The Slip has a cast of characters that is a very varied ensemble. At the heart of this group is Nathaniel Rothstein. In 1998 Nathaniel is a 16-year-old boy living in Newton Massachusetts with his mother. But he runs into trouble and is sent to live in Austin with his Uncle Bob, a history professor at the University of Texas who likes to smoke weed and hang out at a boxing gym—with a lot of other characters that we come to know all about.
Nathaniel is lost. He’s a Jewish kid. His mother loves him. His uncle looks out for him. But he is lost. He is trying to find his way in the world.
David Dalice is a Haitian immigrant who works in a nursing home. He’s another person who is a fixture at the boxing gym. He’s charismatic and someone who Nathaniel comes to admire—and emulate.
There's a lot going on in this novel.
Nathaniel starts talking to a girl named Sasha on a 900-phone-sex hotline.
At the gym there are doctors, cops, janitors, lawyers, nurses, day laborers and amateur fighters sparring and trying to get through life. There are twins. And there’s a coyote.
The novel opens over a decade after Nathaniel goes missing.
Uncle Bob has received a tip that restarts the investigation in Nathaniel's missing persons case.
Alongside Bob are the aforementioned twins. One is down on his luck. One is opportunistic. There is a rookie cop. There is an aspiring prizefighter who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border when he was 14 years old. There is a teen who goes by the name “X” who is trying to figure out his life, too.
This is a story about identity, gender, family, friends— community. It’s a novel about race and place. It’s an Austin story. It's a Texas story. While it spans a very particular time—it's a story for right now.
It's a book about how all of us want to belong—and maybe can belong—right now, right where we are.
