cevdp

For the next month or so, we’ll be reading The Slip by Lucas Schaefer. I loved it so much that I decided to not wait until fall or winter to start up the Tinned Fish Book Club. I considered waiting, especially since I’m a few months out from my own debut novel coming out, raising a baby, and also just trying to live in the year 2025, but Schaefer created a book that had me going “Oh shit, yes” with each page turn.

Maybe it’s because I’m still high off last year’s experience of loving Rita Bullwinkel’s Pulitzer finalist Headshot, or I’m generally just a fan of fiction that uses boxing to explore larger themes, but Schaefer pulled off a really tough act by making a book that’s funny and edgy, but also says something. It’s the sort of book the literary heads and people who only get around to reading a few novels a year so they want some plot will love. Ron Charles of the Washington Post called it a “Sweaty masterpiece,” and I think that says all you need to know about why I picked it for the summer book.