The Deuce (2024) by Robert Olen Butler is a gritty, lyrical coming-of-age novel set in 1960s New Jersey, where 17-year-old Anthony “Tony” Ambrosio navigates the rough streets of Newark’s red-light district—nicknamed “The Deuce”—amid the turmoil of Vietnam-era America. A gifted but troubled student, Tony grapples with his Italian-American family’s expectations, his first love with a Burlesque dancer named Stella, and the looming threat of the draft, all while working at his uncle’s boardwalk arcade, a front for mob dealings.
Butler, a Pulitzer winner (A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain), crafts a poetic, noir-tinged portrait of youth on the brink, blending street-smart dialogue with dreamlike introspection. The novel’s heartbeat is Tony’s obsession with French New Wave cinema—particularly Godard’s Breathless—which mirrors his own rebellion against fate.
A love letter to a vanished America, The Deuce shines with Butler’s signature empathy for flawed souls.
