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Speedboat

Renata Adler,

Guy Trebay (Afterword)

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Aug 24, 2013 Declan rated it really liked it

Shelves: nyrb

We all carry a storehouse of stories in our head. Given the chance, and the right circumstances, we will begin to tell some of them. Each will reveal something about us. We can't stop transmitting messages no matter how hard we try to conceal what we imagine to be our true self. It's all there, waiting to be deciphered. Transmission beginnings the moment we open our mouth and speak. This all becomes horribly acute if we are with someone we are trying to impress; sitting opposite some lovely pers We all carry a storehouse of stories in our head. Given the chance, and the right circumstances, we will begin to tell some of them. Each will reveal something about us. We can't stop transmitting messages no matter how hard we try to conceal what we imagine to be our true self. It's all there, waiting to be deciphered. Transmission beginnings the moment we open our mouth and speak. This all becomes horribly acute if we are with someone we are trying to impress; sitting opposite some lovely person and dragging out the old stories again. Here we go: "Oh, that reminds me of the time I..." I, I, I. Oh the self-recriminations later! Why did I spend so much time talking about myself? And those stupid stories I've told so many times. I'm fed up with them, she was fed up with them. I'M SO BLOODY BORING.

Reading 'Speedboat' is like sitting opposite someone who wants to tell you all the stories they can think of about themselves; all of their views on language, on countries they've visited, on politics and many other subjects. It should be the most boring book of all time, but it isn't. It is actually an engrossing, fascinating book, but why, or how, it works, is a mystery. There is a narrative thread, sewn together with invisible thread. A few characters appear, or are referred to, repeatedly, but not with any conventional sense of convincing authenticity. They seem a bit square, they certainly aren't rounded. Sometimes the form of language used could be poem:

"Pinnies from field hockey. Heels down. Bad hop. Sorry. My fault. So sorry. Provide for the common defence. Meanders slip my mind. And of college there is so little, although that little does flare, like the Jesuit poet's embers, gash-gold vermilion, when I remember it at all."

So, there is a very beguiling use of words. There is caustic wit too, like this about book reviewers hyperbole:

" 'Nerve-shattering', 'eye-popping', 'bone-crunching' - the responsive critic was a crushed, impaled, electrocuted man. 'Searing' was lukewarm. Anything merely spraining or tooth-extracting would have been only a minor masterpiece"

There are stories about flying lessons, examples of overheard conversations, even a story about a speedboat, all set out without any obvious order; random as memory; free of association. The stories, it turns out, never become tedious.

I went on a very long date with Renata Adler and she told me as many stories as she could think of. I didn't say very much (though she probably still guessed that there was a great disparity in our income levels) but she was great company and I'd really like to meet her again. Next time I might even try out a few of my own stories. Like the one about the time I was in Belfast and...

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May 22, 2013 Margaret rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 20th-century-literature, read-summer-2013, nyrb

Renata Adler is so far my favorite discovery in 20th century American fiction this year. Adler's debut novel from 1976, Speedboat captures the episodic and loosely connected ideas that run through the mind of Jen Fain, a reporter. Fain's world ranges from the company of Fulbright scholars, flying lessons, and even to news events about children becoming lost on school trips. The threads of Speedboat are pulled together loosely, like how one would expect someone to actually think. Both the form an ...more

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Oct 05, 2021 Emma rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2021

My first reading for the #1976Club left me rather disappointed.
Speedboat is a novel without any plot, that reads more like a rather boring nonfiction work (though most of the nonfiction I read is NOT boring!).
Final verdict: A rather boring glimpse on the chaotic New York society of the 1970s. Skip.

My review is here:
https://wordsandpeace.com/2021/10/12/... ...more

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Apr 23, 2015 Helen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favourites, 2015, yorw, nyrb

I thought this novel was brilliant. Renata Adler's first novel, on which she says that her premise for writing was to write a book she'd like to read. What we get is a book of sharply observed situations, memories and snippets of conversation. She wryly observes people with great alacrity and humour. I really loved this book, and I can't wait to read more of her work. ...more

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