A review by laura_corsi
American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land by Monica Hesse

4.0

American Fire is the kind of book that I would love to write. Having spent a little time on the Eastern Shore and in Maryland, I have a little bit of an understanding of the geography of the place the author is writing about. Ms. Hesse does a wonderful job of evoking the people of Accomack County and the interconnectedness of the people and the land. I found her narration of Tonya and Charlie's love story to be humane and compassionate. American Fire makes one feel that one can never really know not just another person completely but that one can never really know oneself completely. If you were in Tonya and Charlie's shoes and had lived their life what would you have done? Not one of us can ever say with certainty or judge too harshly this tragic hero and his lady.