The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner - 2014-02-04

The year is 1975 and Reno - so-called because of the place of her birth - has come to New York intent on turning her fascination with motorcycles and speed into art. Her arrival coincides with an explosion of activity in that world, and Remo meets a group of dreamers and raconteurs who submit her to a sentimental educations of sorts. Ardent, vulnerable, and bold, she begins an affair with an artist, the estranged scion of an Italian tire and motorcycle empire. When they visit his family home in Italy, betrayal sends Reno reeling into a clandestime undertow.