The Flamethrowers

By Rachel Kushner,

Book cover of The Flamethrowers

Book description

FROM THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF THE MARS ROOM

SHORTLISTED FOR THE FOLIO PRIZE 2014

LONGLISTED FOR THE BAILEYS WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

Reno mounts her motorcycle and sets a collision course for New York.

In 1977 the city is alive with art, sensuality and danger. She falls…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Flamethrowers as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This is a vibrant depiction of what it was like to come into one’s own as an artist in 1970s New York. The critically acclaimed novel—which was nominated for a National Book Award—illustrates the spirit of creative collaboration pervading the New York art scene, taking the reader from the lofts and streets of Lower Manhattan to motorcycle speed tests on the Bonneville Salt Flats and labor strikes in fictional Italian motorcycle factories.

I love how it captures the danger and possibility of this era while raising important questions about privilege and patronage in the arts and about who bears the…

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