∎ Libro Gratis The Flamethrowers A Novel Rachel Kushner 9781439142004 Books

The Flamethrowers A Novel Rachel Kushner 9781439142004 Books

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The Flamethrowers A Novel Rachel Kushner 9781439142004 Books

I picked up The Flamethrowers after seeing it named one of the NY Times 10 Best Books of 2013. How can you not pick it up after that sort of recognition. Ironically, I have Telex From Cuba on my "to read" pile in my apartment as well but haven't gotten around to it. I enjoyed The Flamethrowers--her writing is beautiful. It is jarring in places. Sensual in others. But the book itself was slow going and I can't say I enjoyed the storyline itself. The central figure in the story is Reno--a young woman named after the city she was born in. She migrates to New York and falls in with a artsy crowd who sleep around, have different perspectives on life, and who generally live in the fast lane. This is great for Reno at first because as a motorcycle speedy rider she loves speed and danger. The story centers around Reno's dalliance and relationship with the Valera family. We go back in time to see how they manufactured motorcycles, served in the army, and made tons of money in rubber and tires while beating back insurgencies from Indian workers. Remo eventually befriends Sandro Valera who is much older and eventually breaks her heart leading Reno to hit the road again in NY to take up with an insurgent crowd. I didn't love this book. I found it very hard to follow and despite the beautiful language and writing, the story didn't do anything for me at all. I can't recommend it highly although I am sure tons of people will keep reading it.


Tags : The Flamethrowers: A Novel [Rachel Kushner] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Named a Best Book of 2013 by <I>The New York Times;</I> <I>Vogue;</I> <I>O, The Oprah Magazine;</I> <I>Time;</I> <I>Bookish;</I> <I>New York</I> magazine; <I>The New Yorker;</I> <I>Slate;</I> <I>Flavorwire;</I> <I>Publishers Weekly;</I> <I>Kirkus Reviews;</I> <I>Salon;</I> and <I>Complex.</I><BR> <BR>Rachel Kushner’s <I>The Flamethrowers,Rachel Kushner,The Flamethrowers: A Novel,Scribner,1439142009,Historical - General,Literary,Brigate rosse,Futurism,Futurism (Literary movement),Futurism;Fiction.,Italy,Motorcycles,Motorcycles;Fiction.,New York (N.Y.),Women artists,Women artists;Fiction.,AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION,Coming of Age,FICTION Coming of Age,FICTION General,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Literary,Fiction,Fiction - General,Fiction-Literary,FictionComing of Age,Futurism (Art),GENERAL,General Adult,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),United States,national book award, best of 2013, telex from cuba, robert stone, hari kunzru, jonathan franzen, karen Russell, rivka galchen, francisco goldman, colm toibin, red brigades, futurism, jack goldstein, danny lyon, andy Warhol, Julie buck, Gabriele basilica, enrico castellani, allen Ginsberg, tano d'amico, new York art scene, soho galleries, 1970s new york,national book award; best of 2013; telex from cuba; robert stone; hari kunzru; jonathan franzen; karen Russell; rivka galchen; francisco goldman; colm toibin; red brigades; futurism; jack goldstein; danny lyon; andy Warhol; Julie buck; Gabriele basilica; enrico castellani; allen Ginsberg; tano d’amico; new York art scene; soho galleries; 1970s new york,Coming of Age,FICTION Coming of Age,FICTION General,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Literary,FictionComing of Age,Fiction - General,American Historical Fiction,Futurism (Art),Fiction,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

The Flamethrowers A Novel Rachel Kushner 9781439142004 Books Reviews

Young, female outsider with a need for speed swaggers onto the scene and gets the land speed record for female. Cool, great, tell me more!! Returns to NYC art scene that is supposedly dynamic and avant garde, but feels claustrophobic and full of fakes, yet somehow remains captivating to protagonist. She is in the center of things by dint of being arm candy for older, Italian sculptor and gradually loses her swagger (although unaware of this), especially when she lands at the aristocratic homestead near the end of the novel. Will she get her swagger back? No. Will a series of critical events breathe life into the last two thirds of the book. Not really. It was a page turner, but with increasingly disappointing results. A good book that lost its way.
Not sure I liked the story. Mixed feeling in the characters, not sure they grew or developed. Reno, well, she just seemed to wander thru things, including her art.
I suspect that many people did or will pick up this book for the same reason that I did because it topped so many respectable “best of” lists in 2013. Did “The Flamethrowers” deserve the accolades? Well, I have mixed views about that.

As reviewer Lauren Groff succinctly puts it, “The Flamethrowers” is “a love story, about a young artist under the sway of an older, established artist, scion of a motorcycle family, who betrays her, and she joins up with an underground group in Italy.” That really sums it up. Does that little plot summary grab you? It didn’t immediately grab me either, but I thought let’s find out what all of the fuss is about.

I suppose I could best describe this book as “literary.” And whenever I hear that from other reviewers, I often translate it to mean “don’t expect easily recognized plot structure” or “brace yourself for a rambling expanse of words that may or may not add up to anything.” I’m happy to report that Flamethrowers does have a plot and it’s fairly clear. it just doesn’t add up to a whole lot.

Rachel Kushner is a wizardess of words, she really is. Her writing style is lovely and sweet to savor in the way that well prepared food is; it feels nourishing to the brain and the imagination. It’s just enjoyable to devour. However--and here’s the big “but”--I simply feel that she needed a better storyline to hang her efforts on. As the saying goes, “there’s not a lot of there there.” For me, it was one of those books that makes you say “that’s it?”.
Kushner is a good writer. I lived in NYC in the 70s and she captures the time beautifully. The part of the book that takes place in Italy seems a little over wrought. The internet (easy access to all kinds of historical information) permeates a lot of contemporary fiction, especially books written by authors under 40. And while historical details are interesting (the events unfolding in Italy in the 70s etc) they shouldn't take the place of plot and character. Maybe contemporary readers are too lazy to read about history in history books and so feel they are learning something when fiction writers incorporate real historical events into their novels. Kushner seems to have fallen into that trap. I'll look forward to her next book.
A very strange and intermittently powerful novel whose young female protagonist explores the society and politics of the ‘70s Village art scene and of Red Brigades Italy. One comes to wish that the poor innocent and badly beset protagonist could have been as intelligent as the author as she is caromed along, often via motorcycle, through an occasionally entertaining world of truly heartless bastards. If you know a lot about a lot, the novel can seem very roman-à-cleffy. I’m not, but had fun looking up who might be real and who entirety fictional. (The version is good for that sort of thing.)
This is a novel of a young female artist trying to forge a career and identity for herself in New York City in the 1970s. The writing style is clean and usually interesting. But I found the lack of real interpersonal connection or internal learning and growth discouraging. It’s hard for me to care about characters who don’t care very much about anyone or anything else.
I picked up The Flamethrowers after seeing it named one of the NY Times 10 Best Books of 2013. How can you not pick it up after that sort of recognition. Ironically, I have Telex From Cuba on my "to read" pile in my apartment as well but haven't gotten around to it. I enjoyed The Flamethrowers--her writing is beautiful. It is jarring in places. Sensual in others. But the book itself was slow going and I can't say I enjoyed the storyline itself. The central figure in the story is Reno--a young woman named after the city she was born in. She migrates to New York and falls in with a artsy crowd who sleep around, have different perspectives on life, and who generally live in the fast lane. This is great for Reno at first because as a motorcycle speedy rider she loves speed and danger. The story centers around Reno's dalliance and relationship with the Valera family. We go back in time to see how they manufactured motorcycles, served in the army, and made tons of money in rubber and tires while beating back insurgencies from Indian workers. Remo eventually befriends Sandro Valera who is much older and eventually breaks her heart leading Reno to hit the road again in NY to take up with an insurgent crowd. I didn't love this book. I found it very hard to follow and despite the beautiful language and writing, the story didn't do anything for me at all. I can't recommend it highly although I am sure tons of people will keep reading it.