Life At These Speeds (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) [School & Library Binding]

Jeremy Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. Kevin Schuler, a young track star who narrowly survived an accident that killed most of his teammates, struggles with his memories and his survivor's guilt as he continues his meteoric rise to the heights of the sports world.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The narrator of Jackson's debut novel is Kevin Schuler, an eighth grader from a small Missouri town; he's popular, athletic and dates the cutest girl in school. But his life is shattered when the van carrying most of his friends home from a track meet skids into the river and all on board are killed. From that moment on, Kevin is transformed: he transfers to a different school, becomes a track prodigy and struggles with repressed memories of his dead friends. His success attracts a lot of attention from doctors, school administrators, girls and he becomes a local sensation, though not everyone's interest in his progress is entirely ethical. The events of the novel take on a slightly surreal cast from the boy's skewed perspective, which lies somewhere between damaged adolescent, reluctant hero and ironic sage. This confusion is compounded by the incongruously sophisticated first-person narration Kevin possesses the vocabulary and insight of a Ph.D. candidate (his first impression of his coach is that the older man "exuded a languidness I imagined arose from sexual experience"). Kevin's family and friends, who help him through his crisis, are portrayed rather flatly, despite their often bizarre names (Bobolink Crustacean, Umber Porphorhessohln), though one exception is Andanda Dane, the school newspaper editor who carries a torch for Kevin. Despite (or perhaps because of) its flaws, this debut has an undeniably quirky charm; it will be interesting to see what Jackson does next.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

When the school van veers off a bridge and plunges into the river below, everyone on the track team is killed except star Kevin Schuler, who rode home with his parents that evening. Repressing almost all memory of that season, Kevin begins high school in a different district, where he remains isolated from other students and teammates. Claiming he hates running, the star athlete nonetheless finds peace in it, losing himself in concentration when he runs. As Kevin sets more records and becomes locally famous, the clouds that hang over him take on new forms and he must successfully navigate his own course through all the noise of the outside world, dodging those who would tempt him in different directions. Jackson's first novel presents an unpredictable and unique protagonist who defies categorization. The first-person narration provides a glimpse into Schuler's mind, yet the voice is detached enough that he remains almost as much a mystery to the reader as to other characters. The unforgettable and complex main character makes this novel well worth reading. Gavin Quinn
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• School & Library Binding: 352 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417635398
• ISBN-13: 978-1417635399
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,431,197 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique voice, complete world, June 19, 2002

By 

Grant Barber (scituate, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life at These Speeds: A Novel (Hardcover)

If you read the existing reviews and the inside jacket cover you know that the premise of the book is a narrator who is the only surviving member of high school track team after a tragic accident. One way to read the book is to see how the author uses the incident--and it is fairly quickly set up at the start of the book--and then unspools the consequences for the narrator.

What such a description would leave out though is how well Jackson has created a world through his first person narrator. The voice stays. You see out of the eyes of this boy as he moves from 14 to 18. Along the way details come out about his life, the accident, his community's response. Running is the governing metaphor here. The book isn't grim, but sure rings true...well, until the end. There are really two moments of conclusion, one which does reach a logical conclusion but in just a bit too formulaic manner regarding the people around the narrator--his tragic best friend, coaches, doctors,high school teachers. But the second 'conclusion,' the one that shows the inner life of the narrator facing up to the trajedy that started it all off: that has merit and original honesty.

Once I started the book, I continued until finish. The next day it stays with me. I'm going to be putting it into the hands of others.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, Complex Characters, October 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Life at These Speeds: A Novel (Hardcover)

My favorite novels are character-driven and Life at These Speeds is a beautiful example. Witty, sarcastic, but ultimately vulnerable, Kevin draws you into his private world. I was brought to tears as I went through the tragedies that shaped the young adult Kevin becomes. I take exception with the Publisher's Weekly review that said the book was unbelievable. I think it was meant to be more allegorical, and therefore, the characters may be extreme displays of archetypes. Jol's father is the very definition of the parent who lives his dreams through his son. Andanda is the sophisticate every high school intellectual would yearn to be. Kevin is the one grounded character who is strengthened by the good or bad relationship he has with every character he meets.

When this book was first recommended to me, I doubted I'd be able to relate to a junior high track star. Although Kevin's specific struggles were unique, the overall challenges of becoming an adult he faced are universal. Jeremy Jackson's writing style drew me in with each page. I eagerly wait to read his next book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Running From Tragedy, February 20, 2005

By 

Kevin Joseph (McLean, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Life at These Speeds: A Novel (Paperback)

Kevin Schuler, the high school running star in "Life at These Speeds," has to be one of the most aloof first-person narrators I've ever experienced. While frustrating at times, this narrative technique forced me to experience the same nearly-maddening difficulty establishing an emotional connection with Kevin as do his friends and family in the novel. The result is a powerful depiction of a psychologically fractured adolescent's struggle to overcome a tragic experience and reawaken his dormant emotional core.

While running pervades this novel and the author clearly has an affinity for the sport, success on the track is not central to the conflict. Indeed, running becomes for Kevin the ultimate escape mechanism, through which he's able to while away his adolescent hours and achieve admiration among his peers while avoiding his repressed trauma. Kevin rarely, if ever, seems in jeopardy of failure on the track, as if the emotional trauma he has sustained is so brutal that he's become completely numbed to the discomfort associated with the intense training sessions and record-breaking performances that he ticks off with ease. This lack of emotion is effective in a literary sense, yet it renders the descriptions of training and racing somewhat hollow.

All in all, this is a strong novel with sufficient depth to satisfy the literary crowd and enough track and cross-country content to please readers of running fiction.

-Kevin Joseph, author of "The Champion Maker"