Life at These Speeds: A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Not a great running book--a great book
Review: I don't run; the only situation in which I could conceive myself running would be if, say, Denise Richards were nearby. And she could probably run faster than me anyway.

Yet despite being complacently non-ambulatory most of the time, I found this book extremely entertaining and thought-provoking. There's no way you cannot like Kevin Schuler, even though his treatment of people post-accident is frequently despicable.

Judging from some other reviews, it looks like some people are trying to pigeonhole this as a 'running book.' Don't believe it. It's a richly drawn coming-of-age book in which you root shamelessly for Kevin. The running, as Hitchcock would have put it, is simply the "macguffin" on which the plot hangs.

Rating:
Summary: "Go Boy! Go Ke-vin! Go Go!"
Review: 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

Rating:
Summary: Life at These Speeds
Review: I love this book. It is about a boy who is hurt when his friends die in an accident on the way home from a track meet. The spring and summer after the accident he chages and once the new school year starts, he forgets about what happend. When he races, he feels weightless and sees memories of his old classmates. This book is about how he moved on after the accident but in reality he couldn't move on. This book is written from a teenagers point of veiw and is why i think that it is mostly for teenagers but i think that adults would really enjoy it also.

Rating:
Summary: Runner's world
Review: I really did like this book! I ran High School track and cross country and understand the bonds you form with the people on your team. And so I thought the author did a really good job placing those bonds and emotion into the story. The author can tell a good story and I enjoyed his very physical descriptions of the running life and felt that they were very real, believable, and inspiring. I also really felt for the main character (something every good book does), and liked the fact that he grows and learns from his pain. He is anything but a flat character, which is refreshing. I am convinced Jackson has run high school track and cross country, and if he hasn't he has been extremely close to the sport to the point where its in him as much as it would be otherwise.
This is a great running book, though I'm not sure I would recommend that you buy it for your running kid because of some of the language.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: I was skimming through some books at my school library when i came across this book at first glance and thumbing through a few pages it didnt seem that interesting but i figured why not give it a shot if i dont like it jus drop it back off. After the first few pages i was hooked. I found myself looking for any extra minute to read a page or two. This book keeps you on the edge and keeps you wondering at all times what's next. And if your an athlete like me or a runner you'll love this book simply because of its physicality. Jeremy Jackson reaches depths not many authors can reach and he does it flawlessly. The only thing about the novel i didnt like, is that it had to end. If your looking for a good book to read that wont let you down this is it, It's given me inspiration and a feeling unlike any other after reading a book. Jeremy Jackson is a talented and gifted author and i cant wait to see what he comes up with next.

Rating:
Summary: You Got To Read This Book!
Review: If you would like to read a fantastic book read "Life at Theses Speeds." It's about an average teenage boy named Kevin Schuler who became a famous track and cross country runner. He becomes a phenomenal runner when his friends and girlfriend gets killed in a bus accident on the way home from a track meet. He was the only one who survived so he has the challenge of moving on and putting his past and fears behind him. I thought this book was the best book I have ever read. I like the way it was written. The flashbacks to before the bus accident with his girlfriend and friends really helped show me the relationship Kevin Schuler had with each one of them. The book also proves to people that your dreams and goals do come true if you want them bad enough. If you like books about running I would highly recommend this book. I like to run so this book was very enjoyable for me and if you read it I hope you enjoy it too.

Rating:
Summary: long-distance runner may break records but can't escape pain
Review: In a manner reminscent of Bernard Malamud's "The Natural," Jeremy Jackson's somber debut novel, "Life at These Speeds" interprets the darker side of the American success myth through the lens of competitive athletics. Where Malamud indicts hypocrisy and greed in the all-American sport of baseball, Jackson explores the troubled aspects of individual motivation, excellence and isolation in the less-acclaimed activity of long-distance running. Jackson's troubled, conflicted protagonist, Kevin Schuler, discovers speed after a devastating accident claims the life of many of his teammates and girlfriend, but he discovers neither solace or satisfaction from his sudden, unbidden prowess. "Life" reveals a tormented soul alienated and removed from hinmself, disdaining recognition but yearning for understanding and acceptance.

After learning of the demise of his friends and girlfriend, Kevin literally runs from his pain. Numbed by anguish and horrified by his own lack of affect, Kevin seeks solace in running. Rigorous individual routines only serve to reinforce his sense of guilt and indirect responsibility. Records melt under his fleet feet, but he hears only silence as he attains what appears to be a state of grace on the track. Throughout high school, Kevin's letter jacket gains pounds as a result of his medals, trinkets that only serve to weigh him down spiritually. His repeated astonishing victories, some earned despite vicious opponents and his own disdain for transcendence, ironically defeat his quest for self-understanding, tolerance and forgiveness.

Jackson is not content with merely exploring atheltics' false claims of redemption and personal transformation. Through a series of withering character sketches and devastating social commentaries, the author lashes out against corrupt high-school administrators, insidiously evil colllege recruiters and a pathetically vacuous public, bent on adoration of athletic icons without any understanding of the athletes' personal needs. Jackson's conclusions about the condition of school athletics are dire. He punctures the myth of athletics building character through Kevin's exploitation at the hands of university medical "researchers." The illusion that the pristine, individual nature of track and field is exempt from commercial tarnish evaporates as institutions seek to advance their interests often at the expense of a talented athlete.

This is not to say that "Life" is without humor. In fact, Jackson displays a tartly sarcastic, ironic note throughout his fast-paced, semi-allegorical writing. His delightful choice of proper nouns for minor charcters and place names (Zame Smith High School, for instance) emphasize his perception that the entire sports scene in high school is at best skewed, off-center, perverse. Jackson knows how to intertwine fable, commentary and satire, and he invests his protagonist with a genuine humanity. Kevin emerges burdened, bowed but completely authentic. "Life at These Speeds" is a welcome addition to a body of sports literature that believes we can learn much of ourselves through exploration of one of our most cherished national icons, the athletic hero.

Rating:
Summary: From a Dad Whose 8th Grade Son Has Just Won His 1st CC Meet
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Eloquently sad
Review: Kevin Schuler, an eighth grader in rural Missouri, is at a track meet with his team. At the end of the evening, he returns home in his family's car, but the rest of the team takes the school van, only to slide off a bridge into a river. Kevin alone lives. Kevin alone goes on to enter high school, insisting he no longer wants to run but becoming a record-breaking runner. Although he's suppressed the memories and even the names of his friends, they come back to him slowly, in pieces. Although he does not care about his success, although he watches life from the sidelines and passes the people in his world off with a certain tongue-in-cheek sadness, they are still drawn to him, though not necessarily for the right reasons.

LIFE AT THESE SPEEDS is undeniably well written. While perhaps not realistic (he is much too mature for his age), Kevin is an interesting narrator. I enjoyed the way he favored no one and viewed most of those around him as a sad joke. Jeremy Jackson's use of language is both eloquent and effective. The plot, however, seemed stretched thin overall and without clear direction, meandering unfettered through one boy's tortured life. This is not necessarily bad, but some readers (like me) may at times lose interest. And while the insights presented are captivating, they do not always ring true.

The descriptions of Kevin's races are taut and laced with ellusive tension, but readers interested in serious track and running may also be disappointed. LIFE AT THESE SPEEDS is first and foremost a poignant, dreamlike coming-of-age novel.

Rating:
Summary: Well Done
Review: 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.