Thank you Crown publishing, and PRH audio, for review copies! A Gorgeous Excitement is a mesmerizing novel, one that stands out to me for the immersive writing and evocative scene descriptions and also for the way that the author generates compassion, and connection, for the main character Nina and her somewhat typically tumultous coming of age journey in 1980s NYC. Themes may feel familiar, coming of age being somehow a unique story yet filled with similar beats and themes across books, but Weiner's balanced approach to storytelling, pulling back to avoid sensationalizing behaviors and actions and offering an insightful examination of Nina's behaviors and risk taking with her mother's depression and bouts of mania, brings a structure and depth to this novel. This is a book to sit with, it is character driven and filled with that fragile tension of wanting desperately to grow up, to achieve adulthood, while still clinging to the uncertainty of identity and self that is the hallmark of adolescence.
Fantastically and thoughtfully narrated on audio, the audiobook production captures Nina's voice and the unfolding story expertly. What are the costs of growing up, leaving behind youthful naivete for the darker, edgier awareness of adulthood and adult relationships?