Speedboat

A brilliant, genre-defying novel that captures the disorienting speed and fragmentation of modern life. First published in 1976 and hailed as a cult classic, the book follows Jen Fain, a sharp, perceptive journalist living in New York City, as she navigates the shifting landscapes of relationships, politics, ambition, and urban absurdity.

Told through a series of elliptical, fast-moving vignettes rather than a traditional plot, Speedboat reflects the chaos and complexity of its era with dry wit, intellectual clarity, and emotional restraint. Adler’s prose is crisp and incisive, blending aphoristic brilliance with fleeting, sometimes surreal moments of insight. Jen’s voice—wry, observant, and often detached—anchors a narrative that resists easy interpretation, moving fluidly through moments of intimacy, violence, cultural critique, and existential drift.

Speedboat is not only a landmark of postmodern fiction, but also a deeply human meditation on the speed, confusion, and dark comedy of life in a world that never slows down.