Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

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.

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"

I have never been a runner, an adolescent boy, or a resident of rural Missouri -- and I could not put this book down. It was so deep, complex, and rich, I literally felt like I was inhabiting another world. I wasn't reading the book; I was living it. It really was about a boy who spends his entire four years of high school emerging, ever so slowly, from deep shock. I know the storyline sounds depressing, and of course parts of the book are deeply sad, but there is so much warmth and humor, too -- I laughed out loud more than once. The last few pages are especially wonderful -- such a beautiful ending. I started reading another novel the next day, only to find that it was too soon; I was still thinking about Kevin. Jeremy Jackson's first novel is so superb, I can't even imagine how amazing his next one will be. Go Kev-in! AND Jeremy!!

I had high expectations for this first novel from Iowa Writers' Workshop grad Jeremy Jackson. (Guess that comes with the territory when one's alma mater is so highly regarded.) Fortunately, I was in no way disappointed, as I smoothly absorbed the story and surrendered to the world of the novel.

After missing my subway stop once and consequently tripping up the stairs when I finally got to my destination, I came to realize the intensity of the world that Jackson has created around main character Kevin Schuler. Jackson skillfully twists the specific subject matter (running-potentially boring to some, namely me) into a beautiful metaphor and draws memorable characters and images that have lingered in my mind.

I came to admire Kevin and his wise, witty way of looking at the world. Meanwhile, the plot, as well as the other characters, were thoroughly engaging. I was invested in all of them in different ways, hoping for good and happiness to prevail in the end.

Getting stuck in the world of the novel you're reading is always a beautiful thing, and of course, an accomplishment of the author.

It's exciting to come across a first novel as good as this one, to get in at the beginning of an author's career and have a shot at developing a relationship with him as he develops--maybe someday you'll be able to brag about it in the same way people brag about going to see Springsteen when he was still an unknown, though I hope I never turn out to be that boring. There aren't many young authors on my list of people to watch, but Jackson is one. I don't recall that his novel got much buzz when it was published, not like the decidedly hip "Prague" and "Everything's Illuminated," for instance. The style and subject matter of LIFE AT THESE SPEEDS does not lend itself to any sort of hip marketing hook that flatters pseudointellectual readers who use books as accessories to reinforce their hipness, I suppose. Instead, it's a book for readers. It is a coming-of-age novel, but it defies the formula with its unself-consciousness and avoidance of cliches, and it both honors and expands the genre. The flirtation with surrealism--in the choice of characters' names, for instance--maybe doesn't add much to the novel, and some of the absurd Helleresque encounters between Kevin and adults in the novel don't fully work, but I don't agree with some readers' and reviewers' objections that the narrator's voice and the dialog of his classmates are unrealistic because they sound too grown up to be an adolescent. Without being too reductive, I hope, I think that part of the author's intent is to bring an eloquence of expression to adolescence that will be recognizable to adult readers--i.e., in effect to translate adolescence into adult language. To an eighth grader, a good fart joke has all the wit and elegance of an Oscar Wilde epigram; Jackson is, I think, just putting adolescent-speak into adult-speak, because not all of us get the fart jokes anymore. The effect is convincing. As many reviewers have noted, the prose is sure, the descriptions sharp, the pace quick, and you come away from this novel feeling like you've inhabited a fully realized world.

Jeremy Jackson does an amazing job of bringing the reader into his novel. I would find it unimagineable to believe that there is a person who can't feel in some way connected to the characters. For runners looking for a strictly running plot, you probably won't find this story to completely enrich this hope, but should read it anyways for its brilliant character development and touching story line. I'm not a runner but after reading this book I'm inspired to follow in Kevin Schuler's footsteps and live my emotions through running. This is a must read.

In Life At These Speeds, Kevin Schuler is swept along the surface of his life: going to high school; running, winning, and breaking records; becoming a local hero; and trying to decide about college. Meanwhile, Kevin is dwelling in the depths of his forgotten past-he is haunted by emotions he cannot confront and undefined fears. His real story unfolds somewhere in between and is punctuated by memorable conversations and occurrences that are all the more poignant because they seem so true. As a reader, I became invested in Kevin Schuler because I often knew more about him than he knew about himself. Like his family and friends, I watched with care and hope to see how Kevin would decide to live. I am so thrilled for first-time author Jeremy Jackson (and for all of us) that his debut novel should be this good.

I know what I want to say, but it's hard to find the right words to describe how much I enjoyed this entertaining story by this talented new writer. I lost some sleep over this book. A riveting and captivating book that is rich with beautiful prose. It tells the story of a boy, named Kevin Schuler from Missouri, who is a gifted runner. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time. Jackson lets us experience every detail of Kevin's life, through his eyes, as he struggles with grief, small-town celebrity, and conflicting inner thoughts as he prepares for and wins several 800 and 1600 meter races for his high school. This is a coming-of-age story as well, as Kevin finds himself experiencing and accepting the love of a sensitive girl named Henny. If you have never been on a track team, or even if you have, you will find you know everything there is to know about being a track star and what it takes to win after reading this book. I found myself very impressed by Kevin and felt like I knew him after reading his story. This is the mark of a good author, who has had done a magnificent job in developing this character, as well as the other main characters. Kevin has a wise, witty & low-keyed way of looking at life that is really cool. What happens after the accident, the memory loss, his quick rise to fame and other unexpected events will keep you glued to the book and wondering what's going to happen next, and how it will all turn out for Kevin.

Some authors have a natural born talent for writing beautiful, intelligent, and flowing prose. I think Jeremy Jackson is one of them. This is an intelligent and very enjoyable read from a writer who I hope will bring us more of his talented writing in the near future. Enjoy this book, I know I did!

Joe Hanssen

This is a well written novel in which the protagonist is an exceptionally gifted high school runner. I thought the passages that had to do with training and racing were excellent. I also thought the author did a great job of caturing the adolescent psyche. The story elements which involved the "bad guys" (the prncipal ., the doctor, the college coach) struck me as being contrived and took away from the story.