubble she’s been living in, a world populated with a host of deviant oddballs. As she tries to carve out a new life for herself in this uncharted territory, Byron is using the most sophisticated tools at his disposal to find her and bring her home. His threats become more and more sinister, and Hazel is forced to take drastic measures in order to find a home of her own and free herself from Byron’s virtual clutches once and for all.
About the Author
Alissa Nutting is an assistant professor of English at Grinnell College. She is the author of the story collection Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls, as well as the novel Tampa.
Product details
- Publisher : Ecco; Reprint edition (July 3, 2018)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 320 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062280597
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062280596
- Item Weight : 8.6 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.72 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #869,850 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,362 in Humorous Fiction
- #6,772 in Psychological Fiction (Books)
- #41,810 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Alissa Nutting's debut novel, Tampa, will be published by Ecco/HarperCollins in 2013. She is author of the short story collection Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls (Starcherone/Dzanc 2010), which won the Starcherone Prize for Innovative Fiction judged by Ben Marcus. Her fiction has or will appear in publications such as The Norton Introduction to Literature, Tin House, Bomb, and Conduit; her essays have appeared in Fence, the New York Times, O: The Oprah Magazine, and other venues. An assistant professor of creative writing and English literature at John Carroll University, she lives in Ohio with her husband, her daughter, and two spoiled tiny dogs.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book well-paced and entertaining, with a demented and delightfully odd story that holds their interest. Moreover, the writing receives mixed reactions, with some praising the brilliant prose while others note the author's tendency to ramble. The book's humor and character development also receive mixed feedback, with some finding it truly entertaining while others describe it as the strangest book they've read, and while the characters are well described, some find them deeply flawed.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book interesting and well worth reading, with one describing it as a thought-provoking page turner.
"...Still, it's a fun book and well worth the read." Read more
"...Instead, this book reveals itself as a compelling and engaging look at humanity and raises important questions about the lengths we are willing to..." Read more
"...resonate in a very deep grounded real place is truly masterful and awe-inspiring...." Read more
"...Started out great, middle bits were entertaining, but by the end it sort of deflated like a month old birthday balloon...." Read more
Customers find the book's story compelling, describing it as a delightfully odd trip with a totally demented plot.
"...What a surprise to find an almost entirely different story, something which, in this case, is not bad. The story in the book is also a great one...." Read more
"...I warned you. Luckily for me, I LOVE books with crazy plots and super strange characters, and no sense of humor is too outlandish for me...." Read more
"This book is hilarious and weird and terrifying. The author has a very distinct voice throughout the entire book...." Read more
"...am i broken?????” this novel was just next level incredible...." Read more
Customers appreciate the book's imaginative storytelling, with one review noting how it seamlessly interweaves bizarre elements with thought-provoking themes.
"...and characters were eccentric, to say the least, but they were also richly drawn and wildly creative...." Read more
"...absurdist tale resonate in a very deep grounded real place is truly masterful and awe-inspiring...." Read more
"...a character study of protagonist Hazel, this story is somewhat surrealistic, imaginative, even wacky, but overwritten throughout...." Read more
"This starts in a very intriguing way, but for once I think the work done for the tv show was amazingly better...." Read more
Customers appreciate the pacing of the book, describing it as well-paced and quick.
"...i highly highly recommend the show starring cristina milliotti (<i>how i met your mother, palm springs</i>) and ray romano (<i>everybody..." Read more
"...here; because her structure is reasonably solid and the pace is established and maintained, her relentless deployment of cutesy phrasing and..." Read more
"...But, that could just be me. Either way, it's a quick, entertaining read that I very much enjoyed, though not quite as much as Tampa...." Read more
"Timely and bizarre. A story involving some what-if's of technology and the what-forms of relationships. Some laugh-out-loud moments! Fun summer read." Read more
Customers have mixed reactions to the book's humor, with some finding it truly entertaining with laugh-out-loud moments, while others describe it as the strangest book they've ever read.
"I bought this book after watching and really enjoying the HBO Max series, curious as to how the series had been changed from the original material...." Read more
"...However, if you are a fan of bizarre books, appreciate dark humor, and can see past super weird stuff to appreciate the profound lessons about..." Read more
"...portraying the tech entrepreneur Byron, he comes across as a fairly trite and thinly-developed character. Supposed to be emblematic of our times?..." Read more
"This book is hilarious and weird and terrifying. The author has a very distinct voice throughout the entire book...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the writing quality of the book, with some praising its brilliance and considering the author among the most talented working writers alive, while others find it rambles and lacks humor.
"...My only real complaint is that because the other is very witty and smart (I’ve been lucky enough to see her speak at a school event) all of her..." Read more
"...she is one of the most talented working writers alive, imho, and doing things few others are in the writing space...." Read more
"...story is somewhat surrealistic, imaginative, even wacky, but overwritten throughout...." Read more
"...anything else from Alissa Nutting, she's proven herself quite the talented writer." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the character development in the book, with some finding them well described while others note they are deeply flawed.
"...All of the characters are deeply flawed and a bit difficult to like, but they all feature elements that finds readers sympathetic to them...." Read more
"...book as a character study, and certainly Hazel emerges as a fully-drawn character, complete with fascinating psychological and emotional challenges..." Read more
"...all of her characters come off very witty and smart in an unrealistic way...." Read more
"Really, really strange book. Weird characters - kinda like a Carl Hiaasen or Tim Dorsey book without their charming crazy charactersI. These..." Read more
Reviews with images

Perfect for those who appreciate the bizarre!
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2022I bought this book after watching and really enjoying the HBO Max series, curious as to how the series had been changed from the original material. What a surprise to find an almost entirely different story, something which, in this case, is not bad. The story in the book is also a great one. I never expected it to be so very different, but was able to enjoy the book as it's own thing. If you're hoping to revisit the characters that you know and love from the series then you're likely to be disappointed. The majority of the characters from the show are not in the book and the ones that are in the book are quite different to their cinematic counterparts. The book's Hazel is even more depressed and hopeless and the end of her story is not especially happy. Jasper absolutely does not work for the FBI and Byron's character is mostly known by reference. Still, it's a fun book and well worth the read.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2017Those who take themselves and their books super seriously, be warned...this might not be the book for you.
However, if you are a fan of bizarre books, appreciate dark humor, and can see past super weird stuff to appreciate the profound lessons about humanity underneath, you're going to want to read Made for Love by Alissa Nutting.
The premise of this book alone is completely outlandish, and everything just gets kookier as the story progresses. Made for Love follows the stories of two dysfunctional characters--Hazel and Jasper. Hazel has moved in with her father after leaving her husband Byron, the CEO of the most powerful technology company in the world, Gogol. The reader learns from the beginning that Byron and Hazel's marriage was far from conventional from the beginning, filled with an overwhelming sense of coldness and reliance on Gogol's technology. When Byron began taking steps to implant a computer chip in Hazel's brain to connect her every thought and action directly to his own mind, Hazel fled, knowing that Byron would do whatever possible to find her and bring her back. The book begins with Hazel's appearance at her widowed father's senior living trailer park and her discovery that her father is in a very committed...and very kinky...relationship with a lifelike sex doll named Diane.
Strange, right?
That's not all.
The other character in the book is Jasper, a con artist who makes women fall in love with him and give him their life savings before breaking up with them and disappearing from their lives. His career comes to a crashing halt when he has a freaky encounter with a dolphin that leaves him solely sexually aroused by thoughts of dolphins and completely unable to become turned on by humans.
I warned you.
Luckily for me, I LOVE books with crazy plots and super strange characters, and no sense of humor is too outlandish for me. I have read almost every single Christopher Moore novel at least twice, and Made for Love reminded me a lot of his books. (Side note: If you have never read any of Christopher Moore's books and want to laugh out loud until your sides hurt at books that feature totally bizarre plots, check him out. Start with Practical Demonkeeping or Lamb, for sure!) The plot and characters were eccentric, to say the least, but they were also richly drawn and wildly creative.
Although those eccentricities were incredibly far-fetched, Alissa Nutting has written them in a way that draws readers in and makes them forget, for just a moment, that they are reading a piece of fiction. All of the characters are deeply flawed and a bit difficult to like, but they all feature elements that finds readers sympathetic to them. Hazel just wants to be loved but has self-destructive tendencies, Hazel's dad just wants to enjoy what's left of his life, and Jasper has deep abandonment issues. And once readers move past the wild plot and begin to see the deeper issues at work, this becomes much more than the entertaining, (darkly) humorous, bizarre book it seems to be on the surface. Instead, this book reveals itself as a compelling and engaging look at humanity and raises important questions about the lengths we are willing to go to in order to feel important and loved and the role technology has in our lives.
Seriously. If you appreciate all that is weird and strange, give Made for Love a try. You will be wildly entertained, more than mildly disturbed, and surprisingly enlightened.
4.0 out of 5 starsThose who take themselves and their books super seriously, be warned...this might not be the book for you.Perfect for those who appreciate the bizarre!
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2017
However, if you are a fan of bizarre books, appreciate dark humor, and can see past super weird stuff to appreciate the profound lessons about humanity underneath, you're going to want to read Made for Love by Alissa Nutting.
The premise of this book alone is completely outlandish, and everything just gets kookier as the story progresses. Made for Love follows the stories of two dysfunctional characters--Hazel and Jasper. Hazel has moved in with her father after leaving her husband Byron, the CEO of the most powerful technology company in the world, Gogol. The reader learns from the beginning that Byron and Hazel's marriage was far from conventional from the beginning, filled with an overwhelming sense of coldness and reliance on Gogol's technology. When Byron began taking steps to implant a computer chip in Hazel's brain to connect her every thought and action directly to his own mind, Hazel fled, knowing that Byron would do whatever possible to find her and bring her back. The book begins with Hazel's appearance at her widowed father's senior living trailer park and her discovery that her father is in a very committed...and very kinky...relationship with a lifelike sex doll named Diane.
Strange, right?
That's not all.
The other character in the book is Jasper, a con artist who makes women fall in love with him and give him their life savings before breaking up with them and disappearing from their lives. His career comes to a crashing halt when he has a freaky encounter with a dolphin that leaves him solely sexually aroused by thoughts of dolphins and completely unable to become turned on by humans.
I warned you.
Luckily for me, I LOVE books with crazy plots and super strange characters, and no sense of humor is too outlandish for me. I have read almost every single Christopher Moore novel at least twice, and Made for Love reminded me a lot of his books. (Side note: If you have never read any of Christopher Moore's books and want to laugh out loud until your sides hurt at books that feature totally bizarre plots, check him out. Start with Practical Demonkeeping or Lamb, for sure!) The plot and characters were eccentric, to say the least, but they were also richly drawn and wildly creative.
Although those eccentricities were incredibly far-fetched, Alissa Nutting has written them in a way that draws readers in and makes them forget, for just a moment, that they are reading a piece of fiction. All of the characters are deeply flawed and a bit difficult to like, but they all feature elements that finds readers sympathetic to them. Hazel just wants to be loved but has self-destructive tendencies, Hazel's dad just wants to enjoy what's left of his life, and Jasper has deep abandonment issues. And once readers move past the wild plot and begin to see the deeper issues at work, this becomes much more than the entertaining, (darkly) humorous, bizarre book it seems to be on the surface. Instead, this book reveals itself as a compelling and engaging look at humanity and raises important questions about the lengths we are willing to go to in order to feel important and loved and the role technology has in our lives.
Seriously. If you appreciate all that is weird and strange, give Made for Love a try. You will be wildly entertained, more than mildly disturbed, and surprisingly enlightened.
Images in this review
- Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2018This book is hilarious and weird and terrifying. The author has a very distinct voice throughout the entire book. I would guess that most people would either give this book 4-5 stars or 1 Star. My only real complaint is that because the other is very witty and smart (I’ve been lucky enough to see her speak at a school event) all of her characters come off very witty and smart in an unrealistic way. I found it slightly jarring that all of the characters sounded similar in their manner of speaking. I would definitely recommend giving this book a try if you like mild dystopias or hilarious speculative fiction.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2022wow. as a person who has experienced emotionally abusive relationships and controlling exes who stalked me multiple months after break ups that resulted due to their repeated out of pocket behavior, the way alissa nutting was able to make this dystopian absurdist tale resonate in a very deep grounded real place is truly masterful and awe-inspiring. she is one of the most talented working writers alive, imho, and doing things few others are in the writing space. truly inspired work and wholly a stan of her brain and how it works. this is my third nutting work, i first read her short story collection, <i>unclean jobs for woman and girls</i>, which i absolutely loved—specifically the short story, ant colony, which i think about daily and think would make the most incredible A24 horror film; and her first novel, <i>tampa</i>, which is a genderbent nabkov’s <i>lolita</i> meets easton ellis’s <i>american psycho</i> meets gus can sant’s <i>to die for</i> (1995) but also somehow not any of those things and entirely it’s own singular thing that just has you sitting there after you’re done reading think, “wtf did i just read and why was it also brilliant??????? am i broken?????” this novel was just next level incredible. there are essays and essays and essays that could be and will be written about this text for years to come and i just feel so blessed to be alive while alissa nutting’s is publishing work. i cannot wait to read what she writes next. there are so many things i want to say about this book but i also just don’t want to say anything because it’s so hard to describe????? and also everyone deserves to experience this story first hand unspoiled.
i read this after i finally binge watched the hbo max television series of the same name that was adapted from this novel and falling in love with it. i highly highly recommend the show starring cristina milliotti (<i>how i met your mother, palm springs</i>) and ray romano (<i>everybody loves raymond</i>), which was unfortunately unjustly cancelled after two seasons but still completely worth the watch and ends on a very poetic satisfying note regardless. just can’t wait to read more alissa nutting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hope she publishes something new soon!!!!!! because i will EAT IT UP 🤍🤍
for fans of ottessa moshfegh, mona awad, han kang, melissa broder, haruki murakami, banana yoshimoto, john waters, raven leilani, anna dorn, samantha irby.
also shout out to my high school bestie “teaching” me about malcom brenner and dolly when we were in college, which is all i could think about the entire time i was reading the book jasper storyline so it didn’t feel at all too outlandish or impossible at all. never thought that knowledge would come in handy/be useful in any sort of way so lmao loving that for the both of us 💀 obviously, plot spoilers if you google malcolm brenner prior to reading the novel so google at your own risk !!! ⛔️
Top reviews from other countries
- SGReviewed in Germany on April 30, 2023
3.0 out of 5 stars Turns Around Toward the End
I thought this was supposed to be funny. Also, I read on the web that it's about fathers and daughters. But both these things are only semi-met. The end is ok. Actually funny but it was a long way getting there. The father-daughter relationship is mainly about how cold parents can mess up.
- Mariane Aguiar VieiraReviewed in Brazil on October 1, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE IT.
Great book! Had much fun reading it!
- AkiReviewed in Canada on April 22, 2021
5.0 out of 5 stars Saw the show, loved it, loved the book even more, just wow.
Super impressed with this book. I'm actually in awe of her writing and rarely see female characters so well-fleshed out and not painted in the usual gender-stereotyped typical way. A very sex-positive, shameless character. And the writing really blows my mind and I aspire to such levels of hilarity that the author achieves. I laugh out loud when reading this book regularly. I wish she wrote a sequel (many, many sequels). Surprised this book is rated so low as it's so unique and well done.
- StacyReviewed in Canada on September 3, 2017
4.0 out of 5 stars Made For Love
This book is bananas. Took a little bit to get into it, and I can't say it ever got GOOD or anything, but it was entertaining and very, very different. Also, bananas.
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