The Plot Thickens - at last!

Yes, toward last third of Rachel Kushner's The Flamethrowers the novel becomes considerably more interesting (at least to me) as the narrator and boyfriend Sandro Valera are now in Italy, at the his mother's Lake Como estate. We go through another of the extremely long chapters consisting of much dialogue and sniping among a crew of narcissistic characters over dinners and at poolside etc. - in this case Sandro's ill-tempered widowed mother, her paramour a dissolute but possibly famous American novelist (modeled on someone?), Sandro's brother Roberto who funs the family empire, Sandro's flamboyant cousin Thalia, and a few others various counts and others of that sort, all supported by a near silent, hostile-staring class of servants and groundskeepers. So why is this more interesting than the previous extremely long dissolute dinner parties in the Soho lofts? Because for the first time in the novel, the narrator (nameless) is engaged - there's something at stake here, as she is now fighting for Sandro's affections, fighting to establish her own personality, and struggling to assert her purpose in life - or at least in this novel. In all the previous conversations she was an observer, mostly silent; now she is locking horns with Sandro's mother, who makes a # of snide comments about her, the American girlfriend, and she has to give it back, while not offending her host. For the first time in this long novel, there is a conflict, a collision of forces. Even more important, we learn of the strikes and kidnappings and assassinations going on throughout Italy, with particular attacks on the Valero industries, much hated by all workers - so we begin to see the fear in the family, as they hire armed guards to protect the estate, and we begin to despise them - not just as seen through the narrator's eyes but we can actually see a little more than she sees: the Fascist background of the late partiarch, the contemptible way they treat everyone (not just her), the assumption that their wealth brings them privilege and immunity (when in fact it may make them vulnerable) - so there is now an ominous theme, a pending doom - and the narrator is right at the heart of it: should she leave this horrible family (and if so will Sandro come with her, or is he too caught up in the web?), and what about her reason for being in Italy, to be sort of a mascot for the family motorcycle business - should she rebel against that as well, or will she be caught up in the wealth, the privilege, the glamor of these wealthy boors and pigs? At last she has decisions to make, forces are in conflict all around her, and a plot is taking shape. Perhaps the novel, plenty long enough, should begin here - though it's hard to imagine an editor cutting that ruthlessly (Kushner's writing is always great, but it doesn't always serve her purpose as a novelist. Readers do like plot.)