The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner
The year is 1977 and Reno - so called because of the place of her birth - has come to New York intent on turning her fascination with motorcycles and speed into art. Her arrival coincides with an explosion of activity in the art world - artists have colonised a deserted and industrial SoHo, are squatting in the East Village, and are blurring the line between life and art. Reno meets a group of dreamers and raconteurs who submit her to a sentimental education of sorts. She begins an affair with an artist named Sandro Valera, the semi-estranged scion of an Italian tyre and motorcycle empire. When they visit Sandro's family home in Italy, Reno falls in with members of the radical movement that overtook Italy in 1977. Betrayal sends her reeling into a clandestine undertow. The Flamethrowers is a fearless novel, an intensely engaging exploration of the mystique of the feminine, the fake the terrorist. In the centre of it all is Kushner's brilliantly realised protagonist, a younf woman on the verge.
Scintillatingly alive.. It ripples with stories, anecdotes, set-piece monologues, crafty egotistical tall tales, and hapless adventures -- James Wood * New Yorker *
Kushner is rapidly emerging as a thrilling and prodigious novelist -- Jonathan Franzen
One of the most thrilling and high-octane literary experiences I have had in ages -- Colum McCann * Sunday Independent *
It's so good, it's a little frightening… it makes any fretting over the state of the novel look plain silly * Guardian *
An adrenalin-fuelled coming-of-age novel * Sunday Telegraph *
Kushner is rapidly emerging as a thrilling and prodigious novelist -- Jonathan Franzen
One of the most thrilling and high-octane literary experiences I have had in ages -- Colum McCann * Sunday Independent *
It's so good, it's a little frightening… it makes any fretting over the state of the novel look plain silly * Guardian *
An adrenalin-fuelled coming-of-age novel * Sunday Telegraph *
Rachel Kushner is the author of The Mars Room, which was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize. Her previous novels, Telex from Cuba and The Flamethrowers, were both New York Times bestsellers and finalists for the National Book Award. Her fiction has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper’s and the Paris Review. She lives in Los Angeles.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781846557927 |
| ISBN 10 | 1846557925 |
| Title | The Flamethrowers |
| Author | Rachel Kushner |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Vintage Publishing |
| Year published | 2013-06-06 |
| Number of pages | 400 |
| Prizes | Short-listed for James Tait Black Memorial Prize 2014 (UK), Long-listed for The Folio Prize 2014 (UK), Long-listed for Womens Prize for Fiction 2014 (UK), Long-listed for I.M.P.A.C. Dublin Award 2015 (UK) |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |