"There's a reason the stereotypical "airport novel" is a thriller. When you are trapped in the metal sky tube, or the pre-tube waiting room, all you really need is for time to go by. And that means you need plot, baby! With no disrespect, this is not the place for the meandering introspections of literary fiction, much as I adore that in other contexts."
"I first read this book while on vacation last summer, and when I picked it up again this week, I found that I remembered almost none of it. This is a compliment-a testament to its hypnotic effect. Adler's first novel has no real plot to follow, instead unspooling in a series of shorter and slightly longer fragments: mostly observations and pronouncements in the voice of a New York journalist, Jen Fain, about her city, her acquaintances, her work, current affairs. It's a book"
Flying during one of the busiest travel seasons of the year means a lot of waiting. Thrilling, plot-driven mysteries and compact, fragmentary novels suit airport reading because they pass time and maintain engagement. The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle merges a supernatural Groundhog-Day structure with a classic wealthy-party whodunnit. A detective relives the day of a murder repeatedly, inhabiting different guests' bodies, while richly imagined characters and their abilities shape the investigation, adding psychological depth to the puzzle. Renata Adler's Speedboat offers a hypnotic, fragmentary narrative of observations by New York journalist Jen Fain, relying on voice over plot.
Read at The Atlantic
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