The Flamethrowers

Starred review from February 18, 2013
This rich second novel from Kushner (Telex from Cuba) takes place in late-’70s New York City and Italy. Reno is a young filmmaker “shopping for experiences,” who, as the novel opens, is attempting to set a land-speed record on her Moto Valera motorcycle in Nevada, only to crash instead. A flashback to New York finds her mixing with a group of artists, among whom she meets Sandro Valera, whose wealthy family manufactures the Moto Valera. Soon they are romantically entwined, and Reno accompanies Sandro on a visit home to Italy. She risks alienating the Valeras by going to their factory to film labor unrest, only to catch Sandro there in flagrante delicto with his cousin Talia. Distraught, she flees with Valera family servant Gianni to Rome, where she discovers Gianni is involved with a volatile protest movement. Snippets from the life of Sandro’s father’s run in intriguing contrast to Reno’s story, presenting his WWI experiences, childhood in Alexandria, Egypt, and the founding of his company. Kushner’s psychological explorations of her characters are incisive, the novel is peppered with subtle ’70s details, and it bursts with you-are-there depictions of its time and places. Agent Susan Golomb, Susan Golomb Agency.

April 15, 2013

Nicknamed for her birthplace, Reno loves speed--so much so that she hopes to set a world record racing her motorcycle on the Nevada salt flats. But she's also there to create a work of art with tire-track imagery, for Reno is indeed an artist, having moved to New York to pursue her interests. Along the grubbier edges of the city, she's met the movers, shakers, and hangers-on of the cutting-edge art scene of the late 1970s, including Sandro Valera, scion of an Italian family whose wealth rests on a vast tire and motorcycle empire. Scornful of his family, the older Sandro is a successful artist and quite a catch for Reno, who despite her tough-as-leather sensibility has something to learn about the cold, manipulative world. And learn she does when she heads to Italy with a reluctant Sandro, having fallen into what looks to be a great opportunity with the Valera racing team while in Nevada. Striking workers and fringe radicals are only a part of her education. VERDICT National Book Award finalist Kushner (Telex from Cuba) presents an incisive, enthralling portrait of a young woman finding her way. [See Prepub Alert, 10/15/12.]--Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal

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