Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.

Trigger warning - not for the faint of heart regarding sexually graphic content. However, every word of this novel is chosen with intent and purpose, and it all just...works. it is like when you hear a concert without a single wrong note.

This book is a transformative experience of the pain of difference, the road to self-acceptance and growth told with humor and depth.

I loved this book, the world might just become a more tolerant place if was required reading for everyone.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon and Schuster for the ebook. In Austin, in 1998, Nathaniel Rothstein has been exiled to his uncle’s, after assaulting a classmate back in Massachusetts. He spends his time at a local gym slowly learning to box and falling in love with a Russian woman from a phone sex hotline. From this simple story come dozens of characters that show the various hidden spaces of this time and place over almost five hundred pages. A fascinating dive into a community of diverse races and economic realities.

*The Slip* is a sprawling, ambitious novel that immerses readers in the vibrant world of 1998 Austin, Texas, through the eyes of a diverse cast of characters all connected by the mysterious disappearance of sixteen-year-old Nathaniel Rothstein. The story weaves together multiple perspectives—from troubled teens reinventing themselves to an uncle desperate for answers and a rookie cop entangled in the case—creating a rich tapestry of voices and experiences.

The book is notably long, and at times, its sheer length and shifting perspectives can make the narrative feel unwieldy. There were moments when I wondered if I had missed a section or opened the wrong book by mistake, as the plot threads and timelines occasionally blur together. Despite this, the novel’s vivid sense of place and its exploration of themes like identity, belonging, and transformation keep it compelling.

Schaefer’s writing is energetic and often witty, with a keen eye for detail that brings Austin and its inhabitants to life. While the pacing can be uneven and the large cast of characters may challenge some readers, those who enjoy immersive, multi-perspective storytelling will find much to appreciate here.

I’ve been following @lucaseschaefer for awhile now, because he’s funny and smart and he has the most adorable family (shoutout to his stage mom @greg_from_a_leg for sharing him with us). I’ve been so excited to read his novel after seeing such incredible reviews and so much love for Lucas and his work. It was worth it!!

This book was an awesome ride. I had so much fun following this story. I finished it today and that ENDING! So good. I loved all of the perspectives but X’s story really stuck in my heart.

Lucas does an excellent job with social commentary here on everything from race, immigration, sexual identity, coming of age, and more. It’s a book that truly takes you on a journey and there’s one section that *really* got to me (I’ll message Lucas later because no spoilers!). Definitely pick this one up and I fully recommend the audio. Truly fantastic

When I was offered an ARC of The Slip, I hesitated before accepting it. The reviews foretold a slow burn of a story, convoluted and meandering, but they were largely effusive and convinced this would be a blockbuster devout. So I started The Slip with that in mind, including determination to make it to the second half, where some reviewers said the book picked up momentum. Well? Yes, that’s true. And yes, it’s true that it’s a slow and convoluted read. Sadly, as much as I wanted The Slip to work for me, it didn’t.

1998. Nathaniel Rothstein is having a confusing teenaged summer. Nathaniel is a Jew from the northeast, chubby, socially awkward. He’s living with his aunt and uncle and working at a nursing home. There, Nathaniel meets David Dalice. Quickly, Nathaniel realizes David is who he wants to be. Over the course of the summer, Nathaniel recreates himself more and more in David’s image—which is weird because David is a middle age, Haitian black man, boxer and pretty far off from suburban Jew.

The Slip tells the story of what feels like a million people that are in some way connected to Nathaniel and David. It’s a bit of a mystery, because Nathaniel is missing. And while I really wanted to know what happened to Nathaniel, I could have done without most of the rest. The range of characters is wide and diverse (a queer teenager who is maybe trans, a middle aged mother who operates a phone sex line for extra cash, an outcast female cop, an undocumented young boxer… the list goes on). Some of the characters are easier to connect with than others, but it all felt so slow to me.

For some readers, I’m sure this will be received as the book of the year so many have raved about. For me, it fell flat and painful, despite a true eagerness to feel otherwise.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Favorite quote:
“In only eleven weeks, Miriam had learned that her city contained a limitless supply of limited people, enough undesirables loitering on the margins that were they to choose a single spot to congregate, they could form a city of their own.“

This 500 page literary debut novel went to 100 different places I didn’t expect and might be the most unique thing I’ve read all year, but it won't be right for every reader. It was EXACTLY what I wanted to sink my teeth into following my Summer Reading Guide reading.

After he gets in trouble at school, Newton, MA teenager Nathaniel Rothstein is sent to live with his uncle in Austin, TX for the summer of 1998. While he’s in Austin, he volunteers at an elder care facility and meets David, who becomes his sort of mentor and introduces him to Terry Tucker’s Boxing Gym. But, one night in August, Nathaniel goes missing…and, when we visit the characters 10 years later, he still hasn’t turned up and his case has gone cold.

The publisher is comparing it to Jonathan Franzen and Nathan Hill. I’m going with John Irving, but replace Irving's wrestling with boxing and add some of the teenage angst of The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe.

The story is very meandering, character-driven, and voice-y. I absolutely loved the writing and that was the single biggest thing that made The Slip 5 stars for me. It feels like a random collection of characters for a bit and I did take notes in the beginning. But, it all comes together and these random people all end up being just part of this world centered around a boxing gym.

Schaefer covers LOTS of themes and issues (coming of age, race, identity, sexuality, law enforcement, boxing obviously, and one more that I’ll leave out for spoiler reasons), but he executes this seamlessly even though I 100% had my doubts about whether he’d be able to pull it off. And, yes there is boxing in this book, but The Slip is "about" boxing like Friday Night Lights is "about" football.

Caveat: there’s some weird teenage boy coming into his own sexually stuff, but it’s written with a sense of humor if you’re able to laugh at the awkwardness. But, if you easily cringe, this book may not be for you.

Really high hopes for this one given the reviews and it’s always fun to read a story based in a city you know well. Maybe I’m just not in the right mood, but I couldn’t tell what the book was trying to do or the story it was telling.

Maybe I’m also becoming a prude as I get older but there was a lot of bation to the master going on too early in the book imo.

DNF for now and will wait to see what others think.

Make a face long enough enough and it becomes your face.

Crackling with life, dripping with details, firmly situated in its setting, and infuriatingly but hilariously all over the place, The Slip is a wild ride from start to finish. If it’s about anything, it’s about the fluidity of identity.

Sometimes your desired identity can be achieved through pure desire and stubborn action. Sometimes your inner self doesn’t match what others see, but a person can have as many selves as there are people to perceive them and places to be seen. A group of middle aged men who go to the local boxing gym first thing every day are play acting versions of themselves their wives and bosses may never be privy to. A rookie police officer pretends to be a proper cop until she disappears into the role. An awkward white teenager decides to transform himself into a sexy confident Black man, with tragicomically successful results. A bevy of other painstakingly rendered protagonists and minor characters, misfits all, come alive on these pages.

In the acknowledgments, the author thanks his editor: “one thing I’ve learned from Tim about writing fiction is that sometimes what seems like a detour isn’t a detour— it’s the route.” The Slip is circuitous, it zigzags, and it all comes together beautifully if you stick around for 500 or so pages.

Read this if you love the work of Nathan Hill, Donna Tartt, James McBride, Zadie Smith, or Percival Everett. Read this if you want to be astonished by an ambitious debut novel and start impatiently waiting for the author’s follow-up. Read this if you want to live inside a novel and be sad to leave the characters at the end.

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the opportunity to be an early reader of this title, which is available now!

I wanted to love this book but I found it really difficult to get into. There is a lot of set up and introduction of characters in the first half that I found hard to follow along. I liked the premise and I thought the story was great I just wish it hooked me sooner!

When sixteen-year-old Nathaniel Rothstein is shipped to Austin to spend the summer with his uncle, Bob, he’s forced to volunteer at a retirement community under the supervision of Haitian immigrant, David Dalice. With Nathaniel trapped in teenage self-dissatisfaction, ennui, and fear that who he is now is who he’ll be, he is ensnared by David’s irreverent charm and conjured lascivious sexcapades. Envious of the perceived inbred rizz of the Black Man™, Nathaniel consumes the idea of David’s blackness. For Nathaniel, blackness is social cache and escapism. For black folks, it’s an inescapable societal noose.

David has a good life. A fine life. But in his periphery are glimpses of “more,” the “what could have/should have beens” of the promised American dream. His only taste of glory was an unremarkable fight he almost won twenty years ago. Now, he gets that rush from his “proteges”—the disaffected white boys who flit in for summer stints. Through tall tales of conquest and braggadocio, David becomes their temporary demigod. When they inevitably move on to country clubs and corporate jobs, he believes a piece of him resides in their success. At first, Nathaniel is no different, but as David mentors him at the boxing gym, a twinkle of light stirs fragile hope, a light that blinds David to the disquieting truth of Nathaniel’s browner body and mimicry.

For Charles Rex Markham, the summer of 1998 is also a time of transition. Lost in unease about his body, uncertainty in his sexuality, and an inexpressible resentment for his mother’s willingness to see but overlook him, he adopts the moniker X. When X accidentally accepts a call from the sex hotline his mother works with, the rush of power and freedom X experiences is intoxicating. As “Sasha,” X embraces the confidence that being someone else engenders, just like Nathaniel does. X’s unexpected summer affair with a client brings X closer to a genuineness and mutual, unrestricted passion X had surrendered to impossibility.

Ten years later, Bob receives an anonymous note that causes him to finally face his downplayed memories and apathy of that summer. He embarks on an investigation that sends ripples into many lives, including a cop unidentifiable to herself, falling and shooting boxing stars, and even a coyote. Whether they knew Nathaniel or not, they all partook in the transformative power of the gym that changed Nathaniel’s life.

The Slip tackles many topics, including identity, disconnection, race, queerness, systemic injustice, sex, and the banality of bigotry. It examines how minimally people understand themselves, let alone one another, and the oppressive push for conformity that poisons the concoction in the American melting pot. The prose is inviting and contemplative, and the plot interweaves the threads of Nathaniel’s captivatingly indelible change to each character effectively. The mystery is almost tangential to how the characters shuffle through fractal disappearances and reappearances of themselves—desperate to be seen, heard, and alive. The bobs in and out of multiple types of POVs are typically smooth, but occasionally the, “oh, forsooth” type feels put on.

Given The Slip’s broad scope of socioeconomic issues, I understand incorporating an exemplar for as many as possible, but it borders on too much. There is a character study no matter how tenuous the connection and some feel like expanded vignettes/short stories. For instance, there is one that epitomizes the well-meaning complacency of white liberals—how “sincerity and conscientiousness in themselves are not enough.” However, removing it would have no impact emotionally or materially. The pace is leisurely and doesn’t drag per se, but the themes are underscored so often it feels like a gallery showing with the same complex landscape in each room, differing by slight variations in brushstroke—the technique and eloquence are tangible but less engaging by the end.

The Slip is an intriguing journey through the heart of America—it’s complicated beauty and innate ugliness; it’s messy brutality and sincerity that can be as farcical as it is honest; and the ever-present hope that this grand experiment’s promises of respect, dignity, and equality can be codified.

The Slip is routinely compared to Nathan Hill, so I wanted to try and not compare it to Hill and find something more unique. But nope, after reading this, it's like we got another book from Nathan Hill. If you like him, you'll like this. I sunk into the Slip immediately and was sad to leave all the characters behind. It felt like they came off the page and into my life. This book has punch in more ways than one, and the mystery at the center was a good one. This is the perfect blend of plot AND character and should go on your summer reading list.

If you're craving an intricate, layered 500 page literary fiction book this summer, there is no better choice than THE SLIP. With literally every theme and hot button topic wedged into this story (and its set in 1998-2018!) there is so much to this novel and you will never guess where it's going to go from one moment to the next. There is a mystery at the heart of the book, and I was glued to the pages to get some answers. A lot of what happens in THE SLIP is pretty wild, and going on the journey is all of the fun. It does read like a debut a lot, and it's clear that Lucas Schaefer wanted to start his literary career with a bang (which is why I think the book feels a little bloated?) But there is no denying this is a feat!

For whatever reason, it took me an unreasonable long time to complete this book. I was quite interested in it early on but my interest faded as time went on. I am honestly not sure if this is the fault of the story of me. We just did’t mesh throughout the whole book. But…for me I can only give it 3 stars.

An intricately woven debut, this novel unfurls a vast tapestry of characters, histories, and subplots that are as unruly as they are purposeful. Its narrative ambition is matched by a incisive engagement with themes of race, gender, sexuality, sports, crime/policing, and the contradictions at the heart of the American project. Though the multiplicity of perspectives initially posed a challenge, once the novel’s rhythm took hold, its momentum became irresistible - culminating in a final act that was utterly unputdownable. Great fun and I can't wait to read Schaefer's next book.

This book was so good, it was wild! Truly, such a wild ride! I love a good build up story and this did that! The mystery of the disappearance of the teenage boy from 1998. I did appreciate the author for detailing the characters of the book so well. I was on the edge of my seat for most of the book!

Thanks to NetGalley for this ARC!

DNF @25% - not for me, yikes! I guess it's a matter of taste, but this type of jokey stand-up (dare I say juvenile?) prose just always feels so dated and annoying to me. I'm also feeling a lack of central structure. Moving from POV to POV is interesting for a while, but after a hundred pages with no real sense of the core story, it gets tiresome. It may be that this becomes a wonderful novel at some point after the 25% mark, but I'm sorry to say I'm not sticking around long enough to find out.

This is a overstuffed banquet of literary fiction novel about a teenager Nathaniel Rothestien who visits his uncle in Texas for a summer, gets involved in the community of his uncle’s boxing gym and then disappears. This has all of the trademarks of the first novel, with every idea and fascination jammed into the book. Race, sexual identity, violence, the police and finding ones identity, it careens from humor to terror to deep emotion pathos. Nathanials starts idolizing a charismatic Haitian immigrant and eventually tries to turn himself into him, it feels transgressive in the way writing about race can be, but it really comes together and the final reveal of what happened to Nathaniel is truly wild stuff, it is great to see a puzzle box open up like this book does. I am a sucker for attempts at a Great American Novel and this is one of the best attempts I have read in years.

Real Rating: Does the publisher's synopsis sound like A Lot? That's down to the fact that it is. Don't fret, though, there's room for it all in close on five hundred pages. It's told in multiple layers of PoV, it's told across points in time, and it's told at an unfolding pace, not the heady adrenaline rush of a boxing match. (Y'all remember from May's Pearls & Burgoines how I feel about boxing.)

The truth is that "Boxing" isn't quite the same as what I see in the fights here. It's the reasons and techniques and substance of boxing, not the performative violence I'm so repelled by, that are on display. The way young Nathaniel is drawn in to the world of the gym, discovers himself, and makes such a stir as he and David, his Haitian boxing mentor, discover his natural abilities is what it means to be young and find your gift.

Then Nathaniel, all of sixteen, disappears.

To say this was upsetting to me is to understate its impact within the story. It is that dramatic pivot point that many books either lack, or squander the impact of. That almost happens here, which is why the fifth star is partial. There are a welter of viewpoints, some more impactful than others...what's the self-defense hen-class all about anyway?...but the fact is everything does tie in by the end. I think comparisons to Jonathan Franzen are appropriate; I'd say they're not quite all there is, though. Franzen's undeniable way of summing a character up in a phrase is here, but so is John Kennedy Toole's bitter, snarky, unkind edge. I'll say that I encountered these thoughts as I was shifted and rearranged in time, therefore was more than usually alert for new ways of seeing the characters. This is a read that repays your attention and will escape you if you just scan the pages looking for distraction from the world. Attentively read it will be a strong accent on many of the issues we face in the world today.

The gay subject matter in the book is not foregrounded, but foundational all the same. It is not accidental that absolutely nothing in the author's biography is in any way indicative of his own sexuality. He wrote this story well and treated the gay characters well; does that mean anything except he's a good observer, and a sensitive storyteller? ¿Quién sabe? And does it really matter? I'm of the opinion it does not.

The ultimate payoff of the story is down to the much-delayed and very tellingly told investigation into Nathaniel's disappearance that his uncle comes to Austin to launch, acting on a strange tip. It becomes a very different story, honestly, as Uncle Bob Alexander does not seem to get too far yet the police still seem to want to stand in the way...but the idea doesn't seem to be to stop him discovering something so much as preventing him from ruining their image.

Quite a lot happens in the last third of the book that tucks odd strands of character development into proper place in ways I wasn't expecting. The trans representation is excellent, sensitive, and as fearlessly written as the white author's Black characters are. In fact, if I were to pick one word to sum up the affect of this debut author's novel, "gonzo" would be my choice: He sees no obstacles in his difficult choices, only climbable walls.

It is hard to spend almost five hundred pages learning about these folks then leave them behind. A better recommendation to get yourself a copy is hard to imagine.

Schaefer brings us to Austin, Texas to follow the disappearance of 16-year-old Nathaniel Rothstein in the summer of 1998 and his uncle Bob Alexander's investigation years later.

The novel unfolds the way I love a novel to; multiple layers of perspective across different timelines. It is a meaty novel. These are some rich characters, explored in incredible detail (it is almost 500 pages) that will stick with you well after you turn the final page. We meet Nathaniel, who is exploring his identity while under the mentorship of ex-fighter David Dalice at Terry Tucker’s Boxing Gym. Then, he mysteriously vanishes one night. Over a decade later, Nathaniel's uncle Bob Alexander, driven by a tip, launches an investigation into his nephew's disappearance, involving various gymgoers, a cop, and another boxer who crossed the US-Mexico border with a false identity. There is humor, there is heartbreak, and I promise, the ending… I don’t want to spoil it for you.

I also commend this novel for examining hot-button issues including sexuality, race, queer identity, policing, and immigration. All topics that feel really relevant, pressing, and worthy of exploration. . Whether you're drawn to mysteries, character-driven narratives, or stories that tackle pressing social issues, The Slip delivers on all fronts. Schaefer is an exciting new voice in literary fiction and I cannot wait until what comes next.

The best debut novel I have read this year, and perhaps the best novel I have read this year, Schaefer has delivered an epic and fearless tale that explores hot button issues with comedy and tenderness. Nathaniel Rothstein is a pasty, doughy, taciturn, and troubled sixteen year old who is sent to the home of his uncle, Bob Alexander, in Austin, Texas for the summer after a kerfluffle at his high school in Massachusetts. From the opening pages of the novel, we learn that Nathaniel vanished during his visit in August of 1998 and, ten years later, he remains missing.

While in Austin, Nathaniel volunteered at the Shoal Creek Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home, “where Austin’s moneyed liberals hid their most embarrassing relations.” Nathaniel was supervised by David Dalice, an affable Haitian who served as the Director of Hospitality and who had a penchant for talking to his trainees about his made up sexual exploits: “His sheltered white underlings had such particular notions of Black sexuality that David as Don Juan wasn’t exactly a difficult sell.” These horny teenage boys who hung on to his every word were David’s drug.

In the evenings, Nathaniel used his Hanukkah money on a sex hotline but, channeling David, he unwittingly attracted the attention of Sasha Semyonova with whom he chatted daily, gratis. When Sasha wants to meet in person, Nathanial is compelled to train at Terry’s and to tan, thinking that he can “turn himself Black in hopes of hooking up with a Russian phone sex operator.” Uncle Bob is shocked by “the scope of his nephew’s transformation. He was so much more confident, so much more relaxed. So much more . . . tan.”

There are more characters and more subplots than can be outlined in a review, but Schaefer maintains command over this sprawling epic. Broad in scope, but chock-full of finely rendered characters, this is an ambitious novel with lots of heart and soul. Despite its humor, Schaefer has much to say about issues of Blackness, whiteness, and identity and has concocted a bold plot in service of exploring them. Thank you Danielle Prielipp, Senior Marketing Director, Simon & Schuster, for an advance copy of this remarkable novel.