Book: Firecracker
Feb. 27th, 2010 09:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livAuthor: Sean Stewart
Details: (c) Sean Stewart 2004; Pub Orion Phoenix 2005; ISBN 0-75382-059-5
Verdict: Firecracker is gripping and amazingly creepy.
Reasons for reading it: I am very impressed with Stewart's fantasy and urban fantasy, so I've been willing to try his horror even though I generally don't like horror. I found Resurrection man just too creepy for my taste, and couldn't get through it; because the protagonist is named Danté and I misunderstood the blurb, I went into it with the impression that it was a modern retelling of the Inferno, but in fact it's about someone who discovers a corpse which is somehow his own even though he's alive, and proceeds to autopsy it. I gave up after a few chapters. But in spite of that Stewart has enough credit with me I was prepared to give this a go.
How it came into my hands: Library.
Firecracker has some of the strongest characterization I've come across, which makes it almost a guaranteed hit for me. The protag, Will, who has the ability to see ghosts, is a bit of a loser type who sincerely believes that violent jealousy is the defining characteristic of true love. But he's really impressive as unlikeable characters go; in spite of myself, I really cared about him and wanted things to turn out alright for him. There are lots of beautifully drawn secondary and minor characters too, and they all have complex desires and identities and lives that don't just revolve around Will, in spite of his rather egoistical narrative style.
The story takes it as a given that ghosts are real. They are depicted in ways that avoid obvious clichés, and convey a sense of the supernatural with just the right level of fear and creepiness. There is enough detail to make things grisly, but not gratuitously gory, so most of the horror is psychological. And the book very cleverly balances reporting Will's encounters with ghosts, with describing his realistic, mundane life. For me the most effectively creepy part of the book was the realization that all the female ghosts were killed by partner violence, and all the male ghosts by industrial accidents. The story is set in a poverty-stricken part of Texas, and really successfully conveys the grimy hopelessness of the situation, but without wallowing in misery porn. It dwells on the close friendships and clan connections that can exist against such a background, and the resolution is at least somewhat upbeat without being implausible. And you get a really vivid picture of the culture, almost Steinbeckian.
I really did find this book hard to put down, I believed in the danger and found the gleams of positivity and human connection touching. Firecracker is particularly successful at using a non-linear narrative, starting in the middle and continuing with a mixture of flashbacks and progress to build up a really fascinating and vivid picture of Will's life and incidentally of how the afterlife works in this reality. But yes, even though this is very much not my kind of book, it's exquisitely done.
Details: (c) Sean Stewart 2004; Pub Orion Phoenix 2005; ISBN 0-75382-059-5
Verdict: Firecracker is gripping and amazingly creepy.
Reasons for reading it: I am very impressed with Stewart's fantasy and urban fantasy, so I've been willing to try his horror even though I generally don't like horror. I found Resurrection man just too creepy for my taste, and couldn't get through it; because the protagonist is named Danté and I misunderstood the blurb, I went into it with the impression that it was a modern retelling of the Inferno, but in fact it's about someone who discovers a corpse which is somehow his own even though he's alive, and proceeds to autopsy it. I gave up after a few chapters. But in spite of that Stewart has enough credit with me I was prepared to give this a go.
How it came into my hands: Library.
Firecracker has some of the strongest characterization I've come across, which makes it almost a guaranteed hit for me. The protag, Will, who has the ability to see ghosts, is a bit of a loser type who sincerely believes that violent jealousy is the defining characteristic of true love. But he's really impressive as unlikeable characters go; in spite of myself, I really cared about him and wanted things to turn out alright for him. There are lots of beautifully drawn secondary and minor characters too, and they all have complex desires and identities and lives that don't just revolve around Will, in spite of his rather egoistical narrative style.
The story takes it as a given that ghosts are real. They are depicted in ways that avoid obvious clichés, and convey a sense of the supernatural with just the right level of fear and creepiness. There is enough detail to make things grisly, but not gratuitously gory, so most of the horror is psychological. And the book very cleverly balances reporting Will's encounters with ghosts, with describing his realistic, mundane life. For me the most effectively creepy part of the book was the realization that all the female ghosts were killed by partner violence, and all the male ghosts by industrial accidents. The story is set in a poverty-stricken part of Texas, and really successfully conveys the grimy hopelessness of the situation, but without wallowing in misery porn. It dwells on the close friendships and clan connections that can exist against such a background, and the resolution is at least somewhat upbeat without being implausible. And you get a really vivid picture of the culture, almost Steinbeckian.
I really did find this book hard to put down, I believed in the danger and found the gleams of positivity and human connection touching. Firecracker is particularly successful at using a non-linear narrative, starting in the middle and continuing with a mixture of flashbacks and progress to build up a really fascinating and vivid picture of Will's life and incidentally of how the afterlife works in this reality. But yes, even though this is very much not my kind of book, it's exquisitely done.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-01 04:24 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-03-01 05:52 pm (UTC)