What we're reading, what we're liking
Life at These Speeds by Jeremy Jackson
An ex-high school runner recommended this debut novel by Jeremy Jackson, and I devoured it in one sitting. Ostensibly about running, the story reads like something between a horrible dream and a coming-of-age story about the strong, silent cool guy in high school. Kevin Schuler, a middle school runner, leaves his track meet with his parents instead of traveling in the team van. The van, following the Schuler car, slides off a bridge and crashes to the ice below, killing the entire team, including all of Kevin's friends and his new girlfriend.
Kevin spends the next four years recovering. At first, not only can he not remember any of them, he can't remember himself. He becomes a complete recluse and runs fanatically, in a fugue state, not even knowing where he is headed. He becomes a running phenomenon, breaking record after record. He has mature insight and integrity for a teenager; he's different from the cocky, lackadaisical middle schooler he was before the accident. His speed attracts attention from a dishonest school principal, who wants him for money; from the driven track coach, who wants him for fame; from the town, who makes him their mascot; and from a bevy of high school girls drawn to his mystery.
Although the story is almost plotless, I hardly noticed, so clear and concise is Jackson's prose and so compelling is Kevin as a character -- as are the people from the past he must get over and those he must connect with in the present. It's not a perfect book, but it is one of the most readable, affecting and unpretentious stories I've found in the past year.
-- Anne O'Neil
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