CityBeat is partnering with Under Cover Book Club on a book-based scavenger hunt in Cincinnati. Every month, the Under Cover Book Club will hide books around the city for you to find with clues posted on social media and CityBeat will publish short reviews of those books to give you a taste of what’s to come. These are the reviews of the books — A Gorgeous Excitement, American Thighs and Vantage Point — that will be hidden in January.
A Gorgeous Excitement by Cynthia Werner
Cynthia Weiner’s A Gorgeous Excitement could sit boldly among other contemporary literary fiction, an amazing yet well-deserved feat for a debut novel. Werner explores the raw, unapologetic realities of female identity, desire and disillusionment against the backdrop of 1980s New York City. Nina Jacobs yearns to escape her mother’s rages and lose her virginity the summer before college. She soon meets the magnetic Gardner Reed and dives headfirst into the excesses of the Upper East Side where she spends her time chasing thrills, love and drugs, never once considering what it may cost her.
Weiner tackles intimacy and power struggles in a gut-wrenching and relatable way. Her dialogue is as incisive as her observations, and her fragmented style distills profound truths into keen prose that requires the reader’s complete attention. She also has a knack for spinning the ordinariness of everyday life into poignant moments of camaraderie. A Gorgeous Excitement is a bold exploration of the emotional and existential terrain of college life, navigating it with intelligence and artistry.
For readers of: Sally Rooney, Jenny Offill, Rachel Cusk
Crown Publishing ᧠368 pages ᧠Jan. 21, 2025
American Thighs by Elizabeth Ellen
Whew. American Thighs by Elizabeth Ellen hit like a truck with a voice that is equal parts cutting and vulnerable. Ellen’s story follows Tatum Grant, a former child star who leaves Hollywood to live as a high school sophomore in Elkhart, Indiana, using a stolen ID to relive teenage life. As she becomes entangled in school drama, her past catches up with her during a road trip turned police chase, all told from the perspectives of students, teachers and social media influencers.
Rife with contradictions, Ellen’s refusal to flinch in the face of self-exposure marries beautifully with her willingness to dissect the messy intersections of loss, love and technologically exposed lives. American Thighs confronts the reader with raw truths that are both unsettling and exhilarating. It’s the kind of book that burns hot and leaves a mark, akin to the kind of pain that feels good.
For readers of: Melissa Broder, Ottessa Moshfegh, Chris Kraus
CLASH Books ᧠360 pages ᧠Jan. 28, 2025
Vantage Point by Sara Sligar
Sara Sligar’s Vantage Point pulled me in breathlessly with its slow-burning tension. Her writing evokes the unsettlingly blurred lines between perception and reality, confusing the reader enough to keep them curious and entranced. The novel follows Clara and her brother Teddy, who grew up in the shadow of their parents’ tragic deaths. Teddy runs for Senate and soon after intimate videos of Clara are leaked, though it is unclear to even Clara herself if the videos are real. Thus begins a story of a family’s marred past as it intertwines with the present.
Sligar’s prose builds tension that feels both elegant and razor-sharp. Her talent for crafting unreliable narratives left me questioning every layer of the story, unsure of where it would lead next. Sligar deftly portrays how our memories and interpretations shape not only how we see others but how we see ourselves. I found myself reflecting on what it means to trust my own perspective, long after the story’s crushing twist.
For readers of: Gillian Flynn, Donna Tartt, Megan Abbott
MCD x FSG ᧠400 pages ᧠Jan. 14, 2025
This article appears in Dec 11-24, 2024.