Scan barcode
loogenhausen's review
5.0
"Do crushed frogs haunt pavement?"
Elements of Cronenberg, Kaufman, and Malick all combine to make this a lyrical, soul-crushing, and morbidly beautiful tone poem of love, legacy, dysfunction, and family ties. Just like life, ATEOTDIBIF draws you in and warns you of the inevitable. Death. But there's no escape. It will happen no matter what you do. And as you approach the end of Day's languid, melancholy meditation on one man's life just before his death, you realize that just like life, the end shapes our ultimate perspective in the most profound of ways.
"Every mother and father is a little ship that escorts its passenger from oblivion to a world of flesh and blood."
****1/4
Elements of Cronenberg, Kaufman, and Malick all combine to make this a lyrical, soul-crushing, and morbidly beautiful tone poem of love, legacy, dysfunction, and family ties. Just like life, ATEOTDIBIF draws you in and warns you of the inevitable. Death. But there's no escape. It will happen no matter what you do. And as you approach the end of Day's languid, melancholy meditation on one man's life just before his death, you realize that just like life, the end shapes our ultimate perspective in the most profound of ways.
"Every mother and father is a little ship that escorts its passenger from oblivion to a world of flesh and blood."
****1/4
kpkulski's review against another edition
5.0
Sometimes talking about a book too loud is like shouting a secret. This book is one of those. It hurts to read, hurts to breathe, and I am so much the better for it. I suppose life is like that too. Thank you, Nicholas Day for writing this and sharing it with the world.
aniket's review
4.0
Originally posted at https://aniketreviews.wordpress.com/2019/03/11/at-the-end-of-the-day-i-burst-into-flames-book-review/
“My eyes explode.
I feel inferno in my bones, like my father before me. I’ll be flame soon enough. And I’ll be ash shortly after.”
Those are the opening lines of this amazing tale.
At the End of the Day I Burst Into Flames is a powerful novella which manages to be amazingly beautiful while also reminding you of the harrowing fate we’re going to witness eventually.
Martin (nicknamed Firecracker) is a man living in a small city of Wood River, Illinois. When he was only a kid, his father died in a bizarre way – he burst into flames. The doctors called it an accident, and of course, they did, how else could they explain what happened? People don’t just burst into flames, do they? Martin’s mother, however, calls it “spontaneous combustion”. It’s a truly painful way to go but what’s worse is that Martin’s grandfather also died in the same way. And now Martin knows that he can’t escape the fire. He’s going to have to meet the same fate. When you know something like that is going to happen, what else can you do except getting stories of your life off your chest? So, while he waits for his cursed end, he takes a little trip down the memory lane and narrates stories about his childhood.
So what follows is an extremely intimate account of love, loss, friendship, life, death, despair, and suicidal thoughts.
At the End of the Day I Burst Into Flames is an unusual book. The prose is beautiful, painful and engaging. There were more than a few moments when it moved me to tears. Some of the narrator’s stories were relatable for me, some weren’t but all of them were emotionally moving.
Descriptions of the book online say that it is a horror story and in some ways it really is. But most of all, it’s a story about Love and everything comes with it. It’s about different loves. It’s about Love in the form of a long-forgotten childhood crush. It’s also about Love with friends you will never forget. It’s about Love of a distant mother and Love of memories of the Father who burst into flames.
At the End of the Day is a story so hauntingly beautiful that it stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page. The prose is so engaging and memorable that you can’t stop highlighting and sharing it with everyone who misses out on reading this fantastic book.
This is the first thing I’ve ever read by the author, Nicholas Day and it moved me in so many ways that I’ll definitely keep an eye on every other book he releases in the future.
Thanks for reading! Thanks to the Author and BookTasters for sending me a free copy in exchange of an honest review.
Read all my reviews at https://aniketreviews.wordpress.com
“My eyes explode.
I feel inferno in my bones, like my father before me. I’ll be flame soon enough. And I’ll be ash shortly after.”
Those are the opening lines of this amazing tale.
At the End of the Day I Burst Into Flames is a powerful novella which manages to be amazingly beautiful while also reminding you of the harrowing fate we’re going to witness eventually.
Martin (nicknamed Firecracker) is a man living in a small city of Wood River, Illinois. When he was only a kid, his father died in a bizarre way – he burst into flames. The doctors called it an accident, and of course, they did, how else could they explain what happened? People don’t just burst into flames, do they? Martin’s mother, however, calls it “spontaneous combustion”. It’s a truly painful way to go but what’s worse is that Martin’s grandfather also died in the same way. And now Martin knows that he can’t escape the fire. He’s going to have to meet the same fate. When you know something like that is going to happen, what else can you do except getting stories of your life off your chest? So, while he waits for his cursed end, he takes a little trip down the memory lane and narrates stories about his childhood.
So what follows is an extremely intimate account of love, loss, friendship, life, death, despair, and suicidal thoughts.
At the End of the Day I Burst Into Flames is an unusual book. The prose is beautiful, painful and engaging. There were more than a few moments when it moved me to tears. Some of the narrator’s stories were relatable for me, some weren’t but all of them were emotionally moving.
Descriptions of the book online say that it is a horror story and in some ways it really is. But most of all, it’s a story about Love and everything comes with it. It’s about different loves. It’s about Love in the form of a long-forgotten childhood crush. It’s also about Love with friends you will never forget. It’s about Love of a distant mother and Love of memories of the Father who burst into flames.
At the End of the Day is a story so hauntingly beautiful that it stays with you long after you’ve turned the last page. The prose is so engaging and memorable that you can’t stop highlighting and sharing it with everyone who misses out on reading this fantastic book.
This is the first thing I’ve ever read by the author, Nicholas Day and it moved me in so many ways that I’ll definitely keep an eye on every other book he releases in the future.
Thanks for reading! Thanks to the Author and BookTasters for sending me a free copy in exchange of an honest review.
Read all my reviews at https://aniketreviews.wordpress.com
thomaswjoyce's review
5.0
At the End of the Day… is another departure from the content of his previous books and, yet, it feels comfortably familiar to fans of his work. On the face of it, the story could go in many different directions, most if not all more straightforward and safe. Firecracker is a young man whose father died when he was only a child. The doctors were baffled, but his mother wasn’t. She said it was spontaneous combustion and – the bad news for Firecracker? It’s hereditary. What follows could have been a Mystery with Firecracker trying to unravel the nature of his condition, trying to beat his fate. Or maybe a supernatural horror story about a shady government organisation. Or ancient curse. Or aliens. Instead, Day delivers a heart-warming, heart-breaking tale of one man trying to understand himself through his memories before the inevitable end.
Told from Firecracker’s point of view, we are taken on a mesmerising journey through his memories, none of which really follow a linear path through time. Some may refer to events in other memories, and some feature a meeting with Death itself. The problem with his narration isn’t that he is unreliable, but the reality he experiences is flimsy at best, and the memories do jump about. But it doesn’t detract from the power of the story. Day has proven again that he can create endearing and relatable characters that, if not recognisable in ourselves, are certainly reminiscent of long-lost friends. It is a story about love in its many guises, whether the relationship with a first love, or an abusive step-parent, a distant mother, or the lingering memories of a lost father.
Day writes from a place of experience. Not that I expect him to spontaneously burst into flames any day now. But we are all consumed by fire in one way or another. He captures every emotion he details in Firecracker’s curtailed life story as though he is capturing a memory from his – or someone else’s – life. So, although the reader may not relate to everything, they will relate to something, even if it is just the raw emotion he elicits. Less a horror story or speculative fiction (save the fantastic elements of his unique condition or conversations with Death), this has more in common with literary fiction, Day writing with such profound prose and lyrical language that the reader may be left with a lump in their throat.
It’s about love and loss, life and death, anger and hate. From the highest heights of human emotion to the lowest depths, the reader is taken through the emotional rollercoaster that is Firecracker’s life, told in the most touching and moving way imaginable by the author. He doesn’t shy away from the difficult moments and bares everything like a confession of sin or declaration of devotion; every page, passage, sentence, is musical. It isn’t a very long read, but this only makes it easier for the reader to flip from the final page to the first and indulge in the command of Day’s powerful and evocative storytelling all over again.
Told from Firecracker’s point of view, we are taken on a mesmerising journey through his memories, none of which really follow a linear path through time. Some may refer to events in other memories, and some feature a meeting with Death itself. The problem with his narration isn’t that he is unreliable, but the reality he experiences is flimsy at best, and the memories do jump about. But it doesn’t detract from the power of the story. Day has proven again that he can create endearing and relatable characters that, if not recognisable in ourselves, are certainly reminiscent of long-lost friends. It is a story about love in its many guises, whether the relationship with a first love, or an abusive step-parent, a distant mother, or the lingering memories of a lost father.
Day writes from a place of experience. Not that I expect him to spontaneously burst into flames any day now. But we are all consumed by fire in one way or another. He captures every emotion he details in Firecracker’s curtailed life story as though he is capturing a memory from his – or someone else’s – life. So, although the reader may not relate to everything, they will relate to something, even if it is just the raw emotion he elicits. Less a horror story or speculative fiction (save the fantastic elements of his unique condition or conversations with Death), this has more in common with literary fiction, Day writing with such profound prose and lyrical language that the reader may be left with a lump in their throat.
It’s about love and loss, life and death, anger and hate. From the highest heights of human emotion to the lowest depths, the reader is taken through the emotional rollercoaster that is Firecracker’s life, told in the most touching and moving way imaginable by the author. He doesn’t shy away from the difficult moments and bares everything like a confession of sin or declaration of devotion; every page, passage, sentence, is musical. It isn’t a very long read, but this only makes it easier for the reader to flip from the final page to the first and indulge in the command of Day’s powerful and evocative storytelling all over again.
motherhorror's review
5.0
I've had some sleep and several hours to decide how I want to review this book. This is going to look a little bit different.
I'm not going to share any plot details at all. Everything you would want to know is in the handy-dandy description for the book or if you're holding the book in your hands, you can just flip it over.
If you aren't holding the book in your hands, I'll transcribe it for you:
"This is a story about LOVE and DEATH and SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION. This is a story about a man with a fire inside him."
That's all you need, really. It's my opinion you should just go into it blind. It's 78 pages long, you don't need an essay.
(although the prose is so rich, I *could* write an essay but why would you want to hear from me when you can read Nick Day?)
Damn, this Nicholas Day is GOOD.
He's got the good, good.
My unique reading experience with this book: Right away, on the first page, my reader's brain said, "Slow down with this one. Savor the words and savor the experience."
So I'm passing that on to you.
Read this when you have like 2 hours of uninterrupted time to just settle into this read until it has had its way with you.
Also, resist the temptation to write down quotes. They are going to jump out at you right away...but know this: The whole damn thing is quotable and your heart is going to want to remember them all. Don't worry, you'll be revisiting this one again and you can read them all afresh when you do.
Your heart is going to break all over the place. Don't even bother trying to not let that happen. Feel all your feelings and afterward, you're going to want a smoke (even if you're not a smoker) and a drink and you'll want to sit out in the yard with your feelings and your tears and your smoke, feeling like you just got worked.
And you did.
Nicholas Day worked you over.
But it hurts so good, doesn't it?
This was my third Day read. My first one and this is definitely a recommendation, was NOBODY GETS HURT and OTHER LIES. It's a short story collection and I loved getting to know Day's unique author's voice through a variety of strange and creepy tales.
Then, I read GRIND YOUR BONES TO DUST.
*waving my hand around aimlessly*
I can't even with that book. Seriously. I already wrote the review and it's nowhere near being released yet but trust me when I say, OH. MY. GOD.
Now this one.
So, 3 amazing books. One unread one on my shelf called, NOW THAT WE'RE ALONE and all I want to say is:
New favorite author. Insta-Buy everything and anything.
Thanks for reading my review-now go buy all his stuff and join me in the fangirling.
I'm not going to share any plot details at all. Everything you would want to know is in the handy-dandy description for the book or if you're holding the book in your hands, you can just flip it over.
If you aren't holding the book in your hands, I'll transcribe it for you:
"This is a story about LOVE and DEATH and SPONTANEOUS HUMAN COMBUSTION. This is a story about a man with a fire inside him."
That's all you need, really. It's my opinion you should just go into it blind. It's 78 pages long, you don't need an essay.
(although the prose is so rich, I *could* write an essay but why would you want to hear from me when you can read Nick Day?)
Damn, this Nicholas Day is GOOD.
He's got the good, good.
My unique reading experience with this book: Right away, on the first page, my reader's brain said, "Slow down with this one. Savor the words and savor the experience."
So I'm passing that on to you.
Read this when you have like 2 hours of uninterrupted time to just settle into this read until it has had its way with you.
Also, resist the temptation to write down quotes. They are going to jump out at you right away...but know this: The whole damn thing is quotable and your heart is going to want to remember them all. Don't worry, you'll be revisiting this one again and you can read them all afresh when you do.
Your heart is going to break all over the place. Don't even bother trying to not let that happen. Feel all your feelings and afterward, you're going to want a smoke (even if you're not a smoker) and a drink and you'll want to sit out in the yard with your feelings and your tears and your smoke, feeling like you just got worked.
And you did.
Nicholas Day worked you over.
But it hurts so good, doesn't it?
This was my third Day read. My first one and this is definitely a recommendation, was NOBODY GETS HURT and OTHER LIES. It's a short story collection and I loved getting to know Day's unique author's voice through a variety of strange and creepy tales.
Then, I read GRIND YOUR BONES TO DUST.
*waving my hand around aimlessly*
I can't even with that book. Seriously. I already wrote the review and it's nowhere near being released yet but trust me when I say, OH. MY. GOD.
Now this one.
So, 3 amazing books. One unread one on my shelf called, NOW THAT WE'RE ALONE and all I want to say is:
New favorite author. Insta-Buy everything and anything.
Thanks for reading my review-now go buy all his stuff and join me in the fangirling.
inkychaotics's review
5.0
What a stunning, poignant, little book this is. The protagonist has a fire inside him as he battles through all life can throw at a person. Martin (aka Firecracker), deals with love, sexuality, suicidal thoughts, the fact that he’s going to die from the raging flames building up inside his body, and an addiction to love:
“And I’m not talking about love in some sentimental way. I’m talking about chemical compositions, like if it were possible to put music in a syringe and then stick it in your arm and feel the ebb and flow of notes pulsing through your veins before music takes an aural shit all over your brain.”
I adore this quote. The whole book is so beautifully poetic in its prose. Nicholas Day has created a powerful story that had me nodding my head several times as both love and death enter the protagonist’s life because of how relatable those deep emotions are that Firecracker is trying to comprehend without losing his sanity along the way. It isn’t easy. This story packs a punch – the unfiltered emotion and truth, and the stunning imagery, all combine to create a gorgeous and fiery tale.
“And I’m not talking about love in some sentimental way. I’m talking about chemical compositions, like if it were possible to put music in a syringe and then stick it in your arm and feel the ebb and flow of notes pulsing through your veins before music takes an aural shit all over your brain.”
I adore this quote. The whole book is so beautifully poetic in its prose. Nicholas Day has created a powerful story that had me nodding my head several times as both love and death enter the protagonist’s life because of how relatable those deep emotions are that Firecracker is trying to comprehend without losing his sanity along the way. It isn’t easy. This story packs a punch – the unfiltered emotion and truth, and the stunning imagery, all combine to create a gorgeous and fiery tale.
michaelsellars's review
5.0
An unusual and compelling tale, threaded with an aching sadness. It feels less like a fantastical story than it does a story told by an unreliable narrator using fantastical tropes to confront and process a lifetime of pain and misdirection. I was reminded a lot of Stephen Graham Jones and, to a lesser extent, Barry Gifford. Day uses simple and direct language to evoke the extraordinary, and occasionally breaks out into something closer to poetry with astonishing effect. I loved it.
micahcastle's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5