The Flamethrowers
First edition hardcover
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| Author | Rachel Kushner |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Scribner |
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Publication date
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April 2, 2013 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback |
| Pages | 400 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC | 800031609 |
| 813.6 | |
| LC Class | PS3611.U7386F57 2013 |
The Flamethrowers is a 2013 novel by American author Rachel Kushner. The book was released on April 2, 2013 through Scribner and follows a female artist in the 1970s. While writing The Flamethrowers Kushner drew on personal experiences during and after college, as well as her interests in "motorcycles, art, revolution and radical politics". The book was selected as one of the "10 Best Books of 2013" by the editors of the New York Times Book Review. It was also the subject of a counter-review in the Los Angeles Times Book Review and a counter-counter review in the New Republic.
In 1975 a young art school graduate from Reno moves to New York City hoping to become a successful artist. She meets an older, more established artist, Sandro Valera, the heir of Moto Valera, an Italian tire and motorcycle company. He and his friends nickname her Reno. In 1976, with the reluctant approval of Sandro, she takes one of the Moto Valera prototype motorcycles to the Bonneville Salt Flats where she intends to race and then photograph her tracks as part of an art project. Reno crashes the bike but is adopted by the Moto Valera crew who help her set a record to become the woman with the fastest racing record in the world.
The following year the Valera crew ask Reno to join them on a promotional tour in Italy. Sandro reluctantly decides to accompany Reno and the two spend two weeks with Sandro's family in their villa in Lake Como before the promotional tour is due to begin. However plans for the tour are put on hold when the star of the promotional tour, a professional racer, is kidnapped. Reno also finds Sandro kissing his cousin, Talia, and runs away to Rome with the Valera family mechanic, Gianni, who introduces her to a group of young radicals. Reno is swept up in part of the Movement of 1977 and participates in riots. She later helps Gianni illegally cross the border into France.
Back in New York Reno moves out of Sandro's apartment and concentrates on her art. She learns that Sandro's older brother has been kidnapped by revolutionaries and tries to contact him but realizes he is already seeing someone new. After his brother's murder Sandro finally returns to Italy where he will succeed his brother as the head of the Valera empire.
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