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"I cannot live without books."
The Great Fire
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The Great Fire
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This Book is Currently in the Wild!
7 journalers for this copy...
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The Great Fire begins with a train journey across Japan in 1947. Thirty-two year old Aldred Leith, son of acclaimed novelist Oliver Leith, is travelling from Tokyo to the island of Ita Jima, his destination the city of Kure, near Hiroshima. The world is still reeling in the aftermath of WWII, and Leith, a decorated war hero, is now engaged in the study of war and its effects on ancient cultures -- including those of China and Japan ("the consequences of war within an ancient and vanishing society"). The odour of cinders -- literally and metaphorically -- pervades the first pages of the book.In Kure, Aldred is immediately introduced to an Australian soldier by the name of Brian Talbot (a member of the occupying forces), Professor "Ginger" Gardiner (an academic connection) and Helen and Benedict Driscoll, the charming son and daughter of Brigadier Barry Driscoll and his odious wife, Melba, with whom he is billeted. However for the first half of the book, Aldred -- and everyone else, for that matter -- seems to wander aimlessly in a kind of post-bellum shock, and the story takes some time to come into focus. From the reader's point of view, therefore, The Great Fire is -- at least to the mid point of the novel -- an oddly disorienting read. A large cast of interesting characters is introduced (Aldred's father, his mistress Aurora Searle, Professor Gardiner, Talbot, the Driscolls, Thaddeus Hill, Peter Exley, Roy Rysom and Audrey Fellowes, to name only a few), but the reader can't get a fix on what they're supposed to be doing, nor on what this book is actually about. As much as we can discern is neatly encapsulated in a line at p. 158: "men go to pieces differently in peacetime, outside their borders." In the second half of the book, several storylines come into sharper focus. Leith's attraction for seventeen year old Helen Driscoll (daughter of the Brigadier with whom he is billeted) blossoms into a full-blown affair, Helen's brother Benedict Driscoll's illness becomes more acute and tragedy befalls another significant character. Books and literature remain an important and recurring theme (twice we hear of characters becoming acquainted when they encounter another reading the same book), as does the smoking ruin of Hiroshima -- and fire and cinders more generally. The Great Fire won the 2003 National Book Award (USA), was shortlisted for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize. You can read the Guardian's review of this book here, the Independent's here, the Sydney Morning Herald's here and the Economist's here. SPOILER ALERT: I loved how the recurring motif of fire was turned neatly on its head at the end of the novel, in one of the most evocative -- because understated -- love scenes I've ever read. It took my breath away ... |
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1. tuff517 - McQueeney, Texas, USA - rec'd September 23, 04; mailed October 7, 04. 2. Lorelei03 - Farmingdale, New York, USA - rec'd October 12, 04; mailed November 04. 3. Lizanne - Madison, New Jersey, USA - rec'd December 8, 04. 4. may-eve - Portland, Oregon, USA - rec'd March 22, 05. 5. yourotherleft - Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, USA - rec'd May 1, 05; mailed August 8, 05. 6. jenvince - Sherman Oaks, California, USA - rec'd August 20, 05. |
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I'll be mailing this book to tuff517 in McQueeney, Texas tomorrow (September 20, 04). Best wishes from New Westminster, British Columbia! (At left: the Fraser River, as seen from the top of my street.)
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Released 7 yrs ago (9/8/2005 UTC) at Essenza Coffee House- 1350 S Longmore at Southern in Mesa, Arizona USA WILD RELEASE NOTES:
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