It doesn’t matter that the novel doesn’t have a plot because the point is the experience of reading it. The vignettes that the narrator, journalist Jen Fain, share with us initially feel like a series of random thoughts, and while they, in a way, are they are also purposefully selected to be included in this work. It doesn’t feel like a journal or diary, as the focus is typically less on Fain’s perception than on New York society itself. She mingles with the upper classes of society, though is quite liberal in her actions. There are some wild anecdotes, and blunt condemnations, but the real draw of “Speedboat” is the prose. Adler’s writing is interesting and beautiful. It is poetically illustrative without being verbose; youthful in its depictions. I’ll definitely be reading more from Adler and wonder why I’ve never heard of her before.