Unquenchable Fire

Unquenchable Fire #1

by Rachel Pollack

In an America where the miraculous is par for the course, where magic and myths are as real as shopping malls and television game shows, Jennifer Mazdan listens to the modern storytellers recite the tales of the Founders. But when strange things start to happen and Jennie becomes pregnant - from a dream - she enters a struggle which threatens her own life and causes her to question everything she has ever learned.

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Religion, Queer

400 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 15, 1988

About the author

Rachel Grace Pollack was an American science fiction author, comic book writer, and expert on divinatory tarot. Pollack was a great influence on the women's spirituality movement.

Reviews

[Baba · Rating 1 out of 5]

SF Masterworks (2010 relaunch series) #39: Set in an alternative reality where alongside the industrial and technological revolutions there was also a magical revolution that has led to a technological (but not digitally) advanced world where magic, myths, portents etc are the norm. The story follows not-too-long separated Jennifer Mazden who has strangely and possible resonant dreams unlike anyone else; and when she has a real pregnancy, albeit of a source unknown she begins to doubt and challenge the society that has been built around the techno-magical world.

Personally not being a big fan of magical fantasy I was a bit annoyed at the lack of science fiction content in this SF Masterwork which more than likely coloured my reading and interpretation of it. Much more fantasy and/or speculative fiction than anything else, but with also lashes of surrealism and magical realism that felt to me, innovatively created and shared but at significant expense of the story and characterisations. This being one of those extremely rare books for me, where I often skim read whole pages! The core concept is pretty sound, as is the multi layered and well constructed techno-magical society, so despite being always on the edge of being a DNF, I can at least give it 2 out of 12, but it still is one of the lowest ratings I've ever given to an SF Masterworks.

[Charlie Anders]

I read this book as part of my preparation for the trans episode of Our Opinions Are Correct, the podcast that I've been doing with Annalee Newitz and it really blew my mind. Mostly because of the bizarre surreal outrageous world that Pollack creates, which has really stuck in my mind. This book takes place in Poughkeepsie, NY, near where Pollack was living at the time, and she really captures all the insecurity and backbiting that happen in places that are on the periphery of greatness (much like rural New England, where I grew up.) But overlaid on all the super grounded observations about petty local politics is a strange vision of an alternate world where some kind of spiritual revolution has happened, and now everyone worships storytellers, who tell "Pictures" that cause huge spiritual disruptions. These Tellers are kind of prophets and kind of part of the government, in a weird way. And Pollack perfectly captures the incredible transformative potential of these storytellers, whose tales are reproduced here and there in the book---but also shows how turning them into an institution has sapped all of their power and made them just as sterile as most other great institutions. There are so many beautiful turns of phrase and vivid moments in this book, I'm going to keep coming back to it again and again. The actual plot, about an ordinary woman who becomes mystically impregnated by a dream (a kind of immaculate conception) feels like the least interesting part of the whole story, but her pregnancy is mostly a catalyst that allows Pollack to explore the underpinnings of her strange world, and her discomfort and dismay at the idea that unseen forces are controlling her life feel all too realistic. All in all, it's a breathtaking work of incredible strangeness, that more than demonstrates the astounding power of storytelling that powers Pollack's imaginary world.

[Ruxandra Grrr · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew I'd love this from the beginning, because it's just so utterly weird and freaky and my brain loves that most of all. But it also really got to me emotionally at the end in a very powerful way. I didn't personally need this disclaimer, but I have a feeling a lot of people might: around 80% of this book is worldbuilding and the rest is plot (but a lot more story than that, y'know?), but it did something powerful to me that, even if this alternate world where miracles are real (which is a highly inadequate way to describe it) is familiar, it kept tilting my perspective while reading, keeping me on a moving line between this familiar and the strange. I loved being along for the ride.

I lost track of the symbolism a lot of times, but the feeling itself of reading was just such a fun ride, that I very soon stopped trying to make all the sense of it. Cause that's the point, isn't it? Trying to regiment and bureaucratize mysteries and feelings, and losing them in the process. I loved poor, depressed Jennie and felt for her deeply, especially since she didn't fit in and she craved to experience the raw mysteries at the heart of the world.

And then, of course, so much frrrreaky weirdness, gender fuckery, somewhat recognizable rituals and metaphors. I've been talking about the Founders Urinal for the past week with anyone who'd listen. I tried to explain this book to people, but I've been absolutely unable to, and isn't that just thematically relevant? Just like a miracle, it's something to be experienced, because if you hear about it, you might roll your eyes at it. I can't stop thinking about this moment when a spiritual cop (very queer / lesbian-coded) comes for a sort of investigation and is just so casually tender with her healer co-worker guy who is wearing a dress. It's not a big moment, but the image of it is burned in my head.

I'd say the big issue with this book is that it's very 'colorblind', in the sense that there's 0 talk of race, but one weird out-of-nowhere racist comment regarding Chinese food that I found baffling, somewhere around 60%, and just a few pages after it there was an ableist simile. Tough spot in the book, for sure. Other than that, the book doesn't really cover marginalization. It seems to be a queer-norm world, where women are casually mentioned to have girlfriends and at some point some men kiss. I don't know how focusing on issues of marginalization would have changed the book (it's definitely a commentary on the allegedly post-feminist, post-racist era, but not in very clear terms), but I can't wait to discuss this at book club.

Also, can't believe I managed to finish this the day before book club, it's been so long since that's happened. Super excited to read the next book and anything I can find by Pollack.

[Rachel (Kalanadi) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strange, but incredibly different from any fantasy I've read before.

Full video review: https://youtu.be/yucbK3i_25g

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was wild in the best way and an exciting breath of fresh air. There isn’t so much of a plot, but the world is conceived immaculately, with an incredible mix of modernity and mysticism, dystopia and mundanity, religion and tradition, all in a near future world that feels both familiar and utterly foreign.

It’s my favorite kind of world-building, gradual and piecemeal so that I only half understood what many things were at first (Tellers, Recitals, Founders, Sweepers, Raccoons), but in a way that had me completely intrigued instead of frustrated. The world is also rich in rituals and beliefs that often felt absurd or deliciously comical (I mean the Founder’s Fountain, iykyk), but in a way that had me assessing the absurdity of real-life rituals and beliefs.

This is definitely a book that rewards rereading and I look forward to doing it someday!

[DiscoSpacePanther · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well—I don’t know what the fuck that was all about. Unquenchable Fire is either so sophisticated and full of layered meaning that my feeble brain simply can’t comprehend it, or else it is a triumph of endlessly circular vacuousness that succeeds in coating its inherent meaningless only by adding enough layers of pseudo-metaphor to thoroughly obscure the fact that there is actually nothing at the bottom of it.

And most head-scratchingly of all, I have a sneaky suspicion that that was the point of it.

This is a truly difficult book to get into. Slippery as hell and full of distracting angles and obfuscatory internal monologues.

Have you ever had someone incessantly describe their dreams to you? This book starts off just like that kind of incomprehensible nonsense. Ok, I say incomprehensible, but more like unintelligible—a whole bunch of striking imagery strung together into a sort of intellectual mush. Which, again, might be kind of the point. This is the portrayal of a society where mythological and magical thinking is a fair model of how the world works—full of capricious spirits and obligatory rituals—and how bizarre and frustrating such a world would be.

If this book has done anything for me, it has granted me a new sympathy for people held in the grip of superstition—how frightening the world must be to someone who constantly feels the need to placate malevolent spirits, or is compelled to constantly seek the protection of guardian entities via prayer, ritual or ceremony.

The curious juxtaposition of shaman-like imagery interspersed with references to the trappings of modern society felt startlingly original to me, it’s just that I didn’t particularly enjoy it very much. Someone telling a myth-like story that references a wasteland full of stunted trees and half-built government offices is such an unusual combination that it forces the reader to suspend the critical analytical part of the brain, which again is probably the author’s purpose, as it demonstrates how these kind of religious-mystical stories rely on the collusion between teller and audience to have their power (if they have any power at all, that is).

Ultimately, I found this to be an interesting exercise, but not something I can see myself seeking out again in future.

Except for “The Meaning of a Story:A moment in the life of Valerie Mazdan”—that bit was fucking fantastic, and might actually be the entire point of the book. Oooh! Perhaps it actually was… the meaning of this story! Meta!

[Bogi Takács]

My review is now live on Tor.com!

https://www.tor.com/2018/07/11/quiltb...

Source of the book: Used copy bought with my own money

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pollack is a master myth-maker. In this alternate reality Poughkeepsie, we see what happens when traditions lose their connection to their mystical roots—roots that Pollack has planted firmly in reality through the recent history of very real miraculous events. Delightfully weird, deeply spiritual, and utterly human.

[hawk · Rating 4 out of 5]

this novel looked and sounded intriguing, and I'm glad a found a copy and read.

it feels abit of its time (or maybe even a little old for something written in the 80s (1988)) wrt some of the social expectations and sexism, and other cultural markers. and the writing is at times abit clunky feeling, abit plain... and doesn't stand out in itself particularly.

but the story had me increasingly wanting to read on as I got into it, so definitely had something going for it. it's not necessarily a remarkable story, and creates a sense of a post apocalyptic future/time that in many ways mirrors/parallels some aspects of current/then time in the USA. so the futuristic aspect is just a vehicle to present a slight change in the social structure/world order. a slightly crude means to an end, and like I said, abit clunky.

BUT... it feels very tongue in cheek alot of the time (tho the humour reference points do betray its slightly limited perspective - white middle America). it also sets out to explore faith, ritual, routine... effectively replacing a mostly secular society with a dominant one based on a spirituality... that has become as equally commodified as the current mostly secular societies in eg USA, UK, mainland North Western Europe...

I found myself curious to see where it's going... interested in its exploration of will, freedom, choice, external control... the possibility of their rituals regaining deeply felt spiritual meaning... what it can be like to be a person of faith within a largely secular/agnostic environment...

the novel contains alot of inner thoughts, dream sequences... and many of these take the form of tangents in/of mythology, oral and spiritual history...
these were interesting in themselves. I didn't recognise them all, but that wasn't a barrier to understanding them, more a piquing of curiosity to understand more. so the sequences and stories draw you in to look for their meaning (much like a tarot card can draw you in until you're surrounded by its different layers of meaning - the author has written alot on the tarot, and is probably better known for this).

I found the main character abit annoying, tho in a way that felt increasingly affectionate, and I think serves a purpose. in many ways I think she's a vehicle for the exploration of ideas. I suspect another reason for some of the kinda annoying/less appealing traits/behaviours as well is that it's setting up an image to potentially be shattered when she reaches her full spiritual potential and place in the world in which she lives... and/or simply to present how ordinary, unassuming, and imperfect people can have profound roles and impacts.

I read the 2012 reprint that is part of the Gollancz SF masterworks series (with an interesting, short introduction by Lisa Tuttle, that situates the novel within genre and time), and I'm glad it was reprinted and made more available/brought to the awareness of readers who might have missed it earlier.
I'm aware the novel gets really mixed ratings and reviews here on GR, but I found it interesting, compelling, easy to read... and I think if you can put all that's not great/has aged about it aside, and enjoy it for what it is, it's both a good and important work within speculative fiction, women's and feminist writing, and writing exploring spirituality and mythologies.

[Uvrón · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. It’s easy to critique religion by writing an autocratic dystopia, then pretending that the problem is that the police wear religious symbols. It’s also easy to write against religion by recreating so many obviously harmful current religious practices, like the forbidding of abortion. Rachel Pollack avoids these easy targets and focuses instead on what it’s like to live in a society where religious rituals are primarily experienced as norms. (I would say most people experience religion this way, the cultural practices and social pressure affecting their lives more than theology.)

The main character Jennifer Mazdan doesn’t have anything against rituals for supernatural beings, is in fact thrilled by them; what grates on her is how these have become part of “a nice normal symbolic life in the suburbs”. If this is what we’re basing society on, our entire system of values on, she believes we should take them seriously. Instead, everyone around her from her neighbors to the high priests are motivated mainly by propriety: we do the rituals because we do the rituals, and we wouldn’t want to expose ourselves to comment on the platform. Actual supernatural and spiritual occurrences must fit perfectly into societal expectation, or else they frighten and discomfort all of these good normal religous people. (This does not mean religion is sanitized; these good suburbanites are happy to witness someone hang herself from hooks as long as she plays the role correctly.)

This premise alone could easily fall into a variation on a different trope—“I’m not religious, I’m spiritual” or “I’m not anti-religion, I’m anti-church”—but Jennifer is also not willing to be a pawn of the supernatural. She may be a true believer, passionate about the objects of worship, but she refuses to abandon her desires and her moral convictions on command, or to be grateful for “blessings” she did not want. The supernatural perspective is represented mostly in strange parables throughout the text, skilfully imitating the approach of familiar holy texts by combining semi-interpretable symbolism, awful violence, and setting and worldview radically different from that of its current worshippers. Jennie earnestly wants to understand it, is depressed and angry by its effect on her life, and argues on behalf of her own mortal perspective which seems fundamentally incompatible with the immortal one. Regardless of how much you agree with Jennie, the book gives you a lot of space to explore these thoughts.

Lots more to talk about, I’m looking forward to the book club discussion.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was definitely time for some escapist, fantastical fiction, so that’s what I’m reading for the next few books. I can’t remember how I came across ‘Unquenchable Fire’, but given the blurb and the fact it’s in the SF Masterworks a hard sell definitely wasn’t required. I found it to be a unique, fascinating gem with truly fantastic world-building. The setting is an alternate America which had a very different revolution, wholeheartedly embracing magic and mysticism. It reminded me of South American magical realism, yet transformed and transposed to a suburban 20th century American setting. I enjoy juxtapositions of the mythological and mundane, so the tone and setting immediately enchanted me. As well as interjecting whole myths, the narrative explains the world with lines like, ‘What else do you do when you get a strange dream, but check it in the catalogue?’ and, ‘The people who lived in Hope in those days after the Revolution would sometimes, on windy days, find themselves coated in other people’s emotions, causing them to run up and down the street acting out long-gone crises’.

‘Unquenchable Fire’ is not a plot-driven novel and events proceed without any great speed. The point of view character is Jennie Mazdan, who is understandably unhappy to find that she has been impregnated without consent by a holy spirit. The narrative follows her struggles with the disruption to her life by mystical forces, especially the implications for her relationships with family, neighbours, and her ex-husband. This meandering and meditative approach provides plenty of space for the reader to consider the socio-cultural roles of religion in the real and fictional worlds. One strong parallel between the two is the constraint of community conventions, be they blood sacrifices or regular churchgoing. Jennie’s experiences also raise questions about fate and free will, as well as the rationalisations and explanations for human suffering. Jennie herself is a convincingly prickly and complex character, who it’s easy to sympathise with while also understanding why others find her difficult. She is not the main character in her own story, though. The setting is undoubtedly the star here, and Pollack creates an densely imagined and very atmospheric alternative history unlike anything I’ve come across before. The slow pace knocked off the fifth star, but the world-building is exemplary and conveys its strangeness with absolute conviction.

[Steve Cooper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book felt odd and a bit awkward for the first 50 pages, but once it got going the writing became assured and the story, while still odd, was engrossing. It became a screed against inauthenticity, an incitement to rebellion against empty symbolic forms of forgotten truth. The book shows how revolution or revelatory experience initially changes society, but over time, the accretion of layers of ceremony and fear of betraying the new order transform the thought system based on the original inspiration into an inhibitor to any future change. Pollack is very deft at describing the ripples in the concrete world that spiritual realizations leave over time. And like several other women scifi writers, her main character ultimately overcomes through a dogged, very specific insistence on personal agency over dogma and ideology. Rewarding and satisfying.

[Daniel Gimmler]

I tend to have a bad time with magic surrealism, I often can’t focus enough to follow the plot. I’ll admit I got lost a few times here, but I really found myself excited to come back to the story every time I had to put it down.

The world-building was great, and the mythology was not only well developed, it really pulled me into the universe and made me feel the world the characters live in. The fact that all of the godly events described would have taken place in our time (or in the near future) gave an extra layer of depth to me.

It was this actually that pulled me into the religious aspect of the story. I can second a lot of the points made in other reviews that this book takes a rare nuanced exploration of religion. It’s neither overly christian-coded (like Narnia), nor distopian (like is most common in SF). It takes a look at all facets, from the mundane and bureaucratic (often humerus) ways it’s experienced by most people (even when it’s especially gaudy or violent) as the status quo, to the meaningful way the protagonist finds real meaning in it as well as real disillusionment.

The motif of agency was also really significant to me, and I found the hopelessness Jennie experienced fighting for it really hard to read at times, especially in the ways clearly nobody, including at times Jennie herself, really understood her struggle or seemed to care about her enough to try. Most had their own ideas of what was right for her, from her mother, Karen, her doctor.. and quickly became less sympathetic or even hostile to her when she wanted to go her own way.

I’m still processing a lot of it, to be honest, especially the kind of violence against and control of women that seems to be prevalent in this universe. But I can put this novel at the top of my reads this year in terms of how much I thought of it.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

What an usual, imaginative, at times challenging, and often entertaining book this was.

It is definitely not the sort of book that immediately grabs you and you might need to persevere beyond the first fifty pages or so before you start to get into the flow of it but I would say that it is worth the effort.

We are thrown into a not too distant future after a spiritual world wide revolution has taken over and replaced the the secular governments. But not this is no theocracy like you've ever imagined one to be like, and the author certainly doesn't portray it in a dystopian way. Indeed, people are just about as free and easy as they are in our modern societies but yet spirituality is at the heart of every day life and divine occurrences/miracles are common place. But a few generations later, all is not quite well with the revolution that seems to have lost some of its zest. But life is about to change for our protagonist who is going to reluctantly become the vessel of the revolution's renewal...

It's a hard book to explain and at times hard to follow. The narrative is interspersed with fragments of surreal, biblical style stories and parables whose significance and symbolism was not always clear to me. Sometimes it felt like being forced to listen to your friend who insists on telling you, in detail, their nonsensical dreams.

But if you're looking for something different in your SF with strong spiritual themes, you could do worse than give this one a go.

[Christy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't get more than 50 pages into this. The levels of ridiculousness and vague spirituality were too much for me.

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

review of
Rachel Pollack's Unquenchable Fire
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - March 5-9, 2019

To read the full review go here: https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/...

Unquenchable Fire (copyright 1988, published 1992) takes place in the same environment as Pollack's Temporary Agency (copyright 1994, published 1995) but it's a considerably 'heavier' plot than that of Temporary Agency so I was a bit taken aback. It doesn't surprise me that this is the earlier of the 2 bks b/c it goes to substantial lengths to establish the social environment in wch the story takes place. As I wrote in my review of Temporary Agency:

"The world of Pollack's novel is a New Agey one in wch magik is the norm. Here's a taste of that:

""As a government agency, the SDA displays portraits of the president in all their offices. You know the kind — an official government photo of our nation's leader smiling blankly in his official bird costume and sacred headdress, with painted-in guardian spirits hovering in the background, like Secret Service agents." - p 70

""And I remember the incredible excitement when the president ordered the Spiritual Development Agency to drive out the Ferocious Ones." - p 5

"The SDA being a rough parallel to the FBI."

The same goes in Unquenchable Fire except that all the problems of ordinary conformist society that we're stuck w/ now are still the same in this new spiritual society. &, for me, that's one of the most remarkable things about this novel. It seems to me that the author probably has an appreciation for things spiritual &/or occult but can still have the detachment to realize that people will be narrow-minded, cowardly, unimaginative, & oppressive in ANY society, including one in wch wonders never seem to cease. In fact, the wondrous, in this case in the form of the protagonist Jennifer Mazden, will be just as suspect as it wd be in any other society in wch people cower behind their conformity to expectations of things staying stupid.

"And then there was Alice Windfall, 'poor Alice' as people called her. Alice had shown great promise in her early years, 'flying on wings of story' as the saying goes, so that all who heard her on the day she came back from college found themselves drifting into the air, like so many bright-coloured balloons, to look down upon their bodies sitting on the hillsides with the stooped shoulders and pained expressions of their daily lives. But Alice never repeated that glorious moment. Maybe it was because of the scandal when Martin Magundo, the Town Comptroller, got his soul tangled up in the blades of a helicopter hired by German tourists to look down on the recital. Though an official inquiry cleared Alice completely, and Martin Magundo's family lost their lawsuit against Alice and the New York College Of Tellers, poor Alice never did fulfil the early promise of her career." - pp 1-2

The main story takes place in Poughkeepsie, NY, a mere 17.7 mile drive from where the author lives in Rhinebeck, NY. Perhaps Poughkeepsie is the nearest 'big city' (well.. bigger than Rhinebeck). Pollack provides some Poughkeepsie mythology:

"As the teller passed each banner a voice sounded from a speaker set on the ground beneath it. Explaining the Pictures, the voices told how Poughkeepsie's original inhabitants — twelve foot giants whose skin changed colour according to the season — had carved the city out of huge cedar trees uprooted in a storm from Mexico and dropped beside the Hudson River. The city prospered until a thrity year drought, during which the people shrank to two foot seven" - p 6

I'd trust that except that she uses the British spelling, "colour", giving herself away.

This bk was copyrighted in 1988. It has a double strangeness to it created by references to things that've assumed important political importance since the time of writing:

"I've gone deaf Lightstorm thought, I've gone deaf. But he knew the emptiness was not in his drums or neurons. It lay in the street, in the cars and the people. They looked frail, almost transparent. Even the huge building so beloved of tourists, you could put a hand, a finger, right through them. His sight slid up the graish front of Trump Tower." - p 10

In 1988 who wd've predicted that the Rump of Trump Tower wd be president 30 yrs later?! That wd be as preposterous as looking at a Claes Olderburg sculpture of Mickey Mouse & imagining Mickey as president.

"Three days later Allan Lightstorm stepped onto the rooftop of the World Trade Center. A few hundred feet away the tower's twin sister hosted a network of radar, television antennae, weather monitors, and government tracking devices." - p 13

& who wd've predicted that a mere 13 yrs later these towers wd've been successfully attacked by one of the most audacious acts of guerrilla warfare of all history? Don't misunderstand, I have no admiration for this cruel murderous viciousness, it was utterly despicable, like most acts of war, but I'd never call it "cowardly" as then-president Bush did.

Pollack's fictional magical USA is as capitalist as ever:

"The candles and the caps were not a local custom. Sold all over the country in spiritual aid stores they were a regular feature of the Day of Truth, said to bring blessings for the coming year. Most of the people in Jennie Mazden's hive had bought theirs at the special display counter Sears had set up in the South Hills mall. As an extra benefit, the caps sold locally all displayed portraits of Allan Lighstorm, with his signature in glittery letters." - p 19

Our hero Jennie's troubles really start when her car becomes more personable than usual:

"'Personification,' she muttered. Some power or another had enetered her car's computer. Her goddamn car. To celebrate the Day of Truth.

"'Excuse me?' the car said.

"God, Jennie thought, I don't need this. Pick on someone else. She remembered her college course in spiritual anthropology, 'spanthro' as everybody called it. Personification, the textbooks claimed, indicated an ongoing or immanent crisis. Jennie though, I've already gone through a crisis. My husband annulled our marriage. Isn't that enough?

"The car said, 'I'm pleased to report high levels of harmony between Earth and Sky. Fine indications for long trips or expeditions.'" - pp 32-33

Myth runs thru this bk at a breakneck speed.

"With a sweep of her arm First Teller spun out the sky. A stamp of his foot created the Earth. His right eye sprang from his face to become the Sun. Her left eye became the Moon. His thousand teeth became mountains, her million hairs the trees. Milk from her breasts formed the seas, saliva from his mouth the rivers and lakes. First Teller shouted. The skin opened and the bones lifted into the sky. They became the stars and planets. They copied the Sun and the Moon, they were small but they became large when they escaped the Earth.

"Finally the Teller gave his penis to the dog, her vulva to the cat. The cat set the female organ like a gate. The dog pried open the door. He opned it and creatures came through. They crawled or flew or swam. At the end a woman and a man fell through the gate. Someone had pushed them and they fell through the gate. The gate close behind them." - pp 52-53

I'll bet you wish your bank were like that but mine is &, I'll tell you, making a simple withdrawal is a nightmare — even if you try the 2nd teller. It's kindof like getting hives at a meeting.

"'You can't leave like this.'

"'I'm only going home, Gloria.'

"'You're a Raccoon.'

"'Do you want me to wear my hat to bed? As a penance?'

"'The hive loves you.' Jennie pushed her aside and stepped out the door. As she walked along the flagstone path to the driveway she heard Gloria calling after her, 'We're not just a bunch of houses. We're an organism. We love you, Jennifer.'

"And then Al's voice booming over her. 'You're not going to shit on us and get away with it. We'll strip you from the hive. You bitch.'" - p 67

It's probably best to get the fuck outta Dodge at that 1st warning signal when they call you a raccoon.

Of course, there's a special office for storing & analyzing dreams. Our hero goes there only to learn that her dream is 'impossible'.

"'When did you dream this wonderful dream?'

"'Recital Day,' Jennie said, and wished she'd lied.

"'Yeah? Maybe you'll tell me next it was a special present from Allan Lightstorm. Look,' she said, and Jennie stepped back slightly. 'This is a holy office. Do you understand? Next time you want to play some trick, you go and take it down to the Tellers' residence. They're used to bullshit around there.'" - p 86

Possibly the greatest beauty of this bk is the way that a society centered around holy events scapegoats the only truly holy event. Imagine a society that hypothetically respects individuality & free-thinking that actually suppresses both. Oh, wait a minute, isn't that THIS society?

Jennie has a mom. Oh, well, happens to the best of us.

"'How are you, Mom?' she said.

"'Wonderful. I'm working on a new piece. It explores the sound possibilities in traditional women's work. It's called "Improvisation for Alto Saxophone, Clothespegs, and Amplified Washing Machine." How are you?'" - p 92

My own "Drying Clothes Made Entirely From Zippers" (1989) is far more important: https://archive.org/details/cd_the-ca... .

More or less everyone connected to Jennie proves to have a negative effect — not necessarily b/c of malignance but simply b/c of weakness & incomprehension. The realism of the novel in its generally surreal context lies in this.

"Karen came to the door almost immediately. 'Oh,' she said when she saw Jennie, 'Hi.'

"'Are you expecting someone?'

"'No, not at all. Come in.' Wheh Jennie had stepped into the little alcove that led to the living room Karen laughed and said, 'Well, to tell you the truth, I wasn't expecting anyone, but I sure was hoping it might be this guy that I know.'

"'Oh, I'm sorry,' Jennie said. 'Should I go?'

"'No, of course not. If I didn't see anyone until Jack came I could apply for hermit status from the government. Come on, sit down. Want some coffee?'" - pp 113-114

Jennie is pregnant, w/o the known participation of a man. She doesn't know how to talk about this since the pregnancy seems to be the result of divine intervention &, of course, no one will believe her or be sympathetic. She allows Karen to believe that she's been raped by a mere human & is convinced to get an abortion. Alas, supernatural forces intervene.

"Jennie got to her feet and the camera swung back to her. She looked at the woman with the microphone. 'Walk ahead of me,' she ordered, and gestured at the open space next to the willow tree.

"The newswoman stared into the camera. 'I've just been asked to precede the anonymous visitor into the Centre of the Unquenchable Fire. Will more trees spring up? I don't know.' Gingerly she took a step, then another. The camerawoman hovered behind her. The woman said, 'I seem to have passed the barrier.'

"Jennie stepped after her. A large bush stood between her and the reporter. Small red berries gleamed among its shiny leaves. Behind Jennie the camerawoman whispered, 'Beautiful. Come on, lady, do another one.' The reporter stood on tiptoe to make sure her face and shoulders would appear above the bush. 'There you see it,' she said. 'The Great Mother herself in a militant action against one woman's abortion.'" - p 123

Some people have training bras, others have training pictures. The character "Valerie Mazdan" hasn't been introduced yet but the following gives us a hint of Things to Come:

"THE THREE SISTERS: A training Picture, told, with some unauthorized revisions, by Valerie Mazdan shortly before her expulsion from the New York College of Tellers:" - p 124

"Lily didn't answer, but instead stepped upon the sea, heading for the island where she and her sisters had grown up together. When she reached it she found all the trees gone, the rock hot under her feet and the sand beach fused into glass. A sniff of the irradiated air told her that some government or other had used the place as a test site. As she climbed the hill to the house she passed a delegation of army officers under a red and white flag with a Lunar crescent, supposed symbol of the vanished Asti. In a show of ostentatious humility the generals were crawling on their bellies; Lily had to step over them to get to the door." - p 132

The story jumps around in time, as stories often do, it doesn't just go from A to B & then collapse.

"Jennifer Mazdan dropped out of college in her junior year, after failing an exam in her major, True History. The exam paper had asked her to delineate 'the redemptive significance' of Jaleen Heart of the World's exorcism of the Pentagon. Alternatively, Jennie could have identified 'structural similarities and functional differences' between the creation of New Chicago after the northern war, and the Revolution's official starting point, the Parade of the Animals in Anaheim, California, when children in animal masks (mostly ducks and mice) ran through the streets burning the offices of the secular government." - p 153

After describing the pulsing veins in Mike's erection for 74 pages we reach this:

"At the clinic Mike surprised, and in a way, disappointed Jennie by taking full and solemn part in the ceremony of fitting her diaphragm. Afterwards, sitting in the park, she accused him of putting on a show for the tattooed nurses.

"'Sometimes you've got to put on a show,' he said.

"'What? You're not admitting — '

"He laughed. 'I don't mean because they were women.'

"'And naked. No, of course not.'

"'Naked? They were covered with pictures. They looked like subway trains. "Flowing muscles of truth." Isn't that the phrase?'" - p 163

Ok, you probably realized that I was just jokingly setting you up w/ the 74 pages sentence that precedes the above quote.

"It worried Jennie that she didn't get more excited as they travelled" - p 175

I've already pointed out Pollack's spelling of colour w/ the British "u". According to Grammarist.com:

"In American English, the inflected forms of travel take one l—so, traveled, traveling, traveler, etc. In varieties of English from outside the U.S., these forms take two l’s—travelled, travelling, traveller, etc.

"According to the ngram below, American English adopted the one-l forms in the early 20th century. Many other verbs ending in -el went through a similar transition around this time. Others, such as cancel, did not change until several decades later." - https://grammarist.com/spelling/travel/

Now Rachel Pollack is an American SF writer born August 17, 1945. Hypothetically, she wd'n't use British spelling. But I wonder if she & I partook of a similar education. I distinctly remember being taught that when a word ended in a consonant & a suffix was being added on then the consonant doubled. That wd've been in the 1960s.

NOW, according to "Proofed":

"The “doubling up” rule states that, when adding a vowel suffix (e.g., “-ing” or “-ed”) to a single syllable word that ends with one vowel followed by one consonant, we should double the final consonant." - https://getproofed.com/writing-tips/s...

Note that the 'rule' specifies single syllable words. I don't remember that distinction being specified when I was a student but I may've just missed that. My point here is partially that these 'rules' are made by people that the users of the language are expected to accept as unimpeachable 'experts' w/o even knowing who they are. As far as I'm concerned, there's no good reason whatsoever for the "doubling up" rule to be limited to single syllable words. What's significant is not what proceeds the ending here but the nature of the ending & the addition to it.

Jennie is pregnant thru an apparent immaculate conception &..

"Auto accidents in the mid-Hudson valley declined in the first two weeks of September by seventy-five per cent. The state police could give no explanation for this surge of safe driving. The Dutchess County sheriff's office, however, described it as a sign of heavenly sanction brought on by Sheriff Lauren's programme of compulsory prayer and once-a-week fasting for all deputies." - pp 215-216

Whenever I read associations of character w/ colors I imagine the associations tp be derived from Rudolph Steiner but, of course, that's not necessarily the case.

"No, she thought, do it now. She stripped off her wet clothes and marched with them to the bathroom where she dumped them on the floor. In the bedroom she dressed in an old jogging suit, red, for action, and tied her short hair in a cotton scarf, yellow, for mechanical thoroughness. She went from room to room opening windows, ending in the kitchen where she fished out a filthy green duster (green for new life) and then marched with it back to the living room." - p 225

In Changing Minds' online "The Meaning of Colors" we get:

red = warmth, love, anger, danger, boldness, excitement, speed, strength, energy, determination, desire, passion, courage, socialism

yellow = attention-grabbing, comfort, liveliness, cowardice, hunger, optimism, overwhelm, Summer, comfort, liveliness, intellect, happiness, energy, conflict

& green = durability, reliability, environmental, luxurious, optimism, well-being, nature, calm, relaxation, Spring, safety, honesty, optimism, harmony, freshness

( http://changingminds.org/disciplines/... )

Those associations aren't particularly surprising but they don't completely jive w/ those in this novel. Red as a "socialist" color is obvious enuf, & green for "Spring" is also obvious. But what's obvious about yellow for "mechanical thoroughness"? & does this make the color associations of Mazden's culture arbitrary? I wd detest living in the world of this novel — even more than the world that I'm reading the novel in. People believe in arbitrary things & act as if they're facts set in stone. Their minds are too uncritical, too restricted by patterns imposed.

"She wondered if the Agency wanted to turn her into a secularist. The thought made her shudder." - p 226

"The duster dropped from her hand. What was it like being a sec? What was it like in the Old World? How could people ignore the forces that make everything happen? 'God makes the world go round.' That wasn't just a song. It was true. It was just common sense. She quoted, out loud, Adrienne Birth-of-Beauty's 7th Proposition. 'Gravity is a story told by the Sun.' How did they think their lawns grew? By accident? How did they think the atoms in a molecule held together? By written contract?" - pp 226-227

To read the full review go here: https://www.goodreads.com/story/show/...

[Sadie Slater · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel Pollack's Unquenchable Fire is the story of Jennie Mazdan, a divorced woman in her late 20s who lives in Poughkeepsie, New York, and what happens when she unexpectedly finds herself pregnant, incurring the disapproval of the conservative, middle-class community she lives in.

Except it sort of isn't, because it's also a fantasy novel, set in an America 87 years after a religious revolution, when the whole country (maybe the whole world) has become converted to a kind of neopagan spirituality; people make blood offerings, follow a calendar of ritual, believe in the guardian spirits who watch over their homes and businesses, and gather together to hear "Tellers" retelling the stories and parables first told by the Founders. It's a world where miracles and wonders are everyday occurences, where dreams are prophetic and lives are regularly influenced by malignant or benign supernatural beings, but where people also watch TV and eat pizza and live ordinary lives. Although the story of Jennie's pregnancy and her relationships with her ex-husband, her neighbours, her colleagues and her mother are, on one level, absolutely normal and mundane, on the other they're about as far from mundane as you can get; she becomes pregnant via a dream, despite being legally a virgin due to the form the annulment of her marriage took, and it becomes clear very early on that the cild she is carrying is destined to be a prophet and leader, born to restore the magic which has dwindled in the time since the revolution, with too many people seeing their religion as a comforting form rather than real magic.

This is a stunning and unique book. I remember reading a review of it (probably in the Guardian when it was first published in 1989, and thinking it sounded like something I would like to read, but I lived in a small town and didn't have access to either a bookshop or a library with a good SF section, and I forgot about it until a few months ago when I found a copy in a charity shop. I suspect I got more out of it now than I would have done at 14, and I'm really glad to have had the chance to read it at last.

[Damian · Rating 5 out of 5]

A decidedly odd book. I read the SF Masterworks version but not entirely sure if this should actually be classed as science fiction or instead as fantasy. In many ways I'm not really sure what this book should be classed as at all.

To repeat, it is decidely odd; not necessarily a book that everyone will take to, and I suspect some will put down within the first 30 pages but certainly worth perseverence; a fact born out by that 5 star rating up there. I don't really want to say much about it for fear of giving anything away, but at heart it's a story of the mundane with magical(supernatural?) elements. Some of the characters in the book are 'Tellers', ostensibly story tellers, and part of the charm of the book is the fact that interspersed with the main body of the novel are tales. Myth tales; tales of creation and the bizarre. In some ways it reminded me of the stories of El-Ahrairah in Watership Down; except whilst tales in that book are mainly straight forward, the stories in Unquenchable Fire are strange, hard to penetrate. Are they allegorical? Do they have any bearing on the main story? I can't always say or tell, but I know I enjoyed them and that they are written beautifully. As is the entire book.

I find the more I think of the novel the more I'm not sure what to think of it; but I know it's beautifully written, had me gripped from beginning to end; and felt different to a lot of books I've read, certainly since I've started taking part in GoodReads. Finally I'm still thinking about the book hours after I've finished it, and if that's not worth 5 stars I'm not sure what is.

I'd not wholeheartedly recommend it because I know it's not going to be a book for everyone, but it's certainly worth a try because if you find that you do enjoy it you'll be thankful you picked it up.

[Stephanie Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. I'm just not sure what the hell happened.

[Dawn Lawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. I liked Temporary Agency, the sequel to this one. I did enjoy a lot of the writing.

The premise is religion gone mad, bogged down with bureaucracy, hypocrisy, and downright strangeness. Loved this: This time she’d make sure to pray the night before. (mowing the lawn) Last week she’d forgotten entirely and half the lawn had withered while the other half got choked with weeds so that she’d had to give it a blood offering,

Pollack, Rachel. Unquenchable Fire (p. 31). Orion Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

A little after halfway through, though, the story just seemed to run out of steam. The ending was weak. Kind of an and they all lived happily after thing.

I was hoping that something would happen that would shake everything up. It kind of did, but not really. Something happens, but nothing really happens. Maybe I missed it.

[Hanneleele · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the craziest books I´ve read lately.

The book takes place in a different kind on America where after the Old World (which I take to be is ours or much like it) new powers have come out, some get abilities, fantastical creatures roam the earth and everything is crazy and full of magic... Except that people have managed to make it mundane, everything is magical but at the same time regulated and orderly - if you need a prophecy or exorcism there are agencies you can go to, if you need a blessing you can buy a kit in the gas station. If you want a bigger salary there is some ceremony you can do. But unlike in so many novels this religion isn't evil nor good, it just is.

And then there is Jennifer, who lives a nice life in a suburb except her husband leaves her and she gets pregnant from a dream. And she starts fighting against this power that is controlling her life, giving her a fate and a task to carry out. She doesn't like being chosen by someone without asking for her consent, even if the child is obviously meant for something big and doesn't try to hide it. And that is, I think, the main story of the book: trying to show the mind of the one forced to be in the center of everything.

It is made clear that Jennifer used to wish for the old times, when magic was madness and great things happened to unsuspecting people and everything was even more crazy. That things happen to her that don't happen to others, who are content with their everyday little lives. That she loves it. And that is how she and her husband are portrayed as opposites with the husband thinking like most people who wish for safe lives where you know what tomorrow will bring and her wishing for greatness and the unknown. And yet when this happens to her - something along the lines of what she was wishing for and fighting for previously - she starts fighting for her old life with a praiseworthy stubbornness. And although sometimes I found it a bit hard to buy, I also think I understand. She might have been wishing for true greatness in the world but no-one wishes to have to suddenly do something like carry a savior. With no warning, no permission. To have this thrown at you and have no way back (she tries - when she goes to the abortion clinic trees spring at her feet and she can't enter). She may have wanted magic and to see and be part of it but not for it to use her body. And so she clings to the most straightforward thing- getting her husband back. And starts suspecting everything, because if there is some power which can make you pregnant and raise trees at your feet and make people forget you it can do anything and maybe, just maybe it did. And could you live with it?

Oh and there are other stories entwined in her story because (and I really like that) this religion of theirs (although not quite a religion, because it needs no faith - its powers actually walk around, can be seen, heard and touched and are not very questionable) revolves around telling and listening to stories. Among other things.

And it is crazy :)

[Kate Cross · Rating 4 out of 5]

as baffling as everyone here says it is and yet…i loved it lol. the summary on the back did not prepare me for what this would actually be about whatsoever, so the moment that actually becomes clear about a third of the way through was one of the most thrilling experiences i’ve ever had with a book. sadly reworkings of myths aren’t something i usually get much out of, but the way she invents her own entirely new mythology that’s drawing from a ton of different influences while simultaneously subverting it without you even realizing that that’s what she’s doing blew me away. so much of what i found thrilling about this is the protagonist’s steadfast refusal to go along with what the world wants for her for so much of the book, and so it inevitably runs into a bit of a narrative problem for me towards the end when she’s forced to confront it, but i still found the conclusion pretty moving. it helps that the last third also has what are probably two of my new favorite scenes in any novel i’ve ever read in quick succession, the first being jennie’s discussion with the street vendor about suffering and ecstasy, which is such a beautiful moment of profound clarity in a very disorienting book that is nonetheless still as funny and in keeping with the tone throughout. the second is the brief moment shortly after when she goes up to the roof, a presentation of the afterlife that i find very powerful in its simplicity. this is such a dense and unwieldy book that i feel like i’ll have to read it a few more times before i completely “Get” it but i loved reading it and am begging someone to put it back in print - it’s so relevant to The Current Moment in so many different ways. RIP Rachel Pollack

[Nicholas Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2732394.html

I thought this was great. It's set in a near-future world where spiritual forces have taken over, for good and ill, and Jenny from Poughkeepsie becomes pregnant from a dream. It is somewhere between Philip K. Dick and Ted Chiang, though closer to Dick, with a distinct slant of feminist spirituality. There is a lot of vivid language and exploration of the underlying myths (which may be real) of Jenny's world. It's not at all the sort of thing one associates with Arthur C. Clarke's writing (on which more soon) but it is definitely in line with his intellectual interests in later years, and I can see how the judges might have decided to give it the nod.

[S Klotz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surreal.

I kept thinking of "Hell Is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang. Handling spirituality as alternate history / science fiction isn't tackled all that often, but both this novel and that Chiang story are great examples. The constant casual mention of things both familiar and alien provides an unsettling setting that is used to great effect.

I love the nested stories, particularly because story telling is so integral to the workings of the world of the novel. How the stories relate to the main narrative is revealed slowly and the climax of the novel is unexpected, inevitable and powerful. The last few pages could very well drive the reader to start a 2nd reading.

[Alix. · Rating 1 out of 5]

I tried so hard to make this book work, but I stopped after like 45 pages. I usually try to give sci-fi a good third of the book before quitting, but this on is just too confusing. She takes so many basic concepts so far from their original meanings that it's hard to get anywhere. I definitely love pushing boundaries, but some sacrifices have to made for the sake of comprehension.

[Alex Fayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite books! This one gets a regular reread. Could possibly be my all-time fave... It would be super hard to part with, that's for sure.

[slowtime · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Philip K Dick comparison is warranted, I guess, but I think it's more like if Lydia Millet were writing novels from Night Vale. Beautiful, profound, and deeply weird.

[Tobias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very much in the "I have never read anything like this before and I am awed" category w/r/t this novel.

[C.S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like with science fiction, one of constant challenges that you have to face as an author is the backstory. Here we have the reader in the real world, and here we have this strange, alternate reality that you've plunged them into. Is it the future? Is it some far-away galaxy? Somewhere over the rainbow? What? The mind gets hungry for details after a while, which is why, I think, so much classic science fiction is in short story form: if you focus only on a single situation or series of situations, you don't have time to ask all the nagging questions that might come up over the course of reading a novel.

The backstory problem is especially problematic in a book like this, that is weaved almost solely from whole cloth. Here is a world so different from our own as to be completely unrecognizable, and consequently very disorienting. Pollack is a gifted enough writer that this is obviously by intent, but it nevertheless makes for a somewhat surreal reading experience, and not always in a good way.

It should be noted that the only reason I'm referring to this as a science fiction novel is because it won the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best SF Book of the Year. But this seems odd, since the science plays virtually no role in the story itself. Quite the opposite; this is a world where, at some point in the distant past, people turned their backs completely on science, reason, and secularism, opting instead for a world of run-away spiritualism and supersition. Even the simplest every-day acts require some sign of obescience to this or that deity or household spirit. Were I to classify it on my own, I would place it squarely in the realm of fantasy.

The plot, which is almost entirely character-driven, is an interesting statement on the need for self-determination, and the havok that losing control can wreak on an individual. I personally also see it as a critique of superstition and religion (though not a recognizable one) gone mad, the ultimate extreme of reason rejected in favor of belief. It's still a human society, still plagued by the same problems as ours, but without anything to hold it together beside faith and the occasional supernatural event, it seems destined for stagnation.

Definitely a flawed book, and not always the most welcoming one, but worthwhile for anyone who considers themselves a fan of the SF/Fantasy genre. I would also recommend it to any aspiring writers, since it stands as an excellent example of genuinely intriguing idea-based storytelling, to say nothing of quality writing holding together a seemingly unworkable concept.

[Eleanor With Cats · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amazing, but slightly slow-paced for me. I'm a very impatient person unfortunately.

Conversely, Temporary Agency, the other Rachel Pollack book set in this world, is very exciting but less...large or epic somehow. They are most definitely worth reading though, just for the imagination and worldbuilding. The author has called the backstory of her books 'a revolution of magical storytellers'. To me it always seemed to be sort of about apparatchiks and suburbia after Neopagans rule the world. My lawn is not doing so well this year. I should probably make a sacrifice.

Also, I went to a dinner with Rachel Pollack after a book signing and she shared her steak with me. This makes her awesome. Buy her books.