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Starred review from May 1, 2025
A missing teenager is at the center of a densely populated plot that bobs, weaves, and levitates around a boxing gym in Austin, Texas, from 1998 to 2014. Perhaps not since Nathan Hill'sThe Nix (2016) have we seen a debut as hugely ambitious as this one, pulling out all the stops to tell a unique version of the American story. Though there are more characters, more subplots, and just plain more than can be outlined here, the novel revolves around a miserable 16-year-old nudnik named Nathaniel Rothstein of Newton, Massachusetts, who's sent to live with his Uncle Bob in Austin for the summer of 1998. Bob gets him a volunteer job at a rehab center with a friend of his from Terry Tucker's Boxing Gym, a charismatic Haitian immigrant named David Dalice. David becomes a mentor to the boy, intent on furthering his worldly education with lectures on matters such as "Have you ever licked the sweetness?" Nathaniel channels this inspiration into an obsession with "Sasha," the voice on the other end of a 1-900 phone sex hotline of which he becomes a daily devotee. But one day in August, Nathaniel goes out and doesn't come back. In the course of finding out what happened to him, we will meet many, many people: a rookie female cop; a Playboy-model-turned-beautician and her unhappily gendered teenage son (who has just changed from Charles Rex to "X"); various denizens of the boxing gym, including an unhoused man who's allowed to bunk there and his twin, literally an evil clown; and a depressed woman in the rehab who is rediscovering her Italian American identity. Identity: There's a good place to stop, as it is the unifying theme of the entire 500-pound gorilla. Schaefer, who's white, is bold in his approach to issues of Blackness and whiteness, and has invented a truly wild plot in service of exploring them. He is equally fearless in writing about gender and sex. And the solution to the mystery is a trip and a half. Swings for the fences, makes it at least to third. Franzen/Roth/Irving comparisons earned and deserved.
COPYRIGHT(2025) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Starred review from May 1, 2025
Sixteen-year-old Nathaniel is spending the summer of 1998 in Austin, making the trip from Boston because his exasperated single mother hopes to curb his violent behavior by having him stay with his uncle. Nathaniel eventually thrives in this environment, volunteering at a senior living facility and gaining a new mentor-cum-father figure at a boxing gym. Then Nathaniel goes missing. Schaefer's stunning debut expertly weaves nuanced psychological depth into an adrenaline-fueled narrative. Alternate story lines introduce David Dalice, a Haitian immigrant and the activities director at the nursing home, who inspires Nathaniel to find his true self; Sasha, a lonely Russian sex hotline worker looking for a meaningful connection; and single mom Belinda St. James, a former Playboy model trying to support her complicated son. Themes of race, class, and identity are portrayed with complex yet nuanced sensitivity. Schaefer brilliantly captures the tumultuous emotional terrain each character must traverse to find themselves. The lyrical prose moves fluidly, like the smoothest heavyweight champion, shimmering, then delivering a knockout punch. Various plot elements nicely serve the deeper themes of fate, found family, preconceived limitations, weighty expectations, and following one's dreams, all in a rapturous barrage of snappy dialogue, witty rejoinders, and profound observations that make for a wicked combination and a winning bildungsroman.
COPYRIGHT(2025) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.