Rachel Kushner

Follow to get new release updates and improved recommendations

About Rachel Kushner

Rachel Kushner is the author of the internationally acclaimed novels THE MARS ROOM, THE FLAMETHROWERS, and TELEX FROM CUBA, as well as a book of short stories, THE STRANGE CASE OF RACHEL K. Her new book, THE HARD CROWD: ESSAYS 2000-2020 was just published in April 2021. She has won the Prix Médicis and been a finalist for the Booker Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Folio Prize, the James Tait Black Prize, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and was twice a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. She is a Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and the recipient of the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her books have been translated into twenty-six languages. She lives in Los Angeles.

Jonathan Franzen

Denis Johnson

Rachel Cusk

Joan Didion

Colson Whitehead

Jennifer Egan

Are you an author?

Help us improve our Author Pages by updating your bibliography and submitting a new or current image and biography.

Learn more at Author Central

1 11 1

$13.99

Kindle Edition
$12.99

Kindle Edition
$11.99

Kindle Edition
$11.99

Kindle Edition
$8.76

Kindle Edition
$9.99

Kindle Edition
$16.99

Kindle Edition
$10.99

Kindle Edition
$8.99

Kindle Edition
$10.99

Kindle Edition
$10.99

Kindle Edition
$6.40

Kindle Edition

Author Updates

Titles By Rachel Kushner

All Formats Kindle Edition Audible Audiobook Paperback Hardcover See more

The Hard Crowd: Essays 2000-2020 Apr 6, 2021

by Rachel Kushner

( 215 )

$13.99

Now includes a new essay, “Naked Childhood,” about Kushner’s family, their converted school bus, and the Summers of Love in Oregon and San Francisco!

“The Hard Crowd is wild, wide-ranging, and unsparingly intelligent throughout.” —Taylor Antrim, Vogue

From a writer celebrated for her “chops, ambition, and killer instinct” (John Powers, Fresh Air), a career-spanning collection of spectacular essays about politics and culture.

Rachel Kushner has established herself as “the most vital and interesting American novelist working today” (The Millions) and as a master of the essay form. In The Hard Crowd, she gathers a selection of her writing from over the course of the last twenty years that addresses the most pressing political, artistic, and cultural issues of our times—and illuminates the themes and real-life experiences that inform her fiction.

In twenty razor-sharp essays, The Hard Crowd spans literary journalism, memoir, cultural criticism, and writing about art and literature, including pieces on Jeff Koons, Denis Johnson, and Marguerite Duras. Kushner takes us on a journey through a Palestinian refugee camp, an illegal motorcycle race down the Baja Peninsula, 1970s wildcat strikes in Fiat factories, her love of classic cars, and her young life in the music scene of her hometown, San Francisco. The closing, eponymous essay is her manifesto on nostalgia, doom, and writing.

These pieces, new and old, are electric, vivid, and wry, and they provide an opportunity to witness the evolution and range of one of our most dazzling and fearless writers. “Kushner writes with startling detail, imagination, and gallows humor,” said Leah Greenblatt in Entertainment Weekly, and, from Paula McLain in the Wall Street Journal: “The authority and precision of Kushner’s writing is impressive, but it’s the gorgeous ferocity that will stick with me.”

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

The Mars Room: A Novel May 1, 2018

by Rachel Kushner

( 1,335 )

$12.99

TIME’S #1 FICTION TITLE OF THE YEAR • NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2018

FINALIST for the MAN BOOKER PRIZE and the NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD

LONGLISTED for the ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL

An instant New York Times bestseller from two-time National Book Award finalist Rachel Kushner, The Mars Room earned tweets from Margaret Atwood—“gritty, empathic, finely rendered, no sugar toppings, and a lot of punches, none of them pulled”—and from Stephen King—“The Mars Room is the real deal, jarring, horrible, compassionate, funny.”

It’s 2003 and Romy Hall, named after a German actress, is at the start of two consecutive life sentences at Stanville Women’s Correctional Facility, deep in California’s Central Valley. Outside is the world from which she has been severed: her young son, Jackson, and the San Francisco of her youth. Inside is a new reality: thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive; the bluffing and pageantry and casual acts of violence by guards and prisoners alike; and the deadpan absurdities of institutional living, portrayed with great humor and precision.

Stunning and unsentimental, The Mars Room is “wholly authentic…profound…luminous” (The Wall Street Journal), “one of those books that enrage you even as they break your heart” (The New York Times Book Review, cover review)—a spectacularly compelling, heart-stopping novel about a life gone off the rails in contemporary America. It is audacious and tragic, propulsive and yet beautifully refined and “affirms Rachel Kushner as one of our best novelists” (Entertainment Weekly).

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

The Flamethrowers: A Novel Apr 2, 2013

by Rachel Kushner

( 587 )

$11.99

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST * NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW * New York magazine’s #1 Book of the Year * Best Book of 2013 by: The Wall Street Journal; Vogue; O, The Oprah Magazine; Los Angeles Times; The San Francisco Chronicle; The New Yorker; Time; Flavorwire; Salon; Slate; The Daily Beast

“Superb…Scintillatingly alive…A pure explosion of now.”—The New Yorker

Reno, so-called because of the place of her birth, comes to New York intent on turning her fascination with motorcycles and speed into art. Her arrival coincides with an explosion of activity—artists colonize a deserted and industrial SoHo, stage actions in the East Village, blur the line between life and art. Reno is submitted to a sentimental education of sorts—by dreamers, poseurs, and raconteurs in New York and by radicals in Italy, where she goes with her lover to meet his estranged and formidable family. Ardent, vulnerable, and bold, Reno is a fiercely memorable observer, superbly realized by Rachel Kushner.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Audio CD

Telex from Cuba: A Novel Jul 1, 2008

by Rachel Kushner

( 296 )

$11.99

Finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction

The debut novel by New York Times bestselling author Rachel Kushner, called “shimmering” (The New Yorker), “multilayered and absorbing” (The New York Times Book Review), and “gorgeously written” (Kirkus Reviews).

Young Everly Lederer and K.C. Stites come of age in Oriente Province, where the Americans tend their own fiefdom—three hundred thousand acres of United Fruit Company sugarcane that surround their gated enclave. If the rural tropics are a child's dreamworld, Everly and K.C. nevertheless have keen eyes for the indulgences and betrayals of the grown-ups around them—the mordant drinking and illicit loves, the race hierarchies and violence.

In Havana, a thousand kilometers and a world away from the American colony, a cabaret dancer meets a French agitator named Christian de La Mazière, whose seductive demeanor can't mask his shameful past. Together they become enmeshed in the brewing political underground. When Fidel and Raúl Castro lead a revolt from the mountains above the cane plantation, torching the sugar and kidnapping a boat full of "yanqui" revelers, K.C. and Everly begin to discover the brutality that keeps the colony humming. Though their parents remain blissfully untouched by the forces of history, the children hear the whispers of what is to come.

Kushner's first novel is a tour de force, haunting and compelling, with the urgency of a telex from a forgotten time and place.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Mass Market Paperback , Audio CD

The Strange Case of Rachel K Mar 24, 2015

by Rachel Kushner

( 18 )

$8.76

Three early stories of myth, regime, and harlotry by the acclaimed author of The Flamethrowers.

An explorer’s whereabouts keeps a queen in waiting; a faith healer’s illegal radio broadcasts give hope to an oppressed people; a president’s offer of ice cream surprises a prostitute expecting to cooperate fully — the three short fictions gathered in The Great Exception build into a vision of Cuba that is black-humored, brutal, and beautiful. Written prior to the publication of Rachel Kushner’s first acclaimed novel Telex From Cuba, these stories, like Roberto Bolano’s Antwerp, burst forth with the genesis of her fictional universe as though fired from a cannon. From the mythical title story, to the ominous “Debouchment” — originally published in her too short-lived journal Soft Targets — to the sexy and noirish “Strange Case of Rachel K,” this is Kushner saddling up for a journey into the wilds of the modern novel.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

Le Mars Club (La cosmopolite) (French Edition) Aug 22, 2018

by Rachel Kushner

( 25 )

$9.99

Romy Hall, 29 ans, vient d’être transférée à la prison pour femmes de Stanville, en Californie. Cette ancienne stripteaseuse doit y purger deux peines consécutives de réclusion à perpétuité, plus six ans, pour avoir tué l’homme qui la harcelait. Dans son malheur, elle se raccroche à une certitude : son fils de 7 ans, Jackson, est en sécurité avec sa mère. Jusqu’au jour où l’administration pénitentiaire lui remet un courrier qui fait tout basculer.
Oscillant entre le quotidien de ces détenues, redoutables et attachantes, et la jeunesse de Romy dans le San Francisco de années 1980, Le Mars Club dresse le portrait féroce d’une société en marge de l’Amérique contemporaine.

Traduit de l’anglais (États-Unis) par Sylvie Schneiter

Other Formats: Paperback , Pocket Book

Les routiers sont sympas (La cosmopolite) (French Edition) Sep 15, 2021

by Rachel Kushner

$16.99

« D’une beauté folle, sensuelle et dévastatrice. »The New York Times Les routiers sont sympas est un recueil de dix-neuf textes tranchants comme des lames de rasoirs, où Rachel Kushner semble invoquer plusieurs genres – le journalisme, les mémoires, la critique littéraire et artistique –, où Jeff Koons croise Denis Johnson et Marguerite Duras.Rachel Kushner nous emmène dans un camp de réfugiés palestiniens, une course de motos illégale dans la péninsule de Baja, au cœur des grèves sauvages des années 1970 dans les usines Fiat et nous fait découvrir son amour pour les voitures classiques et sa vie de bohème sur la scène musicale de sa ville natale, San Francisco. On y croise des motards, des bars mal éclairés, des routiers, de la drogue et beaucoup de références qui sont comme le sous-texte de ses précédents romans.Tels un road-trip à travers l’Amérique personnelle de Rachel Kushner, ces textes lumineux et électriques, sont de véritables clefs pour comprendre notre époque et la société américaine. Et une formidable opportunité de suivre l’évolution de l’une des écrivaines américaines les plus talentueuses de sa génération. Traduit de l’anglais (États-Unis) par Emmanuelle et Philippe Aronson.

Other Formats: Paperback

Ich bin ein Schicksal (German Edition) Jun 18, 2019

by Rachel Kushner, Bettina Abarbanell

( 25 )

$10.99

Romy Hall tritt eine zweimal lebenslängliche Haft in der Stanville Women's Correctional Facility an. Draußen die Welt, von der sie nun abgeschnitten ist: San Francisco, wo ihr kleiner Sohn lebt. Drinnen Hunderte Frauen, die um das Nötigste zum Überleben kämpfen; ständiges Bluffen und Katzbuckeln und die beiläufige Gewalt durch Aufsichtspersonal wie Gefangene. Aber es gibt auch Hoffnung: einen noch an Ideale glaubenden Sozialarbeiter, der sich der jungen Frau annimmt.
Kushner führt Romy in eine Welt ein, die sich in den USA zu einem mächtigen industriellen Komplex entwickelt hat. Dies ist ihr laufender Kommentar zum kulturellen und politischen Zerfall des "Lands der Freien". Er ist unsentimental, kritisch, mitfühlend und, vor allem, mitreißend.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Pocket Book

Mars Club (Portuguese Edition) Jun 5, 2019

by Rachel Kushner, Rogerio Galindo

( 11 )

$8.99

Um livro ácido e cortante sobre a rotina de uma prisão para mulheres.
Romy Hall está no ônibus que irá levá-la para uma prisão na Califórnia, onde encontrará um mundo novo, repleto de regras próprias, em que centenas de mulheres vivem em meio à violência dos guardas e das próprias circunstâncias. Enquanto aprende os códigos e os macetes para sobreviver, Romy pensa em sua vida anterior e em tudo que a levou até ali. Pensa, sobretudo, em seu filho Jackson. Com uma notável capacidade para descrever os absurdos da vida carcerária, Rachel Kushner criou um romance antissentimental, audacioso e trágico.

Other Formats: Paperback

Telex aus Kuba (German Edition) Apr 22, 2017

by Rachel Kushner, Bettina Abarbanell

( 20 )

$10.99

In 'Telex aus Kuba', einem packenden Roman über die kubanische Revolution, sind sie alle versammelt – die Castros, Che Guevara, der Diktator Batista und US-Präsident Eisenhower.
Aber erzählt wird die Geschichte hauptsächlich von zwei Jugendlichen, Everly Lederer und K.C. Stites, die füreinander bestimmt zu sein scheinen: sie die Tochter des Chefs einer amerikanischen Nickelmine und er der Sohn eines leitenden Angestellten der United Fruit Company. Aus den Brüchen zwischen dem, was sie voller Faszination und Erschrecken wahrnehmen, tritt allmählich die Geschichte eines ebenso wagemutigen wie bisweilen absurden Freiheitskrieges zutage.
Verwickelt in ihn sind, mit oft dubiosen Interessen, auch ein französischer Agent mit SS-Vergangenheit, eine kubanische Tänzerin mit erotischem Hang zur Macht, zahlreiche karrierebewusste Saubermänner und ihre dekadenten Gattinnen, Dschungelkämpfer und schmutzige Geschäftemacher.
Rachel Kushner hat einen tropisch glitzernden historischen Moment des 20. Jahrhunderts mit großer Raffinesse so verdichtet, dass er die Ereignisse wie durch ein Brennglas zeigt. Man liest mit allen Sinnen, sieht, schmeckt, fühlt mit den Figuren und überlässt sich Kushners herausragender erzählerischer Kraft.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

Flammenwerfer (German Edition) Mar 6, 2015

by Rachel Kushner, Bettina Abarbanell

( 21 )

$10.99

Die literarische Sensation aus den USA!
Dieses Buch ist ein erzählerisches Naturereignis – ein Roman über eine schnelle junge Frau auf einem Motorrad, ihre Liebschaften im New Yorker Kunst-Underground der späten Siebziger und ihre politischen Verwicklungen im Italien der Roten Brigaden.
1975: Die Hobby-Motorradrennfahrerin Reno (so ihr Spitzname, nach ihrem Geburtsort) kommt nach einem Rekordversuch auf den großen Salzseen nach Manhattan, um in die kreativ explodierende Künstlerszene SoHos einzutauchen. In einer Welt, in der die Grenzen zwischen Leben und Kunst verschwimmen, trifft sie auf eine Schar von Träumern, Revoluzzern und Phantasten. Unter ihnen auch Sandro Valera, erfolgreicher Konzeptkünstler und exzentrischer Erbe einer italienischen Reifen- und Motorrad-Dynastie, in den sie sich verliebt. Aber bei einem Besuch bei seiner Familie in deren Sommerresidenz am Comer See gerät sie in den Strudel einer echten Revolte, die sich in Streiks, Straßenkämpfen, Entführung und Mord Bahn bricht …
Als dieser Roman 2013 in New York erschien, löste er ein unbeschreibliches Echo unter Rezensenten und Autoren aus. Von Jonathan Franzen über Joshua Ferris zu Colum McCann – unterschiedlicher könnten die Romanciers nicht sein, einheitlicher nicht die Ansicht, dass «Flammenwerfer» im Sturm über alle vorgefassten Meinungen, was heute einen guten Roman auszumachen habe, hinwegfegt und all seine Leser mitreißt und begeistert.

Other Formats: Hardcover , Paperback

Os lança chamas (Portuguese Edition) Jul 16, 2014

by Rachel Kushner

( 16 )

$6.40

O ano é 1975 e Reno – uma jovem recém-formada que ganhou esse apelido por causa de sua cidade natal — acaba de se mudar para Nova York disposta a transformar em arte seu fascínio por motocicletas e velocidade. Sua chegada coincide com um período de ebulição no mundo artístico de Manhattan: pintores, escultores, fotógrafos, videomakers e agentes estão começando a colonizar a até então deserta e industrial região do SoHo, a desenvolver ações no East Village e a confundir os limites entre vida real e arte.

Passional, vulnerável e corajosa, Reno se junta a um grupo que a submete a uma espécie de educação sentimental. Ela logo começa a namorar um artista plástico chamado Sandro Valera, herdeiro distante de um império de pneus e motocicletas italianos. Quando eles visitam a família de Sandro na Itália, Reno se vê envolvida com membros dos movimentos radicais que tomaram conta daquele país nos anos 1970, e uma traição a jogará nos submundos da clandestinidade.

Ao questionar o entusiasmo juvenil e suas consequências, Rachel Kushner se lança em uma investigação intensa e envolvente sobre a mística do feminismo, da arte e do terrorismo. No centro de tudo está uma protagonista brilhantemente construída: uma jovem mulher vivendo no limite. Emocionante e corajoso, Os lança-chamas é um grande romance de uma escritora de talento e imaginação espetaculares.

Eleito melhor livro do ano de 2013 pela New York Magazine e listado entre os 10 melhores livros do ano de 2013 por veículos como The New York Times Book Review; The Wall Street Journal; Vogue; O, The Oprah Magazine; Los Angeles Times; The San Francisco Chronicle; The New Yorker; Time; Flavorwire; Salon; Slate; The Daily Beast; Bookish, entre outros.

“O segundo romance de Rachel Kushner é ao mesmo tempo cuidadosamente estruturado e estimulante. Uma leitura de tirar o fôlego.”The Telegraph

“Eletrizante, viciante e inteligente.”O, The Oprah Magazine

Other Formats: Paperback

More Information

Are you an author? Visit Author Central to change your photo, edit your biography, and more

Rachel Kushner

Similar authors to follow

About Rachel Kushner

Customers Also Bought Items By

Are you an author?

Author Updates

Titles By Rachel Kushner

More Information