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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
I don’t read a lot of nonfiction, mostly because I start to get bored with the details if there aren’t characters or a plot to follow, but I really enjoyed American Fire. It’s true that sometimes life really is stranger than fiction, and I admire the author’s dedication to the research (I can’t imagine the amount of work she must have put into compiling this; she makes writing fiction look easy).
I don’t know; I’m not very good at writing reviews. Something about this book captured my attention before I even had it in my hands; I kept seeing reviews of it, I read the original article, and I was still intrigued enough to buy it. And I’m happy to say that it was worth it.
I don’t know; I’m not very good at writing reviews. Something about this book captured my attention before I even had it in my hands; I kept seeing reviews of it, I read the original article, and I was still intrigued enough to buy it. And I’m happy to say that it was worth it.
This book was just fine. I found it interesting in the sense that I had never really heard about these fires before, but this book really didn't need to be as dragged out as it was. My favorite parts ended up being the bits about the profiling that took place, but likely because I really love Criminal Minds. It was an alright, quick read.
Not really my genre. Interesting story, but I wished it was a based-on-a-true-story piece of fiction.
I felt like this book was trying sooooo hard to be a modern day "In Cold Blood" or something. The arson crimes were just not as compelling as I feel like Monica Hesse tried to make them out to be.
informative
mysterious
tense
The firefighters of Accomack County would be called out two more times that night. They would be called out eighty-six times total over the next five months. (11)
It's an odd crime, arson. Violent and volatile, but often a literal slow burn, so that the arsonist can be long gone by the time the fire is discovered. The fires in Accomack County were not as bad as they could have been: they were in abandoned buildings, generally, a risk to unused structures more than to human lives. But they strained rural resources and left the town in fear, and the fires just. didn't. stop. coming.
Who was responsible for the fires is never in question in American Fire, but rather the question of motives is explored at length. The book is a love story, but an odd one: a man setting fires for his girlfriend, his girlfriend egging him on and doing legwork and maybe setting fires herself. They didn't get caught and didn't get caught and didn't get caught, and then finally they did, and the physical effort of catching the arsonists (and cleaning up after them) ended, but the rest, the rest got harder.
It's pretty fascinating. The sort of story that could only happen in a rural area, where people know each other and where abandoned structures dot the land and where fire takes on a different tenor than it might in the city. There aren't really satisfying answers, not through a fault of the book but because, ultimately, there are only two people who know the full details, and their stories don't match.
Houses catch on fire; it doesn’t always mean anything. It wasn’t unusual for an abandoned house or two to burn down every year. But this had been three in one night. To everyone involved, it was beginning to feel off. It felt, as Jeff Beall would later describe it to friends, like a person arriving home at the end of the day and finding windows open at his house. One open window, and a person might assume that his spouse had done it to air out the kitchen after a cooking mishap. But if all of the windows were open, it became something else, something eerie and malicious. (25)
It's an odd crime, arson. Violent and volatile, but often a literal slow burn, so that the arsonist can be long gone by the time the fire is discovered. The fires in Accomack County were not as bad as they could have been: they were in abandoned buildings, generally, a risk to unused structures more than to human lives. But they strained rural resources and left the town in fear, and the fires just. didn't. stop. coming.
Who was responsible for the fires is never in question in American Fire, but rather the question of motives is explored at length. The book is a love story, but an odd one: a man setting fires for his girlfriend, his girlfriend egging him on and doing legwork and maybe setting fires herself. They didn't get caught and didn't get caught and didn't get caught, and then finally they did, and the physical effort of catching the arsonists (and cleaning up after them) ended, but the rest, the rest got harder.
It's pretty fascinating. The sort of story that could only happen in a rural area, where people know each other and where abandoned structures dot the land and where fire takes on a different tenor than it might in the city. There aren't really satisfying answers, not through a fault of the book but because, ultimately, there are only two people who know the full details, and their stories don't match.
Houses catch on fire; it doesn’t always mean anything. It wasn’t unusual for an abandoned house or two to burn down every year. But this had been three in one night. To everyone involved, it was beginning to feel off. It felt, as Jeff Beall would later describe it to friends, like a person arriving home at the end of the day and finding windows open at his house. One open window, and a person might assume that his spouse had done it to air out the kitchen after a cooking mishap. But if all of the windows were open, it became something else, something eerie and malicious. (25)
And his world would briefly turn sparkly and perfect in a way that he had heretofore never dreamed, because this is the night he would meet Tonya, who would be the love of his life.
In Accomack County, Virginia, more than 60 fires were set in a span of six months. The once rich but now increasingly desolate farmland area was burning - and at the heart of it all is a messy and rather unconventional love story.
I enjoyed this detailed, real-life portrait of small-town life, and the poetic and metaphorical connections Hesse makes between the arsons and the natural decline of this farming community were quite beautiful. Her depiction of Accomack County seems to be very thorough and really allows the reader to get to know the the community and various involved individuals. As the actual crimes unraveled and the motivations behind them slowly surfaced, I found myself totally hooked on this story.
This book was recommended to me by a friend, and based on the description, frankly, I didn't think I'd like it much. Turns out I actually loved it. Engaging and interesting.
Hesse has written well the story of a series of fires that were set in Virginia over five months in 2012 and 2013. She weaves interesting and important facts in effortlessly, in a way that gives the story a sense of breathing...building intensity, then relieving it with a bit of drier background.
The only reason this story is receiving 3 stars rather than 4 is that I don’t think the book will stay with me or tempt me to read it again. Yet, it is most definitely worth reading (or listening to) once if you have any interest in true crime stories.
The only reason this story is receiving 3 stars rather than 4 is that I don’t think the book will stay with me or tempt me to read it again. Yet, it is most definitely worth reading (or listening to) once if you have any interest in true crime stories.