Cynthia Weiner's first novel, A Gorgeous Excitement, is a thrilling coming-of-age narrative set in 1980s Manhattan, featuring twists of humor, vulnerability and, of course, excitement. Eighteen-year-old Nina's main goal for the summer is to lose her virginity. Often frequenting Flanagan's, an Upper East Side bar, Nina sets her sights on the handsome and charismatic Gardner Reed. Her monumental plans are dimmed by her mother, who suffers from depression, with moods that shift, soar, and dip with each new medication, leaving Nina uneasy in her own home. Her unstable relationship with her mother, callous teenage gossip, and the otherness Nina feels stemming from her Jewish heritage push her to do whatever it takes to finally fit in.
Stephanie, a new friend with a carefree spirit and a taste for cocaine, helps Nina put her plans into motion. Through Nina's pursuit of Gardner and her new self, A Gorgeous Excitement navigates female friendship, unconventional mother-daughter dynamics, and the dangers of New York after dark. Weiner's sharp and witty depiction, inspired by the "Preppy Murder" of 1986, is beautiful, suspenseful, and haunting, carefree in style but weighty in subject matter.
Nina's embrace of "Freud's description of a cocaine high: 'a gorgeous excitement' " casts a provocative mood on her exploration of herself and the city. Following the events of one pivotal summer, readers are absorbed into a vivid and mesmeric cautionary tale that captures the essence of 1980s New York. A Gorgeous Excitement is a fantastic portrayal of the trials and tribulations that plague the young female mind. --Clara Newton, freelance reviewer