Arrival in a New World

Reno, a young woman from Nevada, arrives in 1970s New York City, determined to turn her love of motorcycles and speed into art. She enters a world of artists, dreamers, and squatters in SoHo, where the boundaries between art and life blur. Alone and searching for connection, she is swept into the city's vibrant, chaotic energy, meeting people who will shape her journey—most notably Sandro Valera, an Italian artist and heir to a tire and motorcycle empire. Reno's outsider status, both as a Westerner and a woman, sets her apart, but also gives her a unique perspective on the city's shifting social and artistic landscape.

Speed as Art

Reno's fascination with speed is not just about thrill—it's a way of making art, of drawing lines across landscapes, of marking time and space. She rides her Moto Valera motorcycle across the Nevada desert, inspired by land artists and the mythos of the American West. Her journey is both literal and metaphorical: she seeks to capture the essence of movement, risk, and the fleeting nature of experience. The salt flats of Bonneville become her canvas, and her attempt to set a land speed record is as much about self-definition as it is about breaking barriers.

Lovers and Power

Reno's relationship with Sandro is charged with imbalance—he is older, established, and carries the weight of family legacy, while she is young, unproven, and hungry for meaning. Their affair is passionate but fraught, shaped by the power dynamics of age, gender, and class. Sandro's world is one of privilege and artistic success, but also of emotional distance and hidden wounds. Reno is both drawn to and alienated by his confidence, his connections, and the way he navigates the art world. Their love becomes a battleground for issues of autonomy, mentorship, and the search for authenticity.

Becoming Reno

In New York, Reno struggles to find her place. She works odd jobs, befriends Giddle, a waitress and sometime sex worker, and becomes a "China girl"—her face used as a color standard in film labs, a symbol of anonymous femininity. The city is a maze of encounters: artists, hustlers, revolutionaries, and lost souls. Reno's sense of self is constantly in flux, shaped by the people she meets and the roles she plays. She is both observer and participant, her identity as mutable as the city itself.

The Art of Violence

The novel weaves in the story of Sandro's father, T.P. Valera, whose life spans two world wars, the rise of Italian Futurism, and the brutal realities of industrial capitalism. Violence is both literal and symbolic: from the trenches of World War I to the factory floor, from the streets of New York to the political upheavals of 1970s Italy. The Valera family's wealth is built on rubber, motorcycles, and the exploitation of labor. The legacy of violence—personal, familial, and societal—haunts every character, shaping their choices and their fates.

Blank Canvases, Blank Lives

Reno's artistic ambitions are mirrored by the experimental art scene around her: performance pieces, minimalist sculptures, and conceptual gestures that blur the line between art and life. She is both muse and maker, her body and experiences becoming material for others' work as well as her own. The theme of blankness—empty apartments, unformed identities, the "China girl" film leader—recurs throughout, symbolizing both possibility and alienation. The question of what is real and what is performance is ever-present.

The Sentimental Education

Reno's education is not just artistic but emotional. She is mentored by Sandro and his best friend Ronnie Fontaine, a charismatic, elusive artist with a penchant for reinvention. Their friendship is deep but competitive, marked by shared histories and unspoken tensions. Ronnie's presence is both a comfort and a challenge to Reno, offering her glimpses of alternative ways of being. The trio's dynamic is complicated by desire, jealousy, and the shifting allegiances of the art world.

The Salt and the Crash

Reno's attempt to set a land speed record at Bonneville is a pivotal moment. She crashes spectacularly, her body battered but her spirit unbroken. The crash is both a literal and metaphorical reckoning: with risk, with mortality, with the limits of ambition. The aftermath brings her into contact with the Valera racing team, and she is drawn deeper into the world of Italian industry, family politics, and the intersection of art and commerce. The experience leaves her changed, both empowered and vulnerable.

Factory Shadows

Traveling to Italy with Sandro, Reno is exposed to the realities behind the Valera fortune: factories, strikes, and the simmering unrest of 1970s Italy. The Valera family is besieged by labor disputes, sabotage, and the threat of political violence. Reno witnesses the gulf between the privileged world of the Valeras and the lives of their workers. The factory becomes a symbol of both creation and exploitation, a place where personal and political histories collide. Reno's outsider status allows her to see the contradictions and costs of power.

Revolution and Betrayal

As Italy erupts in protest and violence, Reno is swept into the orbit of leftist militants, squatters, and the radical "Movement." She becomes entangled with Gianni, a mysterious figure who may be both lover and revolutionary. Betrayed by Sandro, who is unfaithful with his cousin Talia, Reno flees into the arms of the Movement, finding both solidarity and danger. The boundaries between personal and political betrayals blur, and Reno is forced to confront the limits of loyalty, love, and self-preservation.

The Rules of the Game

At the Valera villa on Lake Como, Reno is thrust into the rituals and cruelties of old money. Sandro's mother is imperious and cold, his brother Roberto is rigid and embattled, and cousin Talia is both rival and mirror. The family's history is one of survival, adaptation, and moral compromise. Reno's attempts to fit in are met with condescension and exclusion. The rules of the game—of class, of gender, of family—are both explicit and unspoken, and Reno must decide whether to play by them or break free.

The March on Rome

In Rome, Reno witnesses a massive demonstration that turns violent, as police and protesters clash in the streets. The city is a cauldron of anger, hope, and chaos. The march is both a political event and a personal crucible, forcing Reno to confront her own complicity, her desires, and her fears. The boundaries between revolution and spectacle, between collective action and individual survival, are porous and unstable. The experience leaves Reno both exhilarated and adrift.

The Motherfuckers' Legacy

The novel draws parallels between the Italian radicals of the 1970s and the American counterculture of the 1960s, embodied by the anarchist group the Motherfuckers. Through characters like Burdmoore Model and Nadine, Kushner explores the allure and the failures of revolutionary movements, the seductions of violence, and the inevitable compromises of adulthood. The legacy of rebellion is both inspiring and tragic, a source of myth and of disillusionment.

The Calendar Girl

Reno's work as a "China girl" in the film lab becomes a metaphor for the ways women are seen and not seen, desired and erased. She is both subject and object, her image used to calibrate color but her identity unknown. The theme recurs in the art world's treatment of women, in the sexual politics of the Valera family, and in Reno's own struggles to define herself outside the roles assigned to her. The calendar girl, the mannequin, the model—all are figures of both power and vulnerability.

Faces and Masks

Throughout the novel, characters wear masks—literal and figurative. The art world is a theater of personas, the political world a stage for revolutionary posturing. Reno herself is constantly shifting roles: artist, lover, muse, rebel, outsider. The question of what is real and what is performance haunts every relationship, every ambition. The search for authenticity is both urgent and elusive, complicated by the demands of survival and the seductions of spectacle.

The Villa and the Family

At the heart of the novel is the Valera family, whose wealth and power are both a source of security and a curse. The villa on Lake Como is a microcosm of Italian history: aristocratic, beautiful, haunted by violence and loss. The family's rituals, resentments, and secrets are played out against a backdrop of political crisis. Reno's presence is both disruptive and illuminating, exposing the fractures beneath the surface. The past is never past; it shapes every present moment.

The Red Brigades

The political violence of 1970s Italy comes to a head with the kidnapping of Sandro's brother Roberto by the Red Brigades. The event is both personal and historical, a reckoning with the costs of power and the limits of justice. Reno is implicated, both by her association with Gianni and by her own choices. The lines between victim and perpetrator, between justice and revenge, are blurred. The consequences are irreversible, and the novel refuses easy answers.

Behind the Green Door

In the novel's final movement, Reno returns to New York, changed by her experiences but uncertain of her future. The city is in blackout, both literally and metaphorically. Old relationships are broken, new ones are tentative. The art world moves on, indifferent to individual suffering. Reno rides her motorcycle through the darkened streets, a figure of both freedom and isolation. The novel ends not with resolution but with the open question of what comes next—how to live, how to make art, how to be.

Characters

Reno

Reno is the novel's protagonist, a young woman from Nevada who comes to New York to make art out of speed and risk. Her journey is one of self-discovery, marked by ambition, vulnerability, and a restless search for meaning. She is both observer and participant, her identity shaped by the people she meets and the worlds she enters. Reno's relationships—with Sandro, Ronnie, Giddle, and Gianni—are complex, marked by desire, power, and betrayal. She is both muse and maker, her body and experiences becoming material for art and for life. Over the course of the novel, Reno is transformed by love, loss, and the violence of history, emerging both wounded and resilient.

Sandro Valera

Sandro is a successful artist and the semi-estranged heir to the Valera tire and motorcycle empire. Charismatic, intelligent, and emotionally distant, he embodies both the allure and the limitations of privilege. His relationship with Reno is passionate but unequal, shaped by age, class, and the weight of family history. Sandro is haunted by his father's legacy, by the violence and compromises that built the Valera fortune. He is both mentor and rival, his love for Reno complicated by his own needs and failings. Sandro's betrayal of Reno is both personal and symbolic, a reenactment of the larger betrayals that define his world.

Ronnie Fontaine

Ronnie is Sandro's best friend and Reno's sometime lover, a charismatic and elusive figure who reinvents himself constantly. He is both confidant and competitor, his relationship with Sandro marked by deep affection and underlying tension. Ronnie is a master of performance, his art and his life blurring together. He is both a source of comfort and a challenge to Reno, offering her glimpses of alternative ways of being. Ronnie's own history is marked by loss, guilt, and the search for authenticity. He is both a mirror and a foil to the other characters, embodying the novel's themes of identity, performance, and the longing for connection.

Giddle

Giddle is a waitress, sometime sex worker, and Reno's first friend in New York. She is a master of reinvention, her life a series of performances—waitress, artist's muse, mortuary student. Giddle's loneliness is profound, her need for attention and validation both comic and tragic. She offers Reno both companionship and cautionary example, embodying the dangers and possibilities of self-invention. Giddle's relationships are transactional, her sense of self fragile and mutable. She is both a guide and a warning, her fate a reminder of the costs of survival in a world that values spectacle over substance.

T.P. Valera

Sandro's father, T.P. Valera, is a larger-than-life figure whose life spans two world wars, the rise of Italian Futurism, and the brutal realities of industrial capitalism. He is both creator and destroyer, his wealth built on rubber, motorcycles, and the exploitation of labor. T.P. Valera's legacy is one of violence—personal, familial, and societal. His influence shapes Sandro's life and choices, casting a long shadow over the novel's events. He is both a symbol of the old world and a harbinger of the new, his story a meditation on the costs of progress.

Roberto Valera

Sandro's older brother, Roberto, runs the Valera company with an iron hand, enforcing harsh labor policies and becoming a target for political violence. He is rigid, conservative, and embattled, his life defined by the demands of family and business. Roberto's kidnapping and death at the hands of the Red Brigades are both personal tragedy and historical reckoning, a symbol of the price of power and the limits of justice. His fate haunts Sandro and Reno, a reminder of the inescapable consequences of history.

Talia Valera

Talia is Sandro's cousin, a cosmopolitan, sexually liberated woman who becomes both rival and mirror to Reno. Her presence disrupts the fragile balance of the Valera family, exposing hidden desires and resentments. Talia is both alluring and dangerous, her confidence masking her own vulnerabilities. Her affair with Sandro is both a betrayal and a revelation, forcing Reno to confront the limits of love and loyalty. Talia embodies the novel's themes of freedom, transgression, and the costs of self-assertion.

Gianni

Gianni is a mysterious figure who enters Reno's life in Italy, drawing her into the world of the radical Movement. He is both lover and revolutionary, his motives and allegiances ambiguous. Gianni is a man of action, his silence and reserve masking deep convictions and hidden wounds. He offers Reno both escape and danger, his presence a catalyst for her transformation. Gianni's role in the kidnapping of Roberto Valera implicates Reno in the violence of history, forcing her to confront the limits of innocence and the costs of complicity.

Burdmoore Model

Burdmoore is a former member of the anarchist group the Motherfuckers, a relic of the 1960s counterculture. He is both a survivor and a casualty of the failed revolution, his stories a mix of nostalgia, regret, and bravado. Burdmoore's presence in the novel is both comic and tragic, a reminder of the allure and the limits of radicalism. He is a mentor and a warning, his life a testament to the costs of rebellion and the inevitability of compromise.

Nadine

Nadine is a woman who moves through the novel's worlds—prostitute, artist's muse, survivor of violence and addiction. Her story is one of reinvention and endurance, her beauty both a weapon and a curse. Nadine's relationships are transactional, her sense of self fragile and mutable. She is both a cautionary tale and a symbol of survival, her fate a reminder of the costs of desire and the dangers of being seen.

Plot Devices

Nonlinear Narrative and Interwoven Timelines

Kushner employs a nonlinear narrative, moving back and forth between Reno's present in New York and Italy, the histories of the Valera family, and the stories of secondary characters. This structure reflects the fragmented, uncertain nature of identity and history. The interweaving of personal and political timelines blurs the boundaries between individual experience and collective history, emphasizing the ways in which the past shapes the present.

Art as Metaphor and Motif

Art is both subject and structure in the novel: performance art, land art, minimalist sculpture, and conceptual gestures all serve as metaphors for the characters' struggles with meaning, identity, and power. The recurring motif of the "China girl"—the anonymous female face used to calibrate film—becomes a symbol of the ways women are seen and not seen, desired and erased. The novel itself is structured as a kind of performance, blurring the line between art and life.

Velocity and Risk

The motif of speed—motorcycles, land speed records, the rush of the city—serves as both literal and metaphorical engine for the narrative. Velocity is a way of marking time, of asserting presence, of courting risk and transformation. The crash on the salt flats is both a climax and a turning point, a moment of reckoning with mortality, ambition, and the limits of control.

Political and Social Upheaval

The novel is set against the backdrop of 1970s political violence: the Italian Years of Lead, the rise of the Red Brigades, the legacy of 1960s American radicalism. These events are not just background but active forces shaping the characters' lives. The boundaries between personal and political betrayals are blurred, and the costs of power, privilege, and resistance are made starkly visible.

Masks, Performance, and Identity

Characters in the novel are constantly performing—artist, lover, revolutionary, muse. The question of what is real and what is performance is central, as is the tension between visibility and anonymity. The use of masks, both literal (in protests, in art) and figurative (in relationships, in self-presentation), underscores the instability of identity and the difficulty of genuine connection.

Foreshadowing and Recurrence

Kushner uses foreshadowing and recurring motifs—crashes, betrayals, revolutions, performances—to create a sense of inevitability and fatalism. The past is never past; it recurs in new forms, shaping the present and foreclosing certain futures. The novel's structure is cyclical, its ending open, its questions unresolved.

Analysis

The Flamethrowers is a dazzling, layered meditation on art, power, gender, and revolution, set against the tumultuous backdrop of 1970s New York and Italy. Through Reno's journey, Kushner explores the ways in which personal ambition, desire, and vulnerability are entangled with the larger forces of history and violence. The novel interrogates the mythologies of speed, risk, and artistic creation, exposing the costs of both privilege and rebellion. It is a story about the search for authenticity in a world of performance, about the longing for connection in a landscape of masks and betrayals. Kushner's narrative is both intimate and epic, her prose electric with detail and insight. The Flamethrowers ultimately asks what it means to make art—and to live—when the boundaries between self and world, between freedom and complicity, are always shifting. It is a novel for our time: restless, searching, and unafraid to confront the darkness at the heart of modern life.

Last updated: May 14, 2025