The Flamethrowers

A Novel

De: Rachel Kushner

Narrado por: Rachel Kushner

* Selected as ONE of the BEST BOOKS of the 21st CENTURY by The New York Times * NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * New York magazine’s #1 Book of the Year * Best Book of the Year by: The Wall Street Journal; Vogue; O, The Oprah Magazine; Los Angeles Times; The San Francisco Chronicle; The New Yorker; Time; Flavorwire; Salon; Slate; The Daily Beast

“Superb…Scintillatingly alive…A pure explosion of now.”—The New Yorker

Reno, so-called because of the place of her birth, comes to New York intent on turning her fascination with motorcycles and speed into art. Her arrival coincides with an explosion of activity—artists colonize a deserted and industrial SoHo, stage actions in the East Village, blur the line between life and art. Reno is submitted to a sentimental education of sorts—by dreamers, poseurs, and raconteurs in New York and by radicals in Italy, where she goes with her lover to meet his estranged and formidable family. Ardent, vulnerable, and bold, Reno is a fiercely memorable observer, superbly realized by Rachel Kushner.

©2013 Rachel Kushner. All rights reserved. (P)2022 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Unique style, highly intellectual writing

loved it. so different!! so original with gorgeous style and language!! beautiful. it was strange and lovely and human.

Awful reader

This is a fantastic book ruined by this performance. I couldn’t get through more than a couple chapter a I found it so grating. Every single sentence ends with the same intonation.

Beautifully descriptive. Captivating narration

Nothing. Enjoyed listening to it every day while walking. The author is an excellent writer

Excellence!

The Flamethrowers is an amazing read. The story is lyrical and very photographic. Highly recommended.

Love her.

Her performance is really good. Some parts of her book were confusing and hard to follow, others were really well written.

Overrated

This is a story about a really stupid young woman who allows herself to be confused, taken advantage of, and heartbroken during a period of cultural disorganization, and changing social mores. But I don’t think she ever really learns anything, and she just kind of wanders through life. Not particularly beautiful nor extraordinarily talented. Her lack of intelligence gets her into more trouble as the story progresses. But is it really a story? It’s just kind of a pointless narrative. Maybe I’m just a beach book Philistine, but after everyone telling me what a brilliant writer Rachel Kushner is, this book left me seriously disappointed, and underwhelmed.

Great writing!!

Amazing writing, love her style!! Floats effortlessly through such a diverse work. So smart and cool

Recommended

Aside from the worst introductory and concluding music I have ever heard in my life, this book is exceedingly well written and interesting, especially from the perspective of a 67-year-old woman, remembering the…….bad old days.

Expansive and metaphorical; interesting story with a unique trajectory.

Timeless themes worth pondering, somewhat (or not so somewhat) randomly couched in the story of a young, daring but naive, woman in a man’s world, a neophyte youth’s wanderings and loose-relation encounters in NYC, indentured servitude of international capitalism, rubber plantation slaves and slavers, greed, revolution, familial loyalty, revenge, naive ignorance, unintentional results, circular Justice. Scenes of Lower Manhattan in the 70’s are interwoven into a young woman’s naive caper into the misogynistic international art scene and thus into an Italian tire magnate’s family and promo business and specifically into the strangeness of Italian post-WW2 revolutionary history, all the while navigating and avenging, however inadvertently, brutal sexism and surviving it, relatively intact. Well-narrated by the author is always a bonus. Waiting in the spitting snow at the bottom of a cross-border ski trail escape from Italy France………this is the end.
Seriously it could all be a dream, a flash of life-before-your-eyes, as wiping out doing 150mph on a Nevada salt flat has to be fatal - motorcycle leathers are not going to save you.

Superb narrative

I’ve been binging this author since she was shortlisted for the Booker. Each novel is an unexpected and keenly observed journey into human experiences and emotions you could never have quite described yourself. This is Kushner’s gift to her readers.