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The Fires
Finely-honed portraits of hope and change, these two novellas are linked so skillfully that they achieve the intensity of a single novel in which some characters succeed and others fail on separate but equally compelling quests. In "The Fires," Gina Morgan makes a pilgrimage to Uzbekistan to carry out her husband's final wish—to be cremated—only to find herself entirely at sea in the strange new reality of the former Soviet republic, while in "The Exorcism," Tom Swanson begins to make sense of his life when he retrieves his angry daughter from her exclusive New England college after her expulsion for setting fire to a grand piano.
128 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2007
1 person is currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Alan Cheuse
63 books47 followersAmerican writer and critic.
For more than two decades, Alan Cheuse has served as NPRs voice of books. He is the author of three novels, including The Grandmothers Club and The Light Possessed, several collections of short stories, and a pair of novellas recently published in The Fires. He is also the editor of Seeing Ourselves: Great Early American Short Stories and co-editor of Writers Workshop in a Book. Stories and co-editor of Writers Workshop in a Book."
Forthcoming in March, 2015, the novel
Prayers for the Living...
Born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Cheuse grew up in a Jewish family, the son of a Russian immigrant father and a mother of Russian and Romanian descent
For more than two decades, Alan Cheuse has served as NPRs voice of books. He is the author of three novels, including The Grandmothers Club and The Light Possessed, several collections of short stories, and a pair of novellas recently published in The Fires. He is also the editor of Seeing Ourselves: Great Early American Short Stories and co-editor of Writers Workshop in a Book. Stories and co-editor of Writers Workshop in a Book."
Forthcoming in March, 2015, the novel
Prayers for the Living...
Born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Cheuse grew up in a Jewish family, the son of a Russian immigrant father and a mother of Russian and Romanian descent
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 10, 2011
Another one of from the Kindle .99 book sale last month.
I've seen Alan Cheuse blurbs in the past and thought it would be good to read one of his books. I'm on page 34 of 117 so far and it is definitely holding my interest. Although I see some irony in the fact that I'm reading it in the middle of the night when I'm experiencing one of those hot flashes that jolts me awake... and while the character is talking about HER hot flashes.
So far, what I see about the title... are the hot flashes, the fact that her husband sees a fire before he dies, he dies in a fiery car crash, he asked to be cremated and since he died in a Muslim country, this isn't such an easy request to honor... and now I need to read more.
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The second novella is told from the perspective of a father who drives to pick up his daughter at college after she has been suspended for setting the school's piano on fire and nearly burning herself up in the process. The daughter is still grieving from the sudden death of her jazz musician mother from a heroin over dose. The story is told in bits, filling in the big picture with small details. Very satisfying. Will most certainly read more from this author.
I've seen Alan Cheuse blurbs in the past and thought it would be good to read one of his books. I'm on page 34 of 117 so far and it is definitely holding my interest. Although I see some irony in the fact that I'm reading it in the middle of the night when I'm experiencing one of those hot flashes that jolts me awake... and while the character is talking about HER hot flashes.
So far, what I see about the title... are the hot flashes, the fact that her husband sees a fire before he dies, he dies in a fiery car crash, he asked to be cremated and since he died in a Muslim country, this isn't such an easy request to honor... and now I need to read more.
___
The second novella is told from the perspective of a father who drives to pick up his daughter at college after she has been suspended for setting the school's piano on fire and nearly burning herself up in the process. The daughter is still grieving from the sudden death of her jazz musician mother from a heroin over dose. The story is told in bits, filling in the big picture with small details. Very satisfying. Will most certainly read more from this author.
Read
February 1, 2025I Love Cheuse's writing.
Enjoyed both stories, but story #1 the ending showed the female main character responding to grief in a way that a man would. No women I know would so quickly move to that step
Enjoyed both stories, but story #1 the ending showed the female main character responding to grief in a way that a man would. No women I know would so quickly move to that step
July 8, 2008
The Fires, by Alan Cheuse is a collection of two novellas or two short stories, depending on how you define “novella” and “short story.” (I’m counting the entire book as a novella for the Novella Challenge.) In any case, the two stories, “The Fires” and “The Exorcism,” both share themes of death, loss, cremation, fire, Hinduism, healing, memory, and sexual desires.
“The Fires” appears first and is told in third person from a widow’s perspective as she travels to Uzbekistan to cremate her recently deceased husband. The woman, Gina, is about to enter menopause following years of unsuccessfully trying to have another child after their first died. Irony abounds because her menopause no longer matters in the face of her husband’s death.
“The Exorcism,” on the other hand, is told from the first person perspective of a father. After his famous jazz pianist ex-wife dies from a heroine overdose, their daughter sets fire to a piano at her college. The story largely consists of the narrator’s stream-of-consciousness as he drives his daughter home. As he tells his backstory, he is constantly forgiving those around him, while judging himself.
I think the biggest strength of this offering lies in the comparison of the two stories, both with each other and with each reader’s experience. Each of the stories evoke similar themes but in completely different ways. For example, the Hindu religion comes up in “The Fires” as a solution to Gina’s cremation problem in the midst of an Arab prohibition on cremation and in “The Exorcism” through the Hindu scripture, Bhagavad Gita, playing as a book on tape. Through the references are very different, the Hindu allusions represent healing in both stories. Another, obvious example is the fire theme. In “The Fires,” Paul, Gina’s husband is cremated, and Gina has a dream that she is purged through fire. In “The Exorcism,” the narrator’s ex-wife is cremated, the narrator’s daughter sets fire to a piano, and the narrator describes smelling burning wood and flesh during a healing ritual. Again, in both stories, the fire represents healing but in different ways.
As other reviewers have commented, Cheuse definitely gets you into the head of his characters. Both of these stories were compelling and the chatacters interesting. The comparison exercise was engaging and enlightening. I must confess, though, that this short taste of Cheuse left me satisfied but not dying for more. However, though I had a few minor holdups with, say, some of the language in the book, I would recommend this quick read.
“The Fires” appears first and is told in third person from a widow’s perspective as she travels to Uzbekistan to cremate her recently deceased husband. The woman, Gina, is about to enter menopause following years of unsuccessfully trying to have another child after their first died. Irony abounds because her menopause no longer matters in the face of her husband’s death.
“The Exorcism,” on the other hand, is told from the first person perspective of a father. After his famous jazz pianist ex-wife dies from a heroine overdose, their daughter sets fire to a piano at her college. The story largely consists of the narrator’s stream-of-consciousness as he drives his daughter home. As he tells his backstory, he is constantly forgiving those around him, while judging himself.
I think the biggest strength of this offering lies in the comparison of the two stories, both with each other and with each reader’s experience. Each of the stories evoke similar themes but in completely different ways. For example, the Hindu religion comes up in “The Fires” as a solution to Gina’s cremation problem in the midst of an Arab prohibition on cremation and in “The Exorcism” through the Hindu scripture, Bhagavad Gita, playing as a book on tape. Through the references are very different, the Hindu allusions represent healing in both stories. Another, obvious example is the fire theme. In “The Fires,” Paul, Gina’s husband is cremated, and Gina has a dream that she is purged through fire. In “The Exorcism,” the narrator’s ex-wife is cremated, the narrator’s daughter sets fire to a piano, and the narrator describes smelling burning wood and flesh during a healing ritual. Again, in both stories, the fire represents healing but in different ways.
As other reviewers have commented, Cheuse definitely gets you into the head of his characters. Both of these stories were compelling and the chatacters interesting. The comparison exercise was engaging and enlightening. I must confess, though, that this short taste of Cheuse left me satisfied but not dying for more. However, though I had a few minor holdups with, say, some of the language in the book, I would recommend this quick read.
July 30, 2008
In Alan Cheuse's "The Fires," as in O'nan's "Last Night at the Lobster" a skilled writer reminds us why the novella can be such a satisfying read. Taking two stories that, in the hands of a lesser craftsman would have surely sprawled into a long, pedestrian novel, Cheuse instead edits to the bone, distilling the emotions of his characters, in a pair of riveting narratives. While each story is quite different, though they are linked by the key title image of fire, both prove worthwhile.
First we have the title story, "The Fires," about a wife learning of her husband's unexpected death in central Asia and traveling to arrange for his cremation, a challenge in a predominantly Muslim nation. Cheuse shows the full range of his skills with this story, moving from raw emotion to bewilderment to humor, all the while keeping his reader at once captivated and off balance, the same condition as his protagonist. The prose here comes taut and occasionally brutal, such as in the author's description of the wife receiving the phone call early in the story informing her of her husband's death.
"And then it came to her, and as if this Kirov, or some other man, an intruder bent on wounding her, pounding away at her, raping her, killing her, had smashed in the door and pushed her down beneath it, she felt all the air leaver her lungs and she staggered back onto the bed, feeling the dampness between her legs, the legacy of comedy, but the comedy had ended."
Yet at the same time, Cheuse shows his protagonist profound sympathy, even in the face of such grievous loss.
The second story, while perhaps not as tight as the first, is likewise powerful. Moving from the third person narrative of "The Fires" in "The Exorcism" we are presented with a troubled man, a veteran of several marriages, who must retrieve his troubled daughter from her college after the girl sets fire to a piano. Here Cheuse attempts one of a writer's greatest challenges, trying to narrate in the voice of a non-literate character self described as "not a poet." On occasion the narrative, however, does rise to near poetry, Cheuse's voice slipping through his narrator's lips. Yet despite this, slight drawback, "The Exorcism" simmers with a dark, Chekov-like humor, as the protagonist in picking up his daughter begins to retrieve parts of himself too long lost.
Readers searching for satisfaction will not leave either of these fine novellas disappointed, indeed, you may find yourself unable to put them down.
First we have the title story, "The Fires," about a wife learning of her husband's unexpected death in central Asia and traveling to arrange for his cremation, a challenge in a predominantly Muslim nation. Cheuse shows the full range of his skills with this story, moving from raw emotion to bewilderment to humor, all the while keeping his reader at once captivated and off balance, the same condition as his protagonist. The prose here comes taut and occasionally brutal, such as in the author's description of the wife receiving the phone call early in the story informing her of her husband's death.
"And then it came to her, and as if this Kirov, or some other man, an intruder bent on wounding her, pounding away at her, raping her, killing her, had smashed in the door and pushed her down beneath it, she felt all the air leaver her lungs and she staggered back onto the bed, feeling the dampness between her legs, the legacy of comedy, but the comedy had ended."
Yet at the same time, Cheuse shows his protagonist profound sympathy, even in the face of such grievous loss.
The second story, while perhaps not as tight as the first, is likewise powerful. Moving from the third person narrative of "The Fires" in "The Exorcism" we are presented with a troubled man, a veteran of several marriages, who must retrieve his troubled daughter from her college after the girl sets fire to a piano. Here Cheuse attempts one of a writer's greatest challenges, trying to narrate in the voice of a non-literate character self described as "not a poet." On occasion the narrative, however, does rise to near poetry, Cheuse's voice slipping through his narrator's lips. Yet despite this, slight drawback, "The Exorcism" simmers with a dark, Chekov-like humor, as the protagonist in picking up his daughter begins to retrieve parts of himself too long lost.
Readers searching for satisfaction will not leave either of these fine novellas disappointed, indeed, you may find yourself unable to put them down.
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January 21, 2011The title novella, The Fires, follows Gina as she travels from the United States to rural Uzbekistan to retrieve the body of her husband, recently killed in a car crash. His last wish was to be cremated, which is taboo in this Muslim country and culture, so an inexperienced U.S. Embassy official helps find Hindus to perform the ceremony. In The Exorcism, the second tale, the daughter of the main character has set fire to a baby grand piano and attempted suicide by fire, thereby getting her expelled from an exclusive New England college. This happens following the death and cremation of her mother, a famous jazz pianist, and one of several of her father’s wives. Both stories juggle multiple perspectives while dealing with memories, deep feelings, love, and forgiveness, and have an understated quality of dark humor. Alan Cheuse is well-known as the book reviewer for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.
November 27, 2007
From acclaimed author Alan Cheuse come two novellas of compelling intensity.
In "The Fires," Gina Morgan makes a pilgrimage to Uzbekistan to carry out her husband's final wish only to discover that in this former Soviet republic things are not as they used to be. And in "The Exorcism," Tom Swanson retrieves his angry daughter from her exclusive New England college after her expulsion for setting fire to a grand piano.
Publisher's Weekly has praised Cheuse's "impressive command of many voices," and The New York Times Book Review called his work "richly imagined." In The Fires, Alan Cheuse demonstrates once more the poetry and range of his literary gifts in these finely-honed portraits of hope and change.
In "The Fires," Gina Morgan makes a pilgrimage to Uzbekistan to carry out her husband's final wish only to discover that in this former Soviet republic things are not as they used to be. And in "The Exorcism," Tom Swanson retrieves his angry daughter from her exclusive New England college after her expulsion for setting fire to a grand piano.
Publisher's Weekly has praised Cheuse's "impressive command of many voices," and The New York Times Book Review called his work "richly imagined." In The Fires, Alan Cheuse demonstrates once more the poetry and range of his literary gifts in these finely-honed portraits of hope and change.
July 12, 2011
This little volume of 2 novellas was a lucky find in the Books for Sale room of my local library. I had not heard of the author, although he is a book commentator for NPR. But I picked it up, read a paragraph for the prose style and liked it. For $1, why not?
I loved both these stories about middle-aged people trying to come to grips with the things happening to them. What they have in common are fire (in one a cremation pyre, in the other a piano set ablaze by the troubled daughter of a recently deceased jazz musician) and some Eastern religion. A quick, very enjoyable read.
I loved both these stories about middle-aged people trying to come to grips with the things happening to them. What they have in common are fire (in one a cremation pyre, in the other a piano set ablaze by the troubled daughter of a recently deceased jazz musician) and some Eastern religion. A quick, very enjoyable read.
February 21, 2008
the reason i liked these two novellas is this: the author did in about 50 pages what most "bestsellers" stretch out over 250.
these stories are both deeply felt family dramas, but because they were told so economically, they never ran the risk of becoming sappy. nice reading.
these stories are both deeply felt family dramas, but because they were told so economically, they never ran the risk of becoming sappy. nice reading.
February 24, 2025
This book of two short stories was ok. I am not a big fan of short stories (except for Ray Bradbury).
02/22/25: Re-read this. I enjoyed this much more the second time, and increased the star count. Beautiful writing.
02/22/25: Re-read this. I enjoyed this much more the second time, and increased the star count. Beautiful writing.
November 14, 2011
I've always enjoyed Alan Cheuses comments on books for NPR, so I was interested in reading his work. The Fires is two novellas - I "forgive him" the first (you have to read the book to get the reference), but really liked the second. This was a $.99 deal on Kindle and very well worth the price!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews