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kiwiflora's review against another edition
5.0
At this point in time, with parts of Australia burning to pieces, I cannot think of a better book to read to give one an insight into the nature of these types of devastating and ruthless fires, the loss of life and property, the horrific dangers firefighters go through in trying to manage these fires, what happens to the land during such fires, and then for investigators to find that there are people out there who deliberately set these fires, sit back to watch the devastation and horror unfold.
This is that book. The author is an Australian narrative non-fiction writer, and man, can she write. She was in Victoria on her partner's bush block during the time of the Black Saturday February 2009 fires, aware that at any time the wind could change direction and come their way. Luckily for them, it didn't happen, but 173 people died during those few days, millions of domestic and wild animals died, and thousand of hectares of trees and property destroyed.
Arson investigators quickly established that in one area where 11 people died, the fires were deliberately lit. What follows is the story of how the arsonist was tracked down, arrested, brought to trial, found guilty and sentenced. A quick on-line search will show that arsonists in general have a variety of mental health issues, and this was the case with Brendan Sokuluk, the arsonist in this case. Hooper's reach is much more than simply focussing on trying to understand the mind of such a man - it seems no one is really able to come to grips with what type of person he really was. She touches on the causes of a number of the other fires in the region - failures by those in charge of maintaining the power grid to do so and the fall out from this negligence, as well as arson. She also closely examines the communities affected by the fires - small towns and communities whose existence is dependent on the coal mines and power stations in the area that are being sold off, run down, closed down. I also learnt about fire itself and how it behaves in an eucalyptus plantation, how this tree is built to burn, how the Aborigine people knew how to control such fire and used it for their advantage, how it became a weapon between Europeans and Aborigine, and between feuding Europeans. And how we really are totally useless at controlling it at all.
An exceptional read, with something to learn about on every single page, reading more like a thriller than a non-fiction narrative. Compulsory reading right now.
This is that book. The author is an Australian narrative non-fiction writer, and man, can she write. She was in Victoria on her partner's bush block during the time of the Black Saturday February 2009 fires, aware that at any time the wind could change direction and come their way. Luckily for them, it didn't happen, but 173 people died during those few days, millions of domestic and wild animals died, and thousand of hectares of trees and property destroyed.
Arson investigators quickly established that in one area where 11 people died, the fires were deliberately lit. What follows is the story of how the arsonist was tracked down, arrested, brought to trial, found guilty and sentenced. A quick on-line search will show that arsonists in general have a variety of mental health issues, and this was the case with Brendan Sokuluk, the arsonist in this case. Hooper's reach is much more than simply focussing on trying to understand the mind of such a man - it seems no one is really able to come to grips with what type of person he really was. She touches on the causes of a number of the other fires in the region - failures by those in charge of maintaining the power grid to do so and the fall out from this negligence, as well as arson. She also closely examines the communities affected by the fires - small towns and communities whose existence is dependent on the coal mines and power stations in the area that are being sold off, run down, closed down. I also learnt about fire itself and how it behaves in an eucalyptus plantation, how this tree is built to burn, how the Aborigine people knew how to control such fire and used it for their advantage, how it became a weapon between Europeans and Aborigine, and between feuding Europeans. And how we really are totally useless at controlling it at all.
An exceptional read, with something to learn about on every single page, reading more like a thriller than a non-fiction narrative. Compulsory reading right now.
kimbofo's review against another edition
5.0
Ten years ago, on 7 February 2009, in unprecedented hot weather conditions, a series of bushfires — 400 separate fires giving off the heat equivalent to 500 atomic bombs! — raged across the state of Victoria, wiping out everything in their path, including whole townships and hundreds and thousands of hectares of farmland and bushland. One-hundred and eighty people lost their lives, making them the deadliest fires in Australian history.
On that particular Saturday — which later became known as Black Saturday — the Central Gippsland fires in and around the Latrobe Valley (just a 45 minute drive from where I grew up) burnt 32,860 hectares and killed 11 people. It later transpired that the Churchill fire, which started in a pine plantation, was deliberately lit and a 39-year-old Churchill man was arrested on suspicion of arson.
That man, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison three years later, is the subject of Chloe Hooper’s extraordinary new book, The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire, which was longlisted for the 2019 Stella Prize.
The book, which is essentially a true crime tale, is divided into three parts covering the police investigation into the fire, the defence lawyers’ case and the court proceedings.
It’s written in a clear but lyrical style with a journalist’s eye for detail. Hooper’s descriptions of the fire, taken from witness statements, are particularly powerful.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
On that particular Saturday — which later became known as Black Saturday — the Central Gippsland fires in and around the Latrobe Valley (just a 45 minute drive from where I grew up) burnt 32,860 hectares and killed 11 people. It later transpired that the Churchill fire, which started in a pine plantation, was deliberately lit and a 39-year-old Churchill man was arrested on suspicion of arson.
That man, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison three years later, is the subject of Chloe Hooper’s extraordinary new book, The Arsonist: A Mind on Fire, which was longlisted for the 2019 Stella Prize.
The book, which is essentially a true crime tale, is divided into three parts covering the police investigation into the fire, the defence lawyers’ case and the court proceedings.
It’s written in a clear but lyrical style with a journalist’s eye for detail. Hooper’s descriptions of the fire, taken from witness statements, are particularly powerful.
To read the rest of my review, please visit my blog.
redpoll's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed (?) this a lot but it lost my attention a bit during the trial scenes, which didn't flow so smoothly as the rest of this novel-like nonfiction. Still very good, timely and worth reading.
kchisholm's review against another edition
4.0
Chloe Hooper has, yet again, taken on difficult terrain and a complex subject matter in THE ARSONIST. As in THE TALL MAN, there are victims, family members, affected communities and people still trying to get on with their lives, Black Saturday being ten years ago this month / year in the one of the most fire prone areas on the planet. As rural dwellers the potential of fire is never far from mind. We live for long, hot, draining months in each year sniffing the air, watching the horizons, analysing weather forecasts and planning actions and survival. We do that knowing that fires can be started by a range of natural causes which nothing can be done about. And then there are the ones started by the arsonists. That, thankfully, small group of people who have all sorts of reasons for starting fires, as with the subject of THE ARSONIST - an intellectually handicapped, socially isolated man from the Latrobe Valley - one location of the many that went up in flames on that stinking hot February day.
In THE ARSONIST Hooper balances the analysis of the man who set the fires in Churchill, against the people and places affected by them. This contrast, of people who lost everything, people who lost family, friends and livelihoods, now looking for reasons why; against the man now serving a prison sentence for a crime that it's hard to tell if he knows he committed, understands why, or is fully aware of what he was doing and bloody good at covering up, is stark and sobering. Everybody is confused by the arsonist's motivations - detectives interviewing him couldn't decide if he was covering up or genuinely disconnected, his trial didn't ever really establish motive, and his behaviour on the day in particular, incomprehensibly odd.
THE ARSONIST is a powerful book - Hooper has carefully negotiated the task of opening up old wounds and paying respect to victims and survivors, whilst also clearly telegraphing that there's much to be considered when it comes to our reactions to arsonists. The last line of the blurb sums it up better than I ever could "The Arsonist is a reminder that in an age of fire, all of us are gatekeepers."
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/arsonist-chloe-hooper
In THE ARSONIST Hooper balances the analysis of the man who set the fires in Churchill, against the people and places affected by them. This contrast, of people who lost everything, people who lost family, friends and livelihoods, now looking for reasons why; against the man now serving a prison sentence for a crime that it's hard to tell if he knows he committed, understands why, or is fully aware of what he was doing and bloody good at covering up, is stark and sobering. Everybody is confused by the arsonist's motivations - detectives interviewing him couldn't decide if he was covering up or genuinely disconnected, his trial didn't ever really establish motive, and his behaviour on the day in particular, incomprehensibly odd.
THE ARSONIST is a powerful book - Hooper has carefully negotiated the task of opening up old wounds and paying respect to victims and survivors, whilst also clearly telegraphing that there's much to be considered when it comes to our reactions to arsonists. The last line of the blurb sums it up better than I ever could "The Arsonist is a reminder that in an age of fire, all of us are gatekeepers."
https://www.austcrimefiction.org/review/arsonist-chloe-hooper
katewalton's review against another edition
5.0
A moving portrait of an intellectually disabled arsonist responsible for some of the Black Saturday fires.
shadyharts's review against another edition
4.0
Beautiful writing. I just didn’t like how much speculation was required even though the author did their best to get to the truth. Sometimes we have to accept we won’t truly ever understand what goes on in someone else’s head.
Read in 2023
Read in 2023
lottie1803's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25