Book Report: Amanda Eisenberg
A review of The Knockout Queen by Rufi Thorpe
Welcome to the first edition of Book Report, our new column where we give friends of the newsletter the reins to recommend a book they’ve loved recently.
Today, we’re thrilled to bring you Amanda Eisenberg’s rec! Amanda is the author of People Are Talking, which you’ve definitely seen us *talk* about. She is also a journalist whose work has been featured in Politico, InStyle, and The Washington Post. She’s one of our favorite people to talk about books with, so we couldn’t think of a better person to spotlight.
We’re all on the precipice of disaster. Some people know it, know how hard life can be, and for others, it sneaks up on them like a sucker punch. One good hit and they’re lights out.
Rufi Thorpe’s third novel, The Knockout Queen, explores how sharp that edge is and how privilege or luck can be just enough to push you in either direction. This book, published just as the pandemic took hold in New York, is told from the perspective of Michael, a clear-eyed adult reflecting on his teenage years in California and his friendship with the rich girl next door, Bunny Lampert. As the two high schoolers, a closeted loner and a freakishly tall volleyball player, navigate their otherness among the beige uniformity of their suburban California town, they are forced to confront how their lives will diverge from an act of random violence.
The Knockout Queen has a ferality that gives it more edge than most other coming-of-age novels, with a story structure that lets you feel like you’re being led down the right path. Sure, you might scrape yourself and draw a little blood, but you know you’ll make it out okay (even if the characters may not).
This novel brought me back to the banality of suburban existence. I could smell the CVS cement parking lot in my New Jersey hometown evoked by the mention of Michael getting ready for his shift at Rite Aid, or the ache of wanting something more for yourself than what your small town, with its gossiping and small-minded residents, can offer. Taffy Brodesser-Akner mentioned in an interview that she knows she has written a hit when people approach her, presumably to discuss her work, and instead reflect on their own lives. Rufi Thorpe made me want to call my high school friends and pick them up in my old yellow punch buggy, driving off toward somewhere bigger and brighter.
Best if you liked: The Virgin Suicides, Margo’s Got Money Troubles, The Great Gatsby