The year is 1975 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 colonized a deserted and industrial SoHo, are staging actions in the East Village, and are blurring the line between life and art. Reno ...
The year is 1975 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 colonized a deserted and industrial SoHo, are staging actions 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. Ardent, vulnerable, and bold, she begins an affair with an artist named Sandro Valera, the semi-estranged scion of an Italian tire 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 the seventies. Betrayal sends her reeling into a clandestine undertow.
The Flamethrowers is an intensely engaging exploration of the mystique of the feminine, the fake, the terrorist. At its center is Kushner’s brilliantly realized protagonist, a young woman on the verge. Thrilling and fearless, this is a major American novel from a writer of spectacular talent and imagination.
Rachel Kushner is the only writer to ever be nominated for a National Book Award in Fiction for both a first and second novel. She began her Bachelor’s in Political Economy at the University of California, Berkeley when she was only sixteen and went on to obtain an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. She published her first novel, Telex from Cuba, in 2008. Kushner...
Rachel Kushner is the only writer to ever be nominated for a National Book Award in Fiction for both a first and second novel. She began her Bachelor’s in Political Economy at the University of California, Berkeley when she was only sixteen and went on to obtain an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University. She published her first novel, Telex from Cuba, in 2008. Kushner has edited for Grand Street Magazine, BOMB, Soft Targets, and Artforum, among others. Her fiction and essays can be found in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and the Paris Review, and frequently focus on issues of feminism, contemporary art, revolutionary politics, culture, and modernism. In 2013 New York Magazine called Kushner’s second book, The Flamethrowers, “probably the most heatedly discussed book of the year.” For this title Kushner was a finalist for the 2014 Folio Prize, the James Tate Black Prize, and the Bailey’s Prize. She was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship in 2013 as well as an honorary PhD from Kalamazoo College. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son.
"Home. We say 'home,' not 'house.' You never hear a good agent say 'house.' A house is where people have died on the mattresses. Where pipes freeze and burst. Where termites fall from the sink spigot. Where somebody starts a flu fire by burning a telephone book in the furnace. Where banks repossess. Where mental illness takes hold. A home is something else. Do not underestimate the power in the word home. It's like the difference between 'rebel' and 'thug.' A rebel is a gleaming individual in tight Levi's, a sneering and pretty face. The kind Sal Mineo wet-dreams. A thug is hairy and dark, an object that would sink to the bottom when dropped in a lake. A home is maintained. Cared for. Loved. The word home is savory like gravy, and like gravy, kept warm. (查看原文)
I felt a sudden tenderness for him and the burden he bore, of being trapped in his own long-winded narcissism, a burning need for others to listen. But this moment of unexpected tolerance may have bloomed in me because they were all finally scheduled to depart the next day, and it is easier to like difficult people when they are leaving, or already gone. (查看原文)
Thin and unconvincing plot with interesting observations of important yet underrepresented historical moments; gets funnier towards the end. 主人公分不清真情假意，读者也一头雾水…"the novel too often sounds like the sty...Thin and unconvincing plot with interesting observations of important yet underrepresented historical moments; gets funnier towards the end. 主人公分不清真情假意，读者也一头雾水…"the novel too often sounds like the stylized voice-over narration of film noir, sardonic, self-conscious, very American" (展开)
It's the kind of novel that seems flavorless when you read it but all the emotions swarm back to you when you finish the last word. The grand epic of New York City and Italy in the 1970s.
I have to say the novel is not a page turner. It is not meant to be. Rachel Kushner is not Kerouac, though some people may compare these two. Kushner's angle of America in 1970 has strong filter of romanticism. She tried to put reader into perspectives of t...
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瑞秋·库什纳 作者
太阳小鸟花和我
2 有用 半个桃李林檎 2014-03-09 21:49:22
1977年的意大利，激进的学生和工人掷出千万个燃烧瓶向专制宣战；同年的纽约，嬉皮艺术家用未上膛的手枪射向工厂女孩的下体，获取刺激的欢愉。Kushner用女性视角重塑了一个男权时代，风格化的语言更多地是记录而非批判。《卫报》评论说《烈火青春》是第一次由女作家创作出的Great Amercian Novel。主角Reno是一个性格温顺的小镇姑娘，在成为机车女郎之前怀揣艺术理想，通过几段情感经历（特别是... 1977年的意大利，激进的学生和工人掷出千万个燃烧瓶向专制宣战；同年的纽约，嬉皮艺术家用未上膛的手枪射向工厂女孩的下体，获取刺激的欢愉。Kushner用女性视角重塑了一个男权时代，风格化的语言更多地是记录而非批判。《卫报》评论说《烈火青春》是第一次由女作家创作出的Great Amercian Novel。主角Reno是一个性格温顺的小镇姑娘，在成为机车女郎之前怀揣艺术理想，通过几段情感经历（特别是意大利籍高富帅大叔Sandro）与纽约艺术圈有了接触，身边充斥着表演人格的艺术家和婊子，因此始终自觉是一个局外人。当她跟随车队来到意大利，很快就被Sandro劈腿，无依无靠的她无意中闯入了当地激进分子的团体。。。Reno的最大缺点是过于顺从不做斗争，她后来为此付出了代价。 (展开)
1 有用 Kavya 2015-07-25 18:56:50
Thin and unconvincing plot with interesting observations of important yet underrepresented historical moments; gets funnier towards the end. 主人公分不清真情假意，读者也一头雾水…"the novel too often sounds like the sty... Thin and unconvincing plot with interesting observations of important yet underrepresented historical moments; gets funnier towards the end. 主人公分不清真情假意，读者也一头雾水…"the novel too often sounds like the stylized voice-over narration of film noir, sardonic, self-conscious, very American" (展开)
0 有用 YOU EAT PHONE 2014-11-12 23:05:49
Throughout a whole year.
0 有用 太阳小鸟花和我 2017-02-26 22:03:40
It's the kind of novel that seems flavorless when you read it but all the emotions swarm back to you when you finish the last word. The grand epic of New York City and Italy in the 1970s.
1 有用 闷闷 2015-05-17 16:16:38
alternative art history 可以用来吐槽的不知道为什么得了那么多奖的 女摩托赛车手＋land artist版的50度灰