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Like a House on Fire
From prize-winning short-story writer Cate Kennedy comes a new collection to rival her highly acclaimed Dark Roots. In Like a House on Fire, Kennedy once again takes ordinary lives and dissects their ironies, injustices and pleasures with her humane eye and wry sense of humour. In ‘Laminex and Mirrors’, a young woman working as a cleaner in a hospital helps an elderly patient defy doctor’s orders. In ‘Cross-Country’, a jilted lover manages to misinterpret her ex’s new life. And in ‘Ashes’, a son accompanies his mother on a journey to scatter his father’s remains, while lifelong resentments simmer in the background. Cate Kennedy’s poignant short stories find the beauty and tragedy in illness and mortality, life and love.
288 pages, Paperback
First published September 26, 2012
115 people are currently reading
1534 people want to read
About the author
Cate Kennedy
40 books93 followersCate Kennedy is an Australian author based in Victoria. She graduated from University of Canberra and has also taught at several colleges, including The University of Melbourne. She is the author of the highly acclaimed novel The World Beneath, which won the People’s Choice Award in the NSW Premier’s Literary Awards in 2010. It was also shortlisted for The Age fiction prize 2010 and the ASA Barbara Jefferis Award 2010, among others. She is an award-winning short-story writer whose work has twice won The Age Short Story Competition and has appeared in a range of publications, including The New Yorker. Her collection, Dark Roots, was shortlisted for the Steele Rudd Award in the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards and for the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal. Cate is also the author of the travel memoir Sing, and Don’t Cry, and the poetry collections Joyflight and Signs of Other Fires. Her latest book is The Taste of River Water: New and Selected Poems by Cate Kennedy, which was published in May 2011 and won the Victorian Premier’s Literary Awards CJ Dennis Prize for Poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 176 reviews
January 8, 2022
mkay… this anthology got me questioning VCAA's sanity… 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨
January 24, 2021
review to come!
November 3, 2023
Forced to read, thanks VCAA. Why are so many about babies, pregnancy, or people dying/being sick/ injured? Nearly all of them follow these themes. That and dead end jobs, failing relationships, boring lives. Depressing. Why don’t we get some hope up in here? My impression of each story. May be spoilers ahead
Flexion: unnamed woman married to bastard who somehow reconcile when he’s severely injured even though he’s always been a piece of shit
Ashes:the dad was a homophobe
Laminex and Mirrors: Australian girl wants to do something groundbreaking after school; travel to Europe
Tender: sad but overdone premise and boring, i don't like other people’s kids
Like A House on Fire: guy ignores physio’s advice, is shocked when he doesn't feel better
Five Dollar Family: he’s cheating on you PLEASE LEAVE HIS DUMBASS and who tf buys a leather jacket for a BABY #bogan
Cross Country: was lowkey good but miss girl please take your meds and get help (was the one i wrote on)
Sleepers: tradie steals wood
Whirlpool: controlling mum
Cake: new mum only wants to be with her baby, annoying
White Spirit: I’m just sick of Cate Kennedy at this point. Worker in multicultural centre is annoying
Little Plastic Shipwreck: couldn’t even be bothered to read it all, cancel marine parks
Waiting: wow! Another book about pregnancy?
Static: Kennedy found a way to make Christmas seem like an awful holiday
Seventy Two Derwents: the only good story, 5 stars
This book basically did 4 things. 1. Makes me hate country Victoria life 2. Drains any happiness or enjoyment out of everyday living 3. Makes me dislike other people’s kids 4. Makes me hate short stories even more.
Flexion: unnamed woman married to bastard who somehow reconcile when he’s severely injured even though he’s always been a piece of shit
Ashes:the dad was a homophobe
Laminex and Mirrors: Australian girl wants to do something groundbreaking after school; travel to Europe
Tender: sad but overdone premise and boring, i don't like other people’s kids
Like A House on Fire: guy ignores physio’s advice, is shocked when he doesn't feel better
Five Dollar Family: he’s cheating on you PLEASE LEAVE HIS DUMBASS and who tf buys a leather jacket for a BABY #bogan
Cross Country: was lowkey good but miss girl please take your meds and get help (was the one i wrote on)
Sleepers: tradie steals wood
Whirlpool: controlling mum
Cake: new mum only wants to be with her baby, annoying
White Spirit: I’m just sick of Cate Kennedy at this point. Worker in multicultural centre is annoying
Little Plastic Shipwreck: couldn’t even be bothered to read it all, cancel marine parks
Waiting: wow! Another book about pregnancy?
Static: Kennedy found a way to make Christmas seem like an awful holiday
Seventy Two Derwents: the only good story, 5 stars
This book basically did 4 things. 1. Makes me hate country Victoria life 2. Drains any happiness or enjoyment out of everyday living 3. Makes me dislike other people’s kids 4. Makes me hate short stories even more.
April 2, 2013
Cate Kennedy’s The World Beneath (2009) is one of my favourite Australian novels, so I was eager to read her latest volume of short stories – Like a House on Fire – recently shortlisted for the inaugural Stella Prize.
In one respect, this was a very easy book to read. The stories are simply structured, clear and well paced, with enough detail to draw you into the world of the story but not too much that you’re bogged down in dense description. Kennedy’s images are drawn with pinpoint precision and her dialogue is equally brilliant. Her characters and their everyday lives are real and recognisable. Quite frankly, I am in awe of her talents – she is a master of the craft.
But in other respects it was also an extremely difficult book, because the stories, in one way or another, all deal with LOSS and LACK. Loss of love, life, youth, health, innocence, dreams. Lack of love, money, resources, security, stability. I should have known when I read the epigraph by Franz Kafka – ‘In the fight between you and the world, back the world’ – that this collection wasn’t going to be a picnic in the park.
As other reviewers have suggested, it’s best not to read all these stories in one sitting. After reading several in a row, I ended up feeling like Tyler in the final story ‘Seventy-Two Derwents’ – ‘like I had a stone inside my stomach.’ To quote from another celebrated writer, T.S. Eliot: ‘Humankind cannot bear very much reality.’
But the sun occasionally breaks through, with rays of warmth, tenderness and humour. Some passages actually made me laugh out loud. For example, in ‘Five-Dollar Family’ set in a maternity ward, one new mother says to another, ‘I’m putting him straight onto formula. I don’t care what any of these nipple Nazis say. Stuff this for a joke.’ The longest story ‘Seventy-Two Derwents’, whilst being one of the most disturbing pieces in the collection, was also the most hopeful and life-affirming.
With one exception, all the stories engaged me from beginning to end. But for some reason, I couldn’t connect with ‘White Spirit’, despite its seductive title.
I rarely read short stories, but Like a House on Fire has sparked off an interest in this genre. I’ll be going back to read Cate Kennedy’s earlier stories, and also her poems. And I hope she wins the Stella Prize!
In one respect, this was a very easy book to read. The stories are simply structured, clear and well paced, with enough detail to draw you into the world of the story but not too much that you’re bogged down in dense description. Kennedy’s images are drawn with pinpoint precision and her dialogue is equally brilliant. Her characters and their everyday lives are real and recognisable. Quite frankly, I am in awe of her talents – she is a master of the craft.
But in other respects it was also an extremely difficult book, because the stories, in one way or another, all deal with LOSS and LACK. Loss of love, life, youth, health, innocence, dreams. Lack of love, money, resources, security, stability. I should have known when I read the epigraph by Franz Kafka – ‘In the fight between you and the world, back the world’ – that this collection wasn’t going to be a picnic in the park.
As other reviewers have suggested, it’s best not to read all these stories in one sitting. After reading several in a row, I ended up feeling like Tyler in the final story ‘Seventy-Two Derwents’ – ‘like I had a stone inside my stomach.’ To quote from another celebrated writer, T.S. Eliot: ‘Humankind cannot bear very much reality.’
But the sun occasionally breaks through, with rays of warmth, tenderness and humour. Some passages actually made me laugh out loud. For example, in ‘Five-Dollar Family’ set in a maternity ward, one new mother says to another, ‘I’m putting him straight onto formula. I don’t care what any of these nipple Nazis say. Stuff this for a joke.’ The longest story ‘Seventy-Two Derwents’, whilst being one of the most disturbing pieces in the collection, was also the most hopeful and life-affirming.
With one exception, all the stories engaged me from beginning to end. But for some reason, I couldn’t connect with ‘White Spirit’, despite its seductive title.
I rarely read short stories, but Like a House on Fire has sparked off an interest in this genre. I’ll be going back to read Cate Kennedy’s earlier stories, and also her poems. And I hope she wins the Stella Prize!
January 14, 2017
This book is full of such good short stories... As I kept on reading, I had this growing sense - 'what if I had missed this book'!
April 8, 2015
I just love Cate Kennedy's stories. No two are the same. Her voice and style change to suit the story-teller, and there are plenty. Kids, old men, struggling couples, it doesn't matter. She captures her people so believably that we care about them.
There are many that I wish would turn up in another story, just so I can see how they're doing.
There are times, you might want to shake someone 'awake', but as the story develops, you begin to sympathise with how they've become stuck where they are. Leaving or dropping out is not always an option.
I'm really wasting my time talking about her stories. Just read them yourself - you're in for a treat.
There are many that I wish would turn up in another story, just so I can see how they're doing.
There are times, you might want to shake someone 'awake', but as the story develops, you begin to sympathise with how they've become stuck where they are. Leaving or dropping out is not always an option.
I'm really wasting my time talking about her stories. Just read them yourself - you're in for a treat.
September 24, 2022
frank slovak was an asshole and no one can change my mind, a big fuck you to vcaa for making this book a part of the english curriculum 🥰
July 30, 2020
I enjoy reading short story collections. I also liked Kennedy’s previous collection, Dark Roots and her debut novel The World Beneath (you know where this is going, don’t you?) but I found Like A House On Fire very inconsistent. It was difficult to write about this collection because what do I know? I’m just another reader (I’m not a writer) saying that a well-respected Australian author who is renowned for her great short stories, telling you that this particular collection is so-so.
Subsequent to writing the above, Like A House On Fire has been long-listed for The Stella Prize, its first-ever list. I huffed and puffed over this being included. Kennedy is better than Like A House On Fire. It was the wrong book for the wrong prize. I cannot comment on the remainder of the list. Something pulling at my sleeve tells me I should read some of the others on the long list to truly understand why they have been included. But that’s for another time.
All of the stories, except three, were previously published in literary magazines or anthologies. The cover of this collection gives us a hint on what to expect within the pages. There are scatterings of socks, vases, cups of coffees, a broken plate and a glass of wine. So yes, you will get a dose of reality in these stories. And there’s the rub. I think realism in stories is difficult to do well, to be interesting enough to keep the reader’s attention. Kennedy does realism well, in other stories, but only sometimes in this collection.
Many stories reveal the unfortunate lives of many characters, but several stories end with a sliver of hope, a crack in the drawn curtains, where the light comes in. In ‘Flexion’, a woman married to a son-of-a-bitch, who sees all the nastiness of her husband even after he experiences an nearly-fatal tractor accident on their farm. But there is a moment before the story ends where she sees him for the vulnerable human that he is.
‘Tender’ sees Chris, a mother of two, the day before she has a lumpectomy. The mundane of life is successfully portrayed in this story, as Chris witnesses the stereotypical behaviour of her children without her encouragement. I have often witnessed it in my own house:
"One hour of sanctioned TV a night, and still Jamie sprawls on the floor relishing battle scenes, while Hannah flounces and squeals like some miniature Paris Hilton demanding to wear nail polish to kinder. Where have they absorbed all this from, this nasty flotsam leaking in like battery acid?"
‘Cake’ tells of a mother’s first day back at work after having her first child and ’5 dollar family’, about a mother’s first days of breastfeeding, are two (of many) that fell short for me. We read about these issues over and over and I didn’t feel that Kennedy gave us enough in these pieces on well-worn discussions.
‘Whirlpool’ was a ripper. A simple premise – a family is getting their photograph professionally taken to send to their mother’s friends. Right from the first paragraph, we are aware this is a facade, showing stiff smiles and getting physically too close to each other for the sake of the photo. This was delicious to read. ’72 derwents’ was also another favourite of mine and the longest story in this collection. Written from a young child’s point of view (which can be very difficult to get right) Kennedy shows us the best of her writing kit in this piece. Young Tyler is in a terrible situation at home and faces her mother’s boyfriend on several uncomfortable occasions:
"I was watching him smiling and nodding at me and even though his voice was friendly his hand was in his mouth and I could see his teeth biting the bleeding cuticle down the side of his thumbnail all the time he was talking. The stone in my stomach was squeezing and pressing, sending a taste up into my mouth. Not a taste. Like when you have an Easter egg and the foil gets bitten onto one of your fillings."
This is a hit-and-miss collection. Kennedy’s skillful writing comes through in some stories but several pieces fall well short of her usual precise story-telling ability.
Subsequent to writing the above, Like A House On Fire has been long-listed for The Stella Prize, its first-ever list. I huffed and puffed over this being included. Kennedy is better than Like A House On Fire. It was the wrong book for the wrong prize. I cannot comment on the remainder of the list. Something pulling at my sleeve tells me I should read some of the others on the long list to truly understand why they have been included. But that’s for another time.
All of the stories, except three, were previously published in literary magazines or anthologies. The cover of this collection gives us a hint on what to expect within the pages. There are scatterings of socks, vases, cups of coffees, a broken plate and a glass of wine. So yes, you will get a dose of reality in these stories. And there’s the rub. I think realism in stories is difficult to do well, to be interesting enough to keep the reader’s attention. Kennedy does realism well, in other stories, but only sometimes in this collection.
Many stories reveal the unfortunate lives of many characters, but several stories end with a sliver of hope, a crack in the drawn curtains, where the light comes in. In ‘Flexion’, a woman married to a son-of-a-bitch, who sees all the nastiness of her husband even after he experiences an nearly-fatal tractor accident on their farm. But there is a moment before the story ends where she sees him for the vulnerable human that he is.
‘Tender’ sees Chris, a mother of two, the day before she has a lumpectomy. The mundane of life is successfully portrayed in this story, as Chris witnesses the stereotypical behaviour of her children without her encouragement. I have often witnessed it in my own house:
"One hour of sanctioned TV a night, and still Jamie sprawls on the floor relishing battle scenes, while Hannah flounces and squeals like some miniature Paris Hilton demanding to wear nail polish to kinder. Where have they absorbed all this from, this nasty flotsam leaking in like battery acid?"
‘Cake’ tells of a mother’s first day back at work after having her first child and ’5 dollar family’, about a mother’s first days of breastfeeding, are two (of many) that fell short for me. We read about these issues over and over and I didn’t feel that Kennedy gave us enough in these pieces on well-worn discussions.
‘Whirlpool’ was a ripper. A simple premise – a family is getting their photograph professionally taken to send to their mother’s friends. Right from the first paragraph, we are aware this is a facade, showing stiff smiles and getting physically too close to each other for the sake of the photo. This was delicious to read. ’72 derwents’ was also another favourite of mine and the longest story in this collection. Written from a young child’s point of view (which can be very difficult to get right) Kennedy shows us the best of her writing kit in this piece. Young Tyler is in a terrible situation at home and faces her mother’s boyfriend on several uncomfortable occasions:
"I was watching him smiling and nodding at me and even though his voice was friendly his hand was in his mouth and I could see his teeth biting the bleeding cuticle down the side of his thumbnail all the time he was talking. The stone in my stomach was squeezing and pressing, sending a taste up into my mouth. Not a taste. Like when you have an Easter egg and the foil gets bitten onto one of your fillings."
This is a hit-and-miss collection. Kennedy’s skillful writing comes through in some stories but several pieces fall well short of her usual precise story-telling ability.
May 8, 2020
It’s exactly the same as Dark Roots. Everyone’s either in hospital or having marital problems or being a bloke in small town Australia. I know that she’s interested in writing about the ‘small aches of living’ or whatever it was she said, but I’m feeling worn out and tired after reading Like a House on Fire because it’s always the same aches and it’s always the same people.
August 5, 2018
A masterful collection depicting moments of Australian life. I'm in awe of the richness and complexity Cate Kennedy manages to create in each short story. My personal favourite was 'Ashes'.
July 9, 2018
Finished: 09.07.2018
Genre: short stories
Rating: C-
#20BooksOfsummer
Conclusion:
I only enjoyed 5/15 stories.
Low return on 'reading investment'
Here are my comments about the 5 best stories:
Review
Genre: short stories
Rating: C-
#20BooksOfsummer
Conclusion:
I only enjoyed 5/15 stories.
Low return on 'reading investment'
Here are my comments about the 5 best stories:
Review
September 9, 2019
15 short stories about "ordinary" situations but what a writer she is. She paints wonderful pictures that make you feel like a bystander nearby witnessing the action. Great writing and high quality stories.
March 16, 2021
I like to have a short story collection handy for a small "reading window" or an attempt to read myself back to sleep in the night, so I was pleased to find a new-to-me short story writer. And what an excellent find! In 15 or 20 pages, Cate Kennedy can slip her characters into your heart and also break it. Thus not useful for my second situation, but who cares with a new author to follow up?
There is a lot of illness, suffering, and hurting relationships in these stories - many ended in tears for this reader - but there is also tenderness, love and valiant determination which lift one's spirits.
I think the depth of emotional reactions engendered is explained by how easy it is to relate to Cate Kennedy's characters, and be reminded of one's own experiences, even though the settings are very different. A real achievement; thank you Cate.
There is a lot of illness, suffering, and hurting relationships in these stories - many ended in tears for this reader - but there is also tenderness, love and valiant determination which lift one's spirits.
I think the depth of emotional reactions engendered is explained by how easy it is to relate to Cate Kennedy's characters, and be reminded of one's own experiences, even though the settings are very different. A real achievement; thank you Cate.
November 18, 2022
I read this in preparation for class next year, my personal favourites were, Like a House on Fire, Ashes, Laminex and Mirrors, and, Seventy Two Derwents.
May 21, 2025
Probably more like 3.5, some stories were a bit bland. But the chilling final hurrah ‘Seventy-two Derwents’ is an absolute blinder.
January 14, 2021
Maybe it's the short story format that I don't like, but I got very bored after reading effectively the same narrative structure over and over again. Didn't hate it as much as Australia day but there are at least 5 stories in it I really couldn't care less about.
August 2, 2019
I have really loved this series of short stories. They were so diverse and interesting, I would have liked some stories to go on and on. Many of the characters were so endearing leaving me wanting more. Author writes so well and shows such insights into so many aspects of human experience. Does this writer also write novels? Left me wanting more.
March 23, 2016
A lovely set of short stories, each written in a different style and tempo. All of the stories are about normal people experiencing life and all of it’s challenges and humour. A couple of real gut-wrenching stories where you just feel the pain of the narrator.
The stories cover birth, death, unemployment, illness, loneliness, love and friendship. Many of the stories cover how easy it can be to have your whole life overturned by a single unexpected event.
Easily read but left me with vivid memories.
The stories cover birth, death, unemployment, illness, loneliness, love and friendship. Many of the stories cover how easy it can be to have your whole life overturned by a single unexpected event.
Easily read but left me with vivid memories.
September 12, 2015
These are all remarkable stories, written with great insight into ordinary people's lives. Cate Kennedy captures perfectly the conflicting feelings that people, particularly couples and parents and children, have towards each other. She writes with precision and creates an atmosphere of uncertainty and dread without ever being melodramatic. She uses the short story form to perfection to capture significant moments that evoke larger issues and ongoing lives. All these stories gave me intense reading pleasure.
January 25, 2015
This is Cate's latest short story collection with most of the stories featured having been been published previously.
I love reading short stories by dipping into them over time and that's what I did with this collection.
My favourite is probably Seventy-Two Derwents told from the point of view of a child. There is such a sense of menace and tension in this story and I was entranced by the ending.
I love reading short stories by dipping into them over time and that's what I did with this collection.
My favourite is probably Seventy-Two Derwents told from the point of view of a child. There is such a sense of menace and tension in this story and I was entranced by the ending.
April 15, 2015
I loved this anthology of short stories by Cate Kennedy. All of them were brilliantly written. Some I didn’t like, but that’s a personal, subjective response. My favourite story was Flexion, outstanding in its depiction of a marriage and the ructions within it; it had me on tenterhooks . As did the many of the other stories, portrayals of everyday life, examined with a humane, devil-for-detail, eye.
January 11, 2019
I was a little reluctant to read this book because I rarely read short stories, but I loved every sentence of this compilation. Kennedy is a gorgeous writer and I can’t wait to read more of her work/share these stories with my family and friends. This book is everything I love about Australian fiction.
January 30, 2013
Absolutely loved each morsel of this collection of short stories. Each one pulls the reader into a world of its own. Such gripping stories and well drawn characters. Some left me breathless from the journey travelled in so few pages!
January 14, 2014
I really, really don't want to review this because I'm pretty sure it would just be an embarrassing love letter to Cate Kennedy, begging her to keep writing because I am insanely in love with her short stories.
January 21, 2018
One of the first books assigned to me in school that I've actually enjoyed. Loved the last story so much.
June 30, 2019
This is a captivating collection of short stories, each of which transports you into a world and moments in time that feel familiar even when they can't be. I'd love to read more of Kennedy's work.
May 9, 2017
Themes Present in Like A House On Fire:
Inverse Law of Fertility - “Five-Dollar Family” involves the main character getting accidentally pregnant to a dead-beat boyfriend while “Waiting” and “Static” involve main characters trying to get pregnant and being unable to. The problem with this trope is that it rarely applies to real life, because if it did, the solution and treatment for infertility in Real Life would simply be reverse psychology.
In Australia, so much peer pressure is placed upon married couples to have children, so much so that it is very common for couples to conceive their first child through IVF, and then conceive their second child naturally. It is a proven fact that the more pressure and strain a woman places on her body to become pregnant, the more likely it will just not happen.
Babies Make Everything Better - This writing trope is the main reason why I placed specific stories in the “Did Not Enjoy” column. In all of those stories (including “Sleepers” which had a male protagonist), the author presented the idea that ‘if only I had children, that would make my life fulfilling and give it purpose’ heavy-handedly through out the novel.
Career Versus Man and Family Versus Career - That Women have to choose between career and family is a big problem with me. In fact, it is how the author chooses to present these issues is why I have such a strong negative reactions to the stories “Cake” and “Static”.
Evil Matriarch and/or My Beloved Smother - The fact that all of the older women and some mothers are portrayed in a combination of these tropes is a little disturbing. Especially in contrast to the younger mothers in “Cake” and “Five-Dollar Family” who are presented as perfect Madonnas. I think it's the reason I unexpectedly enjoyed "Seventy-Two Derwent’s" so much, I've lived like that and the mother in that story was flawed but also loved her daughters, she was believable and realistic.
But Not Too Gay - This trope is mostly about how in mainstream media Gay affection/love is not being shown as if not to offend anyone. Putting aside the “Likes to read books + Doesn’t like to go camping = Homosexual” ideology that this story implies and the emotional abuse both parents inflict upon their son, the fact that the reader are given detailed first-hand accounts of all the issues and dramas the other heterosexual relationships but not the only homosexual relationship. Instead of concrete details about how and why their relationship (that ended four years ago) fell apart, the reader is treated to endless amounts of Gayngst
My Personal Issues with “Cake”:
~Problem 1: The narrative has implied, but never outright stated, that this couple in this story could possibly fall into a low-income category, and in that case, the woman could apply for Centrelink benefits. Now, the husband could earn just that little bit too much for them to qualify for those benefits. This leads to the situation of earning too much to apply for welfare but not earning enough to get by, which is unfortunately very common. However, these options are not mentioned or spoken of at all. Research says that about 1 in 10 working mothers feel guilty about having their child in care, so it is a common problem many women have to deal with.
~Problem 2: An issue with day-care in Australia is that many day-care centres are being shut down due to many new regulations, and day-care owners would rather sell then have to deal with all the red tape and fee increases. So that leads to limited access and child placement of day-care centres,
Day-care is very expensive. So expensive that it is sometimes the reason why women are forced to stay at home. There is not much point paying for day-care, when you do not earn enough to make it worthwhile. None of these factors are mentioned or acknowledged as potential problems.
~Problem 3: The implication that women who do not breast-feed, regardless of their possibly legitimate reasons, are terrible mothers. That was very uncomfortable to read. For example, her co-worker could easily have made the statement, “So what if you breast feed your kid longer than I did. That does not make you better mother.” Breast-feeding, especially in public, is very much a hot topic issue that women receive a lot of unfair judgement and pressure on. It would have been a much more legitimate source of conflict.
~Problem 4: The fact that she was away for 18 months and just slotted back in proves to me that this is not a career, it is a menial low-paying job, and there is a very big difference between those two.
The fact that she does not have a job title is confusing. It also gives off the impression that she is not a vital part of the company and while it is illegal to do so, many companies simply fire pregnant women to save the hassle of maternity leave. I am surprised she did not have to read any new materials, such as updated OH&S forms, being overwhelmed with all this new information she has to process to do her old job could have been a much more legitimate source of conflict.
~Problem 5: She has a menial and tedious job, and that is terrible and all, but she thinks the solution for that is to see if she can check the mortgage calculator and move the numbers about. First, numbers are not like words. Words can be changed and altered ever so slightly and gradually over time, until the words lack their original meaning completely. You cannot do this with numbers. The bottom line is the bottom line. However, other alternatives, such as working from home and starting up a home/online business, are never mentioned.
My Personal issues with “Static”:
~Problem 1: The main source of my anger is that this story would be a very different if it were not all from Anthony’s perspective, which means it is all about him. How his wife’s constant need for perfect affects him, how her fertility problems affects him, how his ‘controlling’ and ‘domineering’ (his own words) mother affects his relationship and his feelings. I could not help but thinking that he was a completely self-absorbed arse-hat who had idea of the sexist and misogynist pressures women face on a day-to-day basis.
~Problem 2: When Anthony curls up into the foetal position on the patio after realising a little too late he has married his mother and now’s the perfect time for a mid-life crisis, I could not help but think ‘you are only just realising how similar your mother and wife are? And you do realise that just because they have similarities, that doesn't make them the same person?’
~Problem 3: I know how Marie’s health and self-image obsession are supposed to be negative symbols of her control issues, however the fact remains that two-thirds of Australia’s population is over-weight or obese, so it kinds seems to me that Marie’s being given the designated role of villain when she’s just trying to do the right thing.
Overall, Like A House On Fire wasn't an interesting read and it’s just not my thing. I suppose it goes back to that old expression, 'it's not what you say, but how you say it.' while I am happy to read stories about families and I think infertility should be talked about, my main problem was not the topics that were addressed in these short stories, it was more the way the Author handled them. Fertility, whether it be too much or not enough, is a complex issue and most of the time it was just a shallow glance.
Inverse Law of Fertility - “Five-Dollar Family” involves the main character getting accidentally pregnant to a dead-beat boyfriend while “Waiting” and “Static” involve main characters trying to get pregnant and being unable to. The problem with this trope is that it rarely applies to real life, because if it did, the solution and treatment for infertility in Real Life would simply be reverse psychology.
In Australia, so much peer pressure is placed upon married couples to have children, so much so that it is very common for couples to conceive their first child through IVF, and then conceive their second child naturally. It is a proven fact that the more pressure and strain a woman places on her body to become pregnant, the more likely it will just not happen.
Babies Make Everything Better - This writing trope is the main reason why I placed specific stories in the “Did Not Enjoy” column. In all of those stories (including “Sleepers” which had a male protagonist), the author presented the idea that ‘if only I had children, that would make my life fulfilling and give it purpose’ heavy-handedly through out the novel.
Career Versus Man and Family Versus Career - That Women have to choose between career and family is a big problem with me. In fact, it is how the author chooses to present these issues is why I have such a strong negative reactions to the stories “Cake” and “Static”.
Evil Matriarch and/or My Beloved Smother - The fact that all of the older women and some mothers are portrayed in a combination of these tropes is a little disturbing. Especially in contrast to the younger mothers in “Cake” and “Five-Dollar Family” who are presented as perfect Madonnas. I think it's the reason I unexpectedly enjoyed "Seventy-Two Derwent’s" so much, I've lived like that and the mother in that story was flawed but also loved her daughters, she was believable and realistic.
But Not Too Gay - This trope is mostly about how in mainstream media Gay affection/love is not being shown as if not to offend anyone. Putting aside the “Likes to read books + Doesn’t like to go camping = Homosexual” ideology that this story implies and the emotional abuse both parents inflict upon their son, the fact that the reader are given detailed first-hand accounts of all the issues and dramas the other heterosexual relationships but not the only homosexual relationship. Instead of concrete details about how and why their relationship (that ended four years ago) fell apart, the reader is treated to endless amounts of Gayngst
My Personal Issues with “Cake”:
~Problem 1: The narrative has implied, but never outright stated, that this couple in this story could possibly fall into a low-income category, and in that case, the woman could apply for Centrelink benefits. Now, the husband could earn just that little bit too much for them to qualify for those benefits. This leads to the situation of earning too much to apply for welfare but not earning enough to get by, which is unfortunately very common. However, these options are not mentioned or spoken of at all. Research says that about 1 in 10 working mothers feel guilty about having their child in care, so it is a common problem many women have to deal with.
~Problem 2: An issue with day-care in Australia is that many day-care centres are being shut down due to many new regulations, and day-care owners would rather sell then have to deal with all the red tape and fee increases. So that leads to limited access and child placement of day-care centres,
Day-care is very expensive. So expensive that it is sometimes the reason why women are forced to stay at home. There is not much point paying for day-care, when you do not earn enough to make it worthwhile. None of these factors are mentioned or acknowledged as potential problems.
~Problem 3: The implication that women who do not breast-feed, regardless of their possibly legitimate reasons, are terrible mothers. That was very uncomfortable to read. For example, her co-worker could easily have made the statement, “So what if you breast feed your kid longer than I did. That does not make you better mother.” Breast-feeding, especially in public, is very much a hot topic issue that women receive a lot of unfair judgement and pressure on. It would have been a much more legitimate source of conflict.
~Problem 4: The fact that she was away for 18 months and just slotted back in proves to me that this is not a career, it is a menial low-paying job, and there is a very big difference between those two.
The fact that she does not have a job title is confusing. It also gives off the impression that she is not a vital part of the company and while it is illegal to do so, many companies simply fire pregnant women to save the hassle of maternity leave. I am surprised she did not have to read any new materials, such as updated OH&S forms, being overwhelmed with all this new information she has to process to do her old job could have been a much more legitimate source of conflict.
~Problem 5: She has a menial and tedious job, and that is terrible and all, but she thinks the solution for that is to see if she can check the mortgage calculator and move the numbers about. First, numbers are not like words. Words can be changed and altered ever so slightly and gradually over time, until the words lack their original meaning completely. You cannot do this with numbers. The bottom line is the bottom line. However, other alternatives, such as working from home and starting up a home/online business, are never mentioned.
My Personal issues with “Static”:
~Problem 1: The main source of my anger is that this story would be a very different if it were not all from Anthony’s perspective, which means it is all about him. How his wife’s constant need for perfect affects him, how her fertility problems affects him, how his ‘controlling’ and ‘domineering’ (his own words) mother affects his relationship and his feelings. I could not help but thinking that he was a completely self-absorbed arse-hat who had idea of the sexist and misogynist pressures women face on a day-to-day basis.
~Problem 2: When Anthony curls up into the foetal position on the patio after realising a little too late he has married his mother and now’s the perfect time for a mid-life crisis, I could not help but think ‘you are only just realising how similar your mother and wife are? And you do realise that just because they have similarities, that doesn't make them the same person?’
~Problem 3: I know how Marie’s health and self-image obsession are supposed to be negative symbols of her control issues, however the fact remains that two-thirds of Australia’s population is over-weight or obese, so it kinds seems to me that Marie’s being given the designated role of villain when she’s just trying to do the right thing.
Overall, Like A House On Fire wasn't an interesting read and it’s just not my thing. I suppose it goes back to that old expression, 'it's not what you say, but how you say it.' while I am happy to read stories about families and I think infertility should be talked about, my main problem was not the topics that were addressed in these short stories, it was more the way the Author handled them. Fertility, whether it be too much or not enough, is a complex issue and most of the time it was just a shallow glance.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2025
so i had to read like a house on fire for school and I've got to say not bad. honestly for a school book this is one of the better books i have read. i enjoyed how it was full of short stories and i like how each story was based on the same theme and how they all had to overcome their problems. some stories were entertaining while some stories i did not enjoy but i was able to annotate it and i was impressed by some of the nice small plot twists that were thrown my way. overall, nice little book for school and i wouldn't mind having to read it again.
September 18, 2019
Amazing collection of short stories. I wanted all the stories to continue. Cate Kennedy has an amazing ability to capture real people in everyday situations, and skilfully write what they’re thinking and doing in the most gorgeous detail. I will be looking for anything else written by her.
June 20, 2022
I read this in my book club which has beginner readers along with advanced ones as well. I felt the author tried to complicate the first 3 or 4 stories with complex opening as well as vocabulary. Overall, I felt the stories were wonderful, as it was from everyday happenings in a family - no exaggeration or too fictious. I loved the way each story had an open ending leaving the reader to imagine. It is excellent if you understand it from author's perspective; if not, each story is just a story which is abruptly stopped.
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