What do you think?
Rate this book
Before the Fire
The stunning and timely new novel from Sarah Butler, author of the international sensation Ten Things I've Learnt About Love
It's June 2011. Stick and Mac are a couple of months shy of eighteen; summer's approaching and they're about to leave their north Manchester estate for the beaches of southern Spain.
But the night before they're planning to go, Mac ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, the victim of a random knife attack, and suddenly Stick's going nowhere.
His mum doesn't want him to leave the house; his dad's desperate to be his best friend; and his nan's boyfriend keeps telling him Mac's doing just fine in the spirit world.
Then he meets J and she might just be everything he needs. Except she's a firebrand with a grudge against the police, and the August riots are just around the corner...
It's June 2011. Stick and Mac are a couple of months shy of eighteen; summer's approaching and they're about to leave their north Manchester estate for the beaches of southern Spain.
But the night before they're planning to go, Mac ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, the victim of a random knife attack, and suddenly Stick's going nowhere.
His mum doesn't want him to leave the house; his dad's desperate to be his best friend; and his nan's boyfriend keeps telling him Mac's doing just fine in the spirit world.
Then he meets J and she might just be everything he needs. Except she's a firebrand with a grudge against the police, and the August riots are just around the corner...
256 pages, Hardcover
First published March 1, 2015
7 people are currently reading
151 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
July 22, 2015
See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads
Awwwww look at that one star and how lonely it looks…
WELL GUESS WHAT. THAT’S ALL YOU’RE GONNA GET.
I don’t ask for much in order for me to like a book. Mostly, I just want a likeable main character. Stick (aka Kieran) was not an enjoyable character. AT ALL. Aside from the bout of swearing that remains plentiful and consistent throughout the novel, his foul and unappreciative attitude towards the people around him seriously made me want to screech. I mean, how disrespectful and foul can you get? Sure, you just lost your best friend, but if you’re going to act like a total dickhead the entire time throughout the book, expect no sympathy from me.
Furthermore, I really hate how the love interest was utilised in this book. It basically suggested that a love interest can replace your best friend and help you get through the grief. I mean, seriously? What on earth is this book trying to promote here? Also, I did a little bit of research – this book was set in England 2011 when the riots took place (the fires, and all that not so great history). I found that to be really interesting, but it was such a shame for the setting to be underused.
In all, this one had no saving grace to redeem itself. The setting would have been perfect but the book’s efforts were lost in the characters and romance that did nothing for me apart from make me very angry.
Awwwww look at that one star and how lonely it looks…
WELL GUESS WHAT. THAT’S ALL YOU’RE GONNA GET.
I don’t ask for much in order for me to like a book. Mostly, I just want a likeable main character. Stick (aka Kieran) was not an enjoyable character. AT ALL. Aside from the bout of swearing that remains plentiful and consistent throughout the novel, his foul and unappreciative attitude towards the people around him seriously made me want to screech. I mean, how disrespectful and foul can you get? Sure, you just lost your best friend, but if you’re going to act like a total dickhead the entire time throughout the book, expect no sympathy from me.
Furthermore, I really hate how the love interest was utilised in this book. It basically suggested that a love interest can replace your best friend and help you get through the grief. I mean, seriously? What on earth is this book trying to promote here? Also, I did a little bit of research – this book was set in England 2011 when the riots took place (the fires, and all that not so great history). I found that to be really interesting, but it was such a shame for the setting to be underused.
In all, this one had no saving grace to redeem itself. The setting would have been perfect but the book’s efforts were lost in the characters and romance that did nothing for me apart from make me very angry.
March 10, 2015
Before The Fire was inspired by the UK riots of 2011, and the story takes place over the months just prior to the riots in August of that year.
There were a variety of responses to the riots that summer. In Parliament, David Cameron said: The whole country has been shocked by the most appalling scenes of people looting, violence, vandalising and thieving. It is criminality, pure and simple - and there is absolutely no excuse for it.
Whilst in the Guardian, Seumas Milne wrote: While bankers have publicly looted the country's wealth and got away with it, it's not hard to see why those who are locked out of the gravy train might think they were entitled to help themselves to a mobile phone.
Stick and Mac; two seventeen-year-old boys from a run-down Manchester estate. Neither of them have a father living at home, both of them are determined to escape their dreary surroundings. They are going to drive to Spain, in Stick's old Ford. They will drive across Europe, so what if it's only two hours by plane? They will drive, that way they will see more places. Stick has never seen the sea.
Their cases are packed. They have their Euros. Their mothers are worried but know that they have to let them go. Their going away party is planned. Mac, the joker, wants to dress up. Coconut shell bras, tropical print shirts and sunglasses on, they spend what should be their last Manchester evening in a bar with a sticky carpet getting drunker and drunker. When Mac decides that it is time to leave, Stick is otherwise occupied, in the toilets with a girl wearing a blue sequinned top.
That blue sequinned top will haunt Mac for the rest of his days. Mac gets into a spot of bother on the bus during his journey home and never arrives. Stick doesn't see Mac again.
Stick is distraught, and angry and filled with grief and guilt and loss. He pushes his family away, he gets drunk, takes drugs, he just wants Mac to come back.
When Mac meets J, with her shocking bright hair and the ability to land a good punch, he is intrigued. He sees someone who is like him, who understands, and who will let him talk, and explain.
Before The Fire was inspired by the riots, but isn't really about the riots. It is a story that is exquisitely written, about rage and grief, and about modern day living. Stick is not the nicest of lads, he's uncouth, he's self-centred, he drinks too much, takes drugs and thinks about sex quite a lot. However, he is pretty realistic, he's seventeen, he's out of work, he lives with a mother who has issues of her own, his dad has a new family, his sister died in a fire and now his best mate is gone.
Sarah Butler's writing is bold and daring. Her ability to recreate the mind of a young man is stunning, and despite the horror of the riots, she enables the reader to empathise with the rioters. She has an understanding of the whys and the hows, without condoning what happened.
This novel is gritty and very near to the knuckle. Some readers may be shocked by the language, by the lifestyle choices of some of the characters. This is brutally honest writing and whilst it exposes the seedier side of life, it is also very beautiful. Whilst the language may be coarse, the message is true and clear, the exploration of the devastation of grief and loss on family and on friendship groups is precise and striking.
Before The Fire is a clever, modern, poetic novel. It is complex, exploring issues that are often glossed over, with grace and ease.
I am very impressed by Sarah Butler's writing, she is an author that I am sure will keep us entertained for years to come
March 21, 2015
http://www.divabooknerd.com/2015/03/b...
As readers, we want to be immersed in a storyline, we want to feel a connection to it's characters and invest in their plight. I was torn between the fascination that was Stick, otherwise known as Kieren, and wanting to smack him about with a shovel. His behavior made me cringe, but more importantly, Kieren made me feel, even if it was disgust. He's confronting, abrasive and crass. I loathed him, even before the incident. If your aspirations narrow down to drinking, getting high and getting off, it's time to reassess your life choices. He treated girls like sexual objects for his own gratification.There didn't seem to be any redeeming qualities to him at all.
Then he replaces one delinquent with another, his love interest only enables him further. I'm being judgmental, but it's clear both Stick and J are just a pair of felons in the making and he's the poster boy for juvenile detention. J replaces his best friend Mac, promising to help Stick through his grief but she was nothing more than a romantic sidekick that we never really know more than at face value.
The most striking aspect of Before The Fire is it's honesty and rawness. Stick isn't a pleasant character, he isn't even likable, but his story is told with brutal honestly and will strike a chord with readers wanting to delve into the dark world of grief and self loathing through substances. The most prevalent issue I had with his character, is his treatment of females as little more than sexual objects. Both he and Mac were only looking to get off, to put it bluntly. As much as I enjoy realistic fiction, his character grated on my nerves. He was far too confrontational and being older than the intended audience, I wanted to kick this dickhead into next week.
Although Before The Fire wasn't for me, in the right hands a reader will enjoy it's ability to cut through the bullshit and appreciate the depiction of a rough and desperate life of being lost. It does contain sexual situations, deplorable profanity and a realism that could have been mistaken to have been derived from a teenage boy himself, struggling with life.
As readers, we want to be immersed in a storyline, we want to feel a connection to it's characters and invest in their plight. I was torn between the fascination that was Stick, otherwise known as Kieren, and wanting to smack him about with a shovel. His behavior made me cringe, but more importantly, Kieren made me feel, even if it was disgust. He's confronting, abrasive and crass. I loathed him, even before the incident. If your aspirations narrow down to drinking, getting high and getting off, it's time to reassess your life choices. He treated girls like sexual objects for his own gratification.There didn't seem to be any redeeming qualities to him at all.
Then he replaces one delinquent with another, his love interest only enables him further. I'm being judgmental, but it's clear both Stick and J are just a pair of felons in the making and he's the poster boy for juvenile detention. J replaces his best friend Mac, promising to help Stick through his grief but she was nothing more than a romantic sidekick that we never really know more than at face value.
The most striking aspect of Before The Fire is it's honesty and rawness. Stick isn't a pleasant character, he isn't even likable, but his story is told with brutal honestly and will strike a chord with readers wanting to delve into the dark world of grief and self loathing through substances. The most prevalent issue I had with his character, is his treatment of females as little more than sexual objects. Both he and Mac were only looking to get off, to put it bluntly. As much as I enjoy realistic fiction, his character grated on my nerves. He was far too confrontational and being older than the intended audience, I wanted to kick this dickhead into next week.
Although Before The Fire wasn't for me, in the right hands a reader will enjoy it's ability to cut through the bullshit and appreciate the depiction of a rough and desperate life of being lost. It does contain sexual situations, deplorable profanity and a realism that could have been mistaken to have been derived from a teenage boy himself, struggling with life.
July 13, 2017
http://www.esmeraldaviaggielibri.it/i...
Recensione di Romina – Il mondo che ho inventato per te di Sarah Butler uscito ad aprile con la casa editrice Garzanti.
Kieran, detto anche Stick, soprannome dato dal suo migliore amico Mac per via della sua magrezza, e Mac, l’amico che tutti vorrebbero avere, un ragazzo divertente, sempre con la battuta pronta, anche quando tutto gli va male, l’esatto opposto di Stick che vive in una situazione familiare complicata e che fatica a gestire.
Ai due ragazzi manca poco al compimento dei 18 anni e la loto meta sarà la Spagna, lontano da Manchester per ricominciare da capo, ma soprattutto per allontanarsi dai loro problemi ed essere finalmente liberi, purtroppo non sempre le cose vanno come vogliamo…Mac e Stick la sera prima di partire decidono di festeggiare in un locale e Mac rientrando a casa da solo si ritrov nel posto sbagliato al momento sbagliato!
La morte improvvisa e inspiegabile di Mac è per Stick un duro colpo, suo migliore amico, compagno di mille avventure nel bene e nel male, l’unica persona che gli è rimasta accanto e in un attimo tutto cambia. Troppi dubbi, troppi sensi colpa per quella maledetta notte e troppe domande a cui nessuno riesce a trovare le risposte, Stick inizia a chiudersi in se stesso e sentirsi solo e abbandonato anche se realmente non è così.
Fino a quando, quasi per caso, non incontra una ragazza un po’ stravagante dai capelli rosa, non sa nemmeno il suo vero nome conosce solamente J, ma in qualche modo, quando sono vicini, Stick riesce a staccare la spina da tutti i suoi problemi e riesce a donargli un po’ di quella libertà e freschezza perse insieme al suo amico Mac.
Riuscirà J a far superare la perdita del suo amico a Stick e, insieme, provare ad andare avanti o sarà Stick a portare J all’autodistruzione?
Sara Butler è riuscita a raccontare una storia purtroppo molto reale, un dramma che a volte anche a 18 anni ti può segnare veramente nel profondo del cuore, e se ti senti solo non è facile riuscire ad uscire da quel “tunnel che ti crei nella tua testa” ma se riesci a trovare una persona che riesca a starti accanto anche e specialmente in questi momenti tutto acquisisce un altro significato.
In Il mondo che ho inventato per te ho trovato, non solo una dolce e tenera storia d’amore, fatta di sguardi, semplicità e piccoli gesti, che spesso a mio parere, valgono più di mille parole, ma anche una storia che fa veramente riflettere e ci vuol far capire che la vita è una sola e che anche se a volte facciamo fatica questa va vissuta appieno nel bene e nel male.
Ho trovato solo due “pecche” in questo romanzo, avrei preferito una narrazione con i pov alternati e non in terza persona, perché secondo me il lettore riesce a entrare più in sintonia con il personaggio, soprattutto in una storia così delicata e particolare e magari un finale più approfondito e non così “sbrigativo”. Comunque non posso far altro che consigliarvi di leggere questa bellissima storia che vi aiuterà a riflettere!
Recensione di Romina – Il mondo che ho inventato per te di Sarah Butler uscito ad aprile con la casa editrice Garzanti.
Kieran, detto anche Stick, soprannome dato dal suo migliore amico Mac per via della sua magrezza, e Mac, l’amico che tutti vorrebbero avere, un ragazzo divertente, sempre con la battuta pronta, anche quando tutto gli va male, l’esatto opposto di Stick che vive in una situazione familiare complicata e che fatica a gestire.
Ai due ragazzi manca poco al compimento dei 18 anni e la loto meta sarà la Spagna, lontano da Manchester per ricominciare da capo, ma soprattutto per allontanarsi dai loro problemi ed essere finalmente liberi, purtroppo non sempre le cose vanno come vogliamo…Mac e Stick la sera prima di partire decidono di festeggiare in un locale e Mac rientrando a casa da solo si ritrov nel posto sbagliato al momento sbagliato!
La morte improvvisa e inspiegabile di Mac è per Stick un duro colpo, suo migliore amico, compagno di mille avventure nel bene e nel male, l’unica persona che gli è rimasta accanto e in un attimo tutto cambia. Troppi dubbi, troppi sensi colpa per quella maledetta notte e troppe domande a cui nessuno riesce a trovare le risposte, Stick inizia a chiudersi in se stesso e sentirsi solo e abbandonato anche se realmente non è così.
Fino a quando, quasi per caso, non incontra una ragazza un po’ stravagante dai capelli rosa, non sa nemmeno il suo vero nome conosce solamente J, ma in qualche modo, quando sono vicini, Stick riesce a staccare la spina da tutti i suoi problemi e riesce a donargli un po’ di quella libertà e freschezza perse insieme al suo amico Mac.
Riuscirà J a far superare la perdita del suo amico a Stick e, insieme, provare ad andare avanti o sarà Stick a portare J all’autodistruzione?
Sara Butler è riuscita a raccontare una storia purtroppo molto reale, un dramma che a volte anche a 18 anni ti può segnare veramente nel profondo del cuore, e se ti senti solo non è facile riuscire ad uscire da quel “tunnel che ti crei nella tua testa” ma se riesci a trovare una persona che riesca a starti accanto anche e specialmente in questi momenti tutto acquisisce un altro significato.
In Il mondo che ho inventato per te ho trovato, non solo una dolce e tenera storia d’amore, fatta di sguardi, semplicità e piccoli gesti, che spesso a mio parere, valgono più di mille parole, ma anche una storia che fa veramente riflettere e ci vuol far capire che la vita è una sola e che anche se a volte facciamo fatica questa va vissuta appieno nel bene e nel male.
Ho trovato solo due “pecche” in questo romanzo, avrei preferito una narrazione con i pov alternati e non in terza persona, perché secondo me il lettore riesce a entrare più in sintonia con il personaggio, soprattutto in una storia così delicata e particolare e magari un finale più approfondito e non così “sbrigativo”. Comunque non posso far altro che consigliarvi di leggere questa bellissima storia che vi aiuterà a riflettere!
August 10, 2016
‘Before the Fire’ wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be. I’d read other reviews before reading it, as it’s one that’s been out for a while now but I’ve not really seen anyone talking about (which isn’t in itself an indication it could be awful, but I’ve read a fair few awful Netgalley books now and dislike wasting my time). Other reviews mostly complain about the unlikable main character, and I thought, well, I find unlikable people pretty interesting, and read it anyway.
It’s certainly not a book without flaws. It has a lot of flaws. But I don’t think that characterisation of Stick and Mac is one of them. Yes, Stick’s a bit of a douchebag, he’s belligerent, has a terrible attitude towards people trying to help him, towards women, towards his parents. He’s angsty, foul-mouthed, rude, obnoxious, has a poor attitude towards work, and has no aspirations in life, but mostly he’s aware of all that and he’s very realistic. I can recognise my brother, and practically every male friend he and I both had during our late teens in Stick and Mac. Not one nice guy in any romantic YA novel, or any YA novel really, is someone I could actually imagine living on my street, in my city, or actually imagine really meeting. Teenage boys just don’t think like that. And that’s what I liked about Stick and Mac: they feel like real teenage guys, and the emotion in this novel is almost damn tangible it’s so well done. I could get behind Stick’s frustrations, grief, and fear of the emptiness of his aspirations, despite wanting to tell him to not treat people as he does. It’s not a comfortable ride with grief. Grief is messy and I did appreciate how Bulter explored grief in this messy way— not everyone gets a slow but comfortable and understanding path through grief, and not everyone can control themselves or the negativity of their thoughts and emotions through it.
But really, I don’t believe Stick’s a bad person through those bad reactions and decisions; there are sooo many points in the novel where Stick is actively trying to be a better person or has good intentions in either trying to help someone, or change how he behaves and responds. He often fails, or his emotions get the better of him, or he just gives up trying, but I think that he does try is important. That he can’t just instantly change his behaviour because he recognises he’s a dick is realistic and indicative of real emotional struggle. It takes time to change your behaviour, and I appreciated how real these characters felt to me.
Something important to note might be how British this novel is: it’s set in a working class area of Manchester, an industrial city, and it’s very rooted in a problem that’s only recently being noticed in this country — a distinct lack of aspiration in life, negative work ethic, and a disengagement from education among working class white boys — as well as a long history of the disintegration of working class work/career ethics. It subtly echoes a lot of the conflicts between Thatcher-era adults with long-term career/trade and working values, with the more modern and uninspired outlook of a lot of low-educated working class white boys in urban areas. It’s also set against a backdrop of social justice and politics that aren’t really explored very well in the story, leaving a lot of the context likely quite difficult for people who don’t already know/have lived the context of that time to pick up on. Stick and J’s interest in the riots were far more self-indulgent than about the real issues the riots stemmed from, which I found interesting and actually rather honest and realistic of why a lot of young people did join the riots. But the book barely touched on the real reasons they happened and definitely didn’t highlight somehow how Stick and J are wrong, which made the riots feel somewhat vague and like a poorly used plot device than well-grounded context that did actually happen. So really, I can see why a lot of people had trouble getting into this story and these characters, because they are both a look at the underside and uninspiring side of life in Britain.
That said, what little plot there is, isn’t very engaging. There are a lot of backstory events, such as Stick’s sister’s death, just left unexplained. Some plot threads just don’t seem to go anywhere or are magically ‘fixed’ near the end, such as his mum’s struggles with getting help about her OCD. J is also used as some kind of having-a-girlfriend-can-fix-you magic, and Stick’s epiphany about her at the end was very eye-rolly. She wasn’t very well explored or developed as a person, and we learned nothing about her really, despite all these hints that kept being dropped about something going on at home which were only half-explained. She was pretty disappointing as a character, and rather manic-pixie-girl, and definitely physically objectified by Stick as well as idealised as an idea rather than a person.
Overall, I’m pretty meh about this book. It’s definitely not a book I enjoyed reading. It reads more like a snapshot of a few months of life rather than a well-constructed novel. Plot and character development are sketchy at best, despite how good the emotional development is (I don’t actually think Stick learned much). It’s certainly a pretty bleak and depressing read with a poor ending, and while I was interested in the background, it’s not a book I’d recommend to anyone who wants to learn about those socioeconomicpolitical issues because they’re more undertones than actually present, so the book ends up feeling more founded on the knowledge you already have than actually teaching you anything.
It’s certainly not a book without flaws. It has a lot of flaws. But I don’t think that characterisation of Stick and Mac is one of them. Yes, Stick’s a bit of a douchebag, he’s belligerent, has a terrible attitude towards people trying to help him, towards women, towards his parents. He’s angsty, foul-mouthed, rude, obnoxious, has a poor attitude towards work, and has no aspirations in life, but mostly he’s aware of all that and he’s very realistic. I can recognise my brother, and practically every male friend he and I both had during our late teens in Stick and Mac. Not one nice guy in any romantic YA novel, or any YA novel really, is someone I could actually imagine living on my street, in my city, or actually imagine really meeting. Teenage boys just don’t think like that. And that’s what I liked about Stick and Mac: they feel like real teenage guys, and the emotion in this novel is almost damn tangible it’s so well done. I could get behind Stick’s frustrations, grief, and fear of the emptiness of his aspirations, despite wanting to tell him to not treat people as he does. It’s not a comfortable ride with grief. Grief is messy and I did appreciate how Bulter explored grief in this messy way— not everyone gets a slow but comfortable and understanding path through grief, and not everyone can control themselves or the negativity of their thoughts and emotions through it.
But really, I don’t believe Stick’s a bad person through those bad reactions and decisions; there are sooo many points in the novel where Stick is actively trying to be a better person or has good intentions in either trying to help someone, or change how he behaves and responds. He often fails, or his emotions get the better of him, or he just gives up trying, but I think that he does try is important. That he can’t just instantly change his behaviour because he recognises he’s a dick is realistic and indicative of real emotional struggle. It takes time to change your behaviour, and I appreciated how real these characters felt to me.
Something important to note might be how British this novel is: it’s set in a working class area of Manchester, an industrial city, and it’s very rooted in a problem that’s only recently being noticed in this country — a distinct lack of aspiration in life, negative work ethic, and a disengagement from education among working class white boys — as well as a long history of the disintegration of working class work/career ethics. It subtly echoes a lot of the conflicts between Thatcher-era adults with long-term career/trade and working values, with the more modern and uninspired outlook of a lot of low-educated working class white boys in urban areas. It’s also set against a backdrop of social justice and politics that aren’t really explored very well in the story, leaving a lot of the context likely quite difficult for people who don’t already know/have lived the context of that time to pick up on. Stick and J’s interest in the riots were far more self-indulgent than about the real issues the riots stemmed from, which I found interesting and actually rather honest and realistic of why a lot of young people did join the riots. But the book barely touched on the real reasons they happened and definitely didn’t highlight somehow how Stick and J are wrong, which made the riots feel somewhat vague and like a poorly used plot device than well-grounded context that did actually happen. So really, I can see why a lot of people had trouble getting into this story and these characters, because they are both a look at the underside and uninspiring side of life in Britain.
That said, what little plot there is, isn’t very engaging. There are a lot of backstory events, such as Stick’s sister’s death, just left unexplained. Some plot threads just don’t seem to go anywhere or are magically ‘fixed’ near the end, such as his mum’s struggles with getting help about her OCD. J is also used as some kind of having-a-girlfriend-can-fix-you magic, and Stick’s epiphany about her at the end was very eye-rolly. She wasn’t very well explored or developed as a person, and we learned nothing about her really, despite all these hints that kept being dropped about something going on at home which were only half-explained. She was pretty disappointing as a character, and rather manic-pixie-girl, and definitely physically objectified by Stick as well as idealised as an idea rather than a person.
Overall, I’m pretty meh about this book. It’s definitely not a book I enjoyed reading. It reads more like a snapshot of a few months of life rather than a well-constructed novel. Plot and character development are sketchy at best, despite how good the emotional development is (I don’t actually think Stick learned much). It’s certainly a pretty bleak and depressing read with a poor ending, and while I was interested in the background, it’s not a book I’d recommend to anyone who wants to learn about those socioeconomicpolitical issues because they’re more undertones than actually present, so the book ends up feeling more founded on the knowledge you already have than actually teaching you anything.
February 14, 2019
What was this bullshit? Why did I waste 3 days reading this?
Stick is an idiot, J is just unnecessary.
I loved Alan and the ganny. I only cared about them. End of story.
Stick is an idiot, J is just unnecessary.
I loved Alan and the ganny. I only cared about them. End of story.
September 23, 2018
It is interesting to read reviews here saying they want a likeable character , so they did not enjoy this because Stick was not...... Hmmmmm he is a teenage boy who loses a mate...so do not read if you like fluff.And Stick is going to be fine.... I loved this book, with dirt poor Manchester as a back drop and the riots looming it was an uneasy setting with unsettled characters.
All I will say is Stick becomes more likeable and Sarah Butler is such a flipping great writer. I fell hook line and sinker for Ten things I learnt about love, so I was so thrilled to see this on the library shelf. I like books that are quite dark and gloomy especially when there is a bit of hope and redemption at the end. Well done Sarah Butler, thank you once again.
All I will say is Stick becomes more likeable and Sarah Butler is such a flipping great writer. I fell hook line and sinker for Ten things I learnt about love, so I was so thrilled to see this on the library shelf. I like books that are quite dark and gloomy especially when there is a bit of hope and redemption at the end. Well done Sarah Butler, thank you once again.
December 22, 2017
3,5
La storia di un adolescente alle prese con gli sconvolgimenti di un'età che ci spinge a cercare noi stessi, a guardare oltre, a costruire una nuova identità. Trasformazione e cambiamento, voglia di evadere, tutti sentimenti che spingono il giovane Kieran, detto Stick, a pianificare un viaggio insieme al suo migliore amico, Mac, alle porte dei suoi diciotto anni. Una grande tragedia sconvolge nuovamente la sua vita e Stick piomba in un vuoto senza fine, intrappolato dalla vita alla quale voleva fuggire, urlando in silenzio tutto il suo dolore. Sì, perchè la vita di Stick non è mai stata semplice e questo ennesimo tiro mancino non migliora una situazione che è già al limite.
La sua situazione familiare lo ha segnato profondamente, in particolar modo il rapporto con il padre, che pur essendo fisicamente presente è oramai una presenza vuota nell'esistenza del figlio.
Lui ha perso ogni possibilità di ricucire un rapporto con Stick nel momento in cui ha deciso di lasciare lui e sua madre per crearsi una nuova famiglia.
Quella nuova famiglia gli urla in faccia tutto quello che non ha mai avuto: affetto, protezione, cura, una casa perfetta e una madre altrettanto perfetta, di quelle che mandano i fiori alla ex moglie del proprio marito e pretende di essere una seconda madre per Stick, mentre la sua vera madre passa il tempo inginocchiata sul pavimento per controllare che ogni presa elettrica sia spenta.
C'è tanta rabbia inespressa nel cuore di Stick, così controllata che a volte potrebbe sfociare nell'autolesionismo. Tutto pur di riuscire a mostrare qualcosa, invece di fingere che vada tutto bene, che lui non odi il padre per averlo abbandonato, per non essere riuscito a tenere in piedi la famiglia dopo che una grande tragedia li ha investiti. Invece si ritrova con un vuoto incolmabile dentro, chiedendosi se non è poi come suo padre: un guscio vuoto. Il padre di Stick tenta in ogni modo di esserci, di seguire il figlio, ma sembra che più si affanni, più imponga la sua presenza.
Sarah Butler ha parole delicate e toccanti, intense e dure, per descrivere l'universo adolescenziale alle prese con i tumulti interiori ed esteriori, in una città che sta vivendo una profonda crisi che sembra quasi essere la metafora di quello che sta succedendo dentro Kieran. Una continua lotta per trasformarsi da crisalide in farfalla, quando tutto sembra una sfida, a volte insormontabile.
La storia di un adolescente alle prese con gli sconvolgimenti di un'età che ci spinge a cercare noi stessi, a guardare oltre, a costruire una nuova identità. Trasformazione e cambiamento, voglia di evadere, tutti sentimenti che spingono il giovane Kieran, detto Stick, a pianificare un viaggio insieme al suo migliore amico, Mac, alle porte dei suoi diciotto anni. Una grande tragedia sconvolge nuovamente la sua vita e Stick piomba in un vuoto senza fine, intrappolato dalla vita alla quale voleva fuggire, urlando in silenzio tutto il suo dolore. Sì, perchè la vita di Stick non è mai stata semplice e questo ennesimo tiro mancino non migliora una situazione che è già al limite.
La sua situazione familiare lo ha segnato profondamente, in particolar modo il rapporto con il padre, che pur essendo fisicamente presente è oramai una presenza vuota nell'esistenza del figlio.
Lui ha perso ogni possibilità di ricucire un rapporto con Stick nel momento in cui ha deciso di lasciare lui e sua madre per crearsi una nuova famiglia.
Quella nuova famiglia gli urla in faccia tutto quello che non ha mai avuto: affetto, protezione, cura, una casa perfetta e una madre altrettanto perfetta, di quelle che mandano i fiori alla ex moglie del proprio marito e pretende di essere una seconda madre per Stick, mentre la sua vera madre passa il tempo inginocchiata sul pavimento per controllare che ogni presa elettrica sia spenta.
C'è tanta rabbia inespressa nel cuore di Stick, così controllata che a volte potrebbe sfociare nell'autolesionismo. Tutto pur di riuscire a mostrare qualcosa, invece di fingere che vada tutto bene, che lui non odi il padre per averlo abbandonato, per non essere riuscito a tenere in piedi la famiglia dopo che una grande tragedia li ha investiti. Invece si ritrova con un vuoto incolmabile dentro, chiedendosi se non è poi come suo padre: un guscio vuoto. Il padre di Stick tenta in ogni modo di esserci, di seguire il figlio, ma sembra che più si affanni, più imponga la sua presenza.
Sarah Butler ha parole delicate e toccanti, intense e dure, per descrivere l'universo adolescenziale alle prese con i tumulti interiori ed esteriori, in una città che sta vivendo una profonda crisi che sembra quasi essere la metafora di quello che sta succedendo dentro Kieran. Una continua lotta per trasformarsi da crisalide in farfalla, quando tutto sembra una sfida, a volte insormontabile.
January 12, 2019
This book was something of a disappointment, but I think that's because it was missold. I expected an insight into the 2011 riots, which barely impinged on my life (though I was living in London at the time) and which I had all but forgotten about. The author is an expert on the subject, having written her dissertation on "narratives of the riots of 2011", but the book is not really about them: they're a backdrop to the main action.
[mild spoilers]
The book begins, as it ends, with an image of its central character, Stick, and his girlfriend J kissing each other, their faces "lit gold by the flames" of a burning branch of Miss Selfridge in Manchester city centre. For Stick, the riots offer a way to express his anger at the way life (and the system) has treated him. Yet his particular circumstances are so unfortunate - he's suffered not one but two deaths of those close to him by the age of 18 - that I found it hard to read across from his experience to some broader insight into why the riots happened.
Perhaps it's best to forget the whole idea that the book is "about" the riots at all. It very closely follows the story of Stick (real name Kieran) as he deals with - or rather doesn't deal with - his grief at his best friend's senseless murder, the night before they were due to travel to Spain on an extended holiday. The narrative is third person but limited almost entirely to Stick's perspective as he strives, and fails, to make sense of what's happened.
It all feels real enough: the dialogue rings true and so do the emotions. But again, I was left wanting more than 200 pages of just Stick being angry. Even as a simple coming-of-age story, I felt the book left too much unresolved, and I wasn't convinced that Stick's wounds would be healed by his budding romance, sweet though it was.
I feel I'm being harsh to the book, which received dozens of laudatory reviews, many of them praising its authenticity. There was not much wrong with it, just a sense that it could have taken me on a wider or deeper journey.
[mild spoilers]
The book begins, as it ends, with an image of its central character, Stick, and his girlfriend J kissing each other, their faces "lit gold by the flames" of a burning branch of Miss Selfridge in Manchester city centre. For Stick, the riots offer a way to express his anger at the way life (and the system) has treated him. Yet his particular circumstances are so unfortunate - he's suffered not one but two deaths of those close to him by the age of 18 - that I found it hard to read across from his experience to some broader insight into why the riots happened.
Perhaps it's best to forget the whole idea that the book is "about" the riots at all. It very closely follows the story of Stick (real name Kieran) as he deals with - or rather doesn't deal with - his grief at his best friend's senseless murder, the night before they were due to travel to Spain on an extended holiday. The narrative is third person but limited almost entirely to Stick's perspective as he strives, and fails, to make sense of what's happened.
It all feels real enough: the dialogue rings true and so do the emotions. But again, I was left wanting more than 200 pages of just Stick being angry. Even as a simple coming-of-age story, I felt the book left too much unresolved, and I wasn't convinced that Stick's wounds would be healed by his budding romance, sweet though it was.
I feel I'm being harsh to the book, which received dozens of laudatory reviews, many of them praising its authenticity. There was not much wrong with it, just a sense that it could have taken me on a wider or deeper journey.
September 29, 2019
It doesn’t have a beginning or an ending, but more importantly, the story line has a phase and a character. Book is character centric, with Stick aka Kieran in the lead, shy of 18, who happens to be a foul, full of angst person who you may think is a felon in making. Stick chooses all the abominable ways to get over his mate’s sudden demise. He runs into J, leans on her as a replacement to his lost best friend. J being a not so good influence, but then that is the reason he confides in her. Stick is disrespectful towards all of his family members and loved ones. but at the same time, he is helpful to his best friend's maa, and his half sisters. Stick chooses to sneak out with J on his 18th birthday getting high, ignoring his family who is eagerly waiting for him ready with celebration stuff. the 2011 UK riots on the verge, helps him face situation where he can easily get his revenge and apparently he realizes its not that he actually wants. Beautifully explained by Sarah the situation where one gets opportunity to do the worst thing that one lusts to do and its the exact time when one realizes it is not thing they want any more.
A realistic fiction, raw and can resonate to the times when we choose to delve in dark on facing an adversity. It has deplorable profanity, sexual and substance abuse situations that makes you sick, BUT then they make you feel a connection to its characters and invest in their plight. Sarah Butler makes you fall hook, line and sinker, seeking for hope and redemption in the novel’s denouement.
A realistic fiction, raw and can resonate to the times when we choose to delve in dark on facing an adversity. It has deplorable profanity, sexual and substance abuse situations that makes you sick, BUT then they make you feel a connection to its characters and invest in their plight. Sarah Butler makes you fall hook, line and sinker, seeking for hope and redemption in the novel’s denouement.
April 15, 2021
I cant say this book was the best, but it was an okay read.
I give this, 2 stars. ★★
At the start I wanted to give this book a one star, the beginning of the book was boring and I seriously thought this entire book was going to be about two assholes going on a trip to Malaga, banging chicks and smoking weed, I was seriously uninterested and fell asleep reading the start
And then the actual story kicked in, the book did an amazing job when it comes to describing grief, anger and so many other emotions, plus I like his nan and her boyfriend Alan. I cant say much about this book, but it describes Stick's feelings really well, but Stick still isnt a great character, he is still pretty much an asshole throughout the entire book and you can see how hard every character tries to keep up with his shit.
Other reviewers are basically criticizing how awful Stick is and how badly he treats others- in my opinion he is grieving or entered some sort of angry teenager phase that is totally angry at the world. I did hate how he acted towards his mother, dad, nan and literally everyone (especially J), but at least I understood why.
But do you know what I dont understand? J's purpose. She looks like a character that could have been great for the story, or for Stick's grieving process... but she was nothing more than a love interest in the story. She seems interesting, her family, her past, her relationship with her ex, but she was sadly nothing.
I give this, 2 stars. ★★
At the start I wanted to give this book a one star, the beginning of the book was boring and I seriously thought this entire book was going to be about two assholes going on a trip to Malaga, banging chicks and smoking weed, I was seriously uninterested and fell asleep reading the start
And then the actual story kicked in, the book did an amazing job when it comes to describing grief, anger and so many other emotions, plus I like his nan and her boyfriend Alan. I cant say much about this book, but it describes Stick's feelings really well, but Stick still isnt a great character, he is still pretty much an asshole throughout the entire book and you can see how hard every character tries to keep up with his shit.
Other reviewers are basically criticizing how awful Stick is and how badly he treats others- in my opinion he is grieving or entered some sort of angry teenager phase that is totally angry at the world. I did hate how he acted towards his mother, dad, nan and literally everyone (especially J), but at least I understood why.
But do you know what I dont understand? J's purpose. She looks like a character that could have been great for the story, or for Stick's grieving process... but she was nothing more than a love interest in the story. She seems interesting, her family, her past, her relationship with her ex, but she was sadly nothing.
April 28, 2018
So this was in the main a victim narrative on behalf of participants in toxic masculinity (and did that problematic thing of making it cool and attractive and understandable to be that way-reifying, failing to problematise the real issue, instead making it seem like lack of empowerment was the real issue).
The turning point was one of those "individual responsibility" realisations that people need to "put themselves out there" and be self-determining and then good things are possible (and girls with improbably coloured hair will give you blow jobs). The "chicks" that Mac and Stick "pulled" were not even portrayed as real people they were disposable toys (albeit complicit ones that allowed crappy gender relations for some undefined reason). Mac was portrayed as super-popular despite seeming like an awful person.
I felt like the situation in the book could have been delved into more deeply, it seemed a very individualistic account of the whole thing (and Stick and Mac were unlikeable to begin with and remained so, not that I want anyone to get stabbed).
Maybe I missed something here...
The turning point was one of those "individual responsibility" realisations that people need to "put themselves out there" and be self-determining and then good things are possible (and girls with improbably coloured hair will give you blow jobs). The "chicks" that Mac and Stick "pulled" were not even portrayed as real people they were disposable toys (albeit complicit ones that allowed crappy gender relations for some undefined reason). Mac was portrayed as super-popular despite seeming like an awful person.
I felt like the situation in the book could have been delved into more deeply, it seemed a very individualistic account of the whole thing (and Stick and Mac were unlikeable to begin with and remained so, not that I want anyone to get stabbed).
Maybe I missed something here...
June 10, 2018
A quick read, but not a fully satisfying one. There wasn't enough character development for my liking and the dénouement was rushed. I kept thinking there would be more to the story than there was. The pacing is good and the reader does get a good feel for life on an estate in Manchester, but it could have done with an extra 40 pages or so.
February 2, 2019
Started with promise, but ended almost as if the author had tired of her characters and wanted to bet away, seems to be a trend in some books build up a scenario, then resolve in a few words. Ultimately a disappointing experience for me.
July 27, 2018
Grief, northern working-class masculinity, the 2011 riots. Not the kind of thing I usually read, but well done.
April 11, 2019
I liked this book and the way it built up to the riots it fits with the title before the fire.
i liked in the end that he moved on and that owen wasnt worth it.
i liked in the end that he moved on and that owen wasnt worth it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2021
Beautiful and moving story with wonderful relatable characters
July 7, 2022
I did not like the characters and just couldn’t get into it. I also didn’t enjoy the writing style
September 14, 2023
Es fehlt viel in diesem Buch.. Sympathische Charaktere, Gerechtigkeit, Echtheit..
March 5, 2016
die Autorin:
Sarah Butler ist Anfang Dreißig und lebt in Manchester. Sie ist Geschäftsführerin eines Beratungsunternehmens, das literarische und künstlerische Projekte vorantreibt. Sie war Stipendiatin verschiedener Literaturförderungen und unterrichtete Kreatives Schreiben am British Council in Kuala Lumpur. Ihr erster Roman "Alice, wie Daniel sie sah" wurde in dreizehn Sprachen übersetzt.
Klappentext:
Stick und Mac sind beste Freunde und wollen nur eins: raus aus Manchester, raus aus der Enge der Familie, der Wohnung, der Clique. Sie wollen mit dem Auto nach Málaga fahren, um einen Sommer voll Partys, Alkohol und Frauen zu erleben und vielleicht nie wieder zurückzukommen. Doch in der Nacht ihrer Abschiedsparty wird Mac erstochen. Stick steht unter Schock und muss mit seiner Trauer, seiner Wut, seinem Wunsch nach Freiheit und familiärer Geborgenheit klarkommen. Dann lernt er »J« kennen, ein Mädchen mit pinken Haaren und Piercings. Endlich scheint sich für den 17-Jährigen etwas zum Positiven zu wenden. Doch Sticks Wut ist nach wie vor da, und die Unruhen von London greifen bald auch auf Manchester über …
Zitate:
"Er war ja nicht dumm, er wusste, wie man ein paar Worte ins gegenüberliegende Feld lobbte und auf die Explosion wartete, das Aufbrausen der Flamme, den Rauch und den Staub." Seite 26
"Der Aufschlag war befriedigend laut. Er wollte gleich noch mal draufschlagen. Und noch mal und noch mal." Seite 28
"Alle taten so, als wäre es tatsächlich passiert, als wäre Mac wirklich tot, aber das konnte nicht sein. Stick war nicht tot, wie konnte Mac es da sein?" Seite 60
Charakter:
der 17-jährige Stick will nur noch raus aus seinem Leben.
Weit weg von seiner Mutter -die durch den Tod seiner Schwester einen krankhaften Kontrollzwang entwickelt hat-, und weit weg von seinem Vater, mit seiner ach so tollen neuen Familie... Trotz seines früheren Kurses zur Aggressionsbewältigung ist Stick auch heute noch oft zornig, impulsiv, aufbrausend und verletzt seine Eltern verbal, insbesondere seinen Vater, gerne mal absichtlich. Obwohl er sich darüber Sorgen macht, wie seine Mutter ohne ihn klarkommen wird, ist ihm alles zu viel. Er will schnellstmöglich mit seinem besten Freund Mac die Koffer packen und nach Málaga fahren um dort das Leben zu genießen und die Sau raus zu lassen.
Meinung:
Die Koffer sind gepackt, die große Reise ist nur noch eine Abschiedsparty weit entfernt.
Dem Glück der beiden Jungs steht quasi nichts mehr im Weg. Denken sie... Doch dann geschieht das Unfassbare. Mac wird auf dem Heimweg erstochen und keiner weiß, wie es dazu kommen konnte.
Für Stick bricht eine Welt zusammen. Sein bester Freund, der Einzige, der ihn versteht, soll von jetzt auf gleich einfach nicht mehr da sein?? Erst, als er zufällig J kennenlernt, kann er sich zumindest ein Stück aus dem Loch seiner Trauer herausziehen. Aber reicht das aus?
Der Schreibstil des Buches hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Die kurzen, gut lesbaren Sätze mit so mancher Fluchattacke ;), kurze Kapitel und jugendliche Gedanken passen sehr gut zu Stick. Sie lassen ihn sympathisch erscheinen - trotz so mancher "trotzigen" Aktion, gerade wenn es um seinen Vater und seine Stiefmutter geht.
Sarah Butler versteht es, die Emotionen, die Stick empfindet, die Trauer, die Wut, die Hilflosig- und Fassungslosigkeit in Worte zu packen und für den Leser nahezu greifbar zu machen. Man kann geradezu spüren, wie Sticks Welt in sich zusammenfällt und ihn mit der immerwährenden Frage des "Warums" zurücklässt.
Obwohl "Die Nacht brennt" kein actiongeladenes Buch, kein Thriller oder Ähnliches ist, kann man es -einmal mit dem Lesen begonnen-, nicht so schnell wieder aus der Hand legen.
Zu sehr bewegt die emotionale Reise, die den Leser erwartet, wobei auch die Handlungen der anderen Personen, selbstverständlich nicht zu kurz kommen.
Verständlich, oder für einen selbst vielleicht auch manchmal nicht, werden viele Facetten der Umgangsweise mit solch einem einschneidenden Ereignisses aufgezeigt, denn jeder geht damit bekanntlich anders um.
Emotional, stimmungsgeladen, einfühlsam, bewegend. Wer nahe am Wasser gebaut ist, sollte eventuell ein Taschentuch bereitlegen ;)
Vielen herzlichen Dank an an den DROEMER Verlag für dieses Rezensionsexemplar!
Sarah Butler ist Anfang Dreißig und lebt in Manchester. Sie ist Geschäftsführerin eines Beratungsunternehmens, das literarische und künstlerische Projekte vorantreibt. Sie war Stipendiatin verschiedener Literaturförderungen und unterrichtete Kreatives Schreiben am British Council in Kuala Lumpur. Ihr erster Roman "Alice, wie Daniel sie sah" wurde in dreizehn Sprachen übersetzt.
Klappentext:
Stick und Mac sind beste Freunde und wollen nur eins: raus aus Manchester, raus aus der Enge der Familie, der Wohnung, der Clique. Sie wollen mit dem Auto nach Málaga fahren, um einen Sommer voll Partys, Alkohol und Frauen zu erleben und vielleicht nie wieder zurückzukommen. Doch in der Nacht ihrer Abschiedsparty wird Mac erstochen. Stick steht unter Schock und muss mit seiner Trauer, seiner Wut, seinem Wunsch nach Freiheit und familiärer Geborgenheit klarkommen. Dann lernt er »J« kennen, ein Mädchen mit pinken Haaren und Piercings. Endlich scheint sich für den 17-Jährigen etwas zum Positiven zu wenden. Doch Sticks Wut ist nach wie vor da, und die Unruhen von London greifen bald auch auf Manchester über …
Zitate:
"Er war ja nicht dumm, er wusste, wie man ein paar Worte ins gegenüberliegende Feld lobbte und auf die Explosion wartete, das Aufbrausen der Flamme, den Rauch und den Staub." Seite 26
"Der Aufschlag war befriedigend laut. Er wollte gleich noch mal draufschlagen. Und noch mal und noch mal." Seite 28
"Alle taten so, als wäre es tatsächlich passiert, als wäre Mac wirklich tot, aber das konnte nicht sein. Stick war nicht tot, wie konnte Mac es da sein?" Seite 60
Charakter:
der 17-jährige Stick will nur noch raus aus seinem Leben.
Weit weg von seiner Mutter -die durch den Tod seiner Schwester einen krankhaften Kontrollzwang entwickelt hat-, und weit weg von seinem Vater, mit seiner ach so tollen neuen Familie... Trotz seines früheren Kurses zur Aggressionsbewältigung ist Stick auch heute noch oft zornig, impulsiv, aufbrausend und verletzt seine Eltern verbal, insbesondere seinen Vater, gerne mal absichtlich. Obwohl er sich darüber Sorgen macht, wie seine Mutter ohne ihn klarkommen wird, ist ihm alles zu viel. Er will schnellstmöglich mit seinem besten Freund Mac die Koffer packen und nach Málaga fahren um dort das Leben zu genießen und die Sau raus zu lassen.
Meinung:
Die Koffer sind gepackt, die große Reise ist nur noch eine Abschiedsparty weit entfernt.
Dem Glück der beiden Jungs steht quasi nichts mehr im Weg. Denken sie... Doch dann geschieht das Unfassbare. Mac wird auf dem Heimweg erstochen und keiner weiß, wie es dazu kommen konnte.
Für Stick bricht eine Welt zusammen. Sein bester Freund, der Einzige, der ihn versteht, soll von jetzt auf gleich einfach nicht mehr da sein?? Erst, als er zufällig J kennenlernt, kann er sich zumindest ein Stück aus dem Loch seiner Trauer herausziehen. Aber reicht das aus?
Der Schreibstil des Buches hat mir sehr gut gefallen. Die kurzen, gut lesbaren Sätze mit so mancher Fluchattacke ;), kurze Kapitel und jugendliche Gedanken passen sehr gut zu Stick. Sie lassen ihn sympathisch erscheinen - trotz so mancher "trotzigen" Aktion, gerade wenn es um seinen Vater und seine Stiefmutter geht.
Sarah Butler versteht es, die Emotionen, die Stick empfindet, die Trauer, die Wut, die Hilflosig- und Fassungslosigkeit in Worte zu packen und für den Leser nahezu greifbar zu machen. Man kann geradezu spüren, wie Sticks Welt in sich zusammenfällt und ihn mit der immerwährenden Frage des "Warums" zurücklässt.
Obwohl "Die Nacht brennt" kein actiongeladenes Buch, kein Thriller oder Ähnliches ist, kann man es -einmal mit dem Lesen begonnen-, nicht so schnell wieder aus der Hand legen.
Zu sehr bewegt die emotionale Reise, die den Leser erwartet, wobei auch die Handlungen der anderen Personen, selbstverständlich nicht zu kurz kommen.
Verständlich, oder für einen selbst vielleicht auch manchmal nicht, werden viele Facetten der Umgangsweise mit solch einem einschneidenden Ereignisses aufgezeigt, denn jeder geht damit bekanntlich anders um.
Emotional, stimmungsgeladen, einfühlsam, bewegend. Wer nahe am Wasser gebaut ist, sollte eventuell ein Taschentuch bereitlegen ;)
Vielen herzlichen Dank an an den DROEMER Verlag für dieses Rezensionsexemplar!
March 7, 2020
well it was a dnf.
I started it a while ago and then i started it again.. if you don't finish a book 2 times i think its a sign. Definitely did not like it,definitely do not recommend.
I started it a while ago and then i started it again.. if you don't finish a book 2 times i think its a sign. Definitely did not like it,definitely do not recommend.
March 27, 2016
Irgendwie hatte ich gedacht, mit „Die Nacht brennt“ zwar eine traurige, aber dennoch hoffnungsvolle Geschichte zu lesen, leider aber hatte ich da wohl einfach falsche Vorstellungen. Mich hat das Buch nicht abholt – damit will ich nicht sagen, dass das Buch schlecht ist, nur meins war es einfach nicht.
Im Mittelpunkt der Geschichte steht Kieran, von seinen Freunden auch Stick genannt, dessen bester Freund Mac gerade nach einer Party auf offener Straße umgebracht wurde. Eigentlich wollten die beiden weg, nach Spanien, um sich dort einen schönen Sommer zu machen - und vielleicht nie wiederzukommen. Doch jetzt sitzt Stick fest in Manchester mit seinem Schmerz, seiner Wut und seiner Hoffnungslosigkeit – und weiß einfach nicht, wie es weiter gehen soll.
Vielleicht habe ich mich mit dem Buch so schwer getan, weil ich mit Stick doch so meine Probleme hatte ; er ist kein sympathischer Protagonist, den man direkt ins Herz schließt – ganz im Gegenteil. Drogen, Saufen und Sex scheinen das einzige zu sein, was ihn interessiert. Sicherlich hat Stick es nicht einfach mit seiner zwanghaften Mutter, mit der er in einer kleinen schäbigen Wohnung lebt, und einiges in seiner Vergangenheit ist wahrlich schief gelaufen, trotzdem konnte ich nicht richtig mit ihm fühlen, vielleicht auch, weil ich dafür dann doch zu wenig über ihn erfahren habe und ich den Eindruck hatte, dass Stick letztlich nur einer von vielen ist, denen es ähnlich geht.
Eigentlich passiert in der Geschichte gar nicht richtig viel, dafür aber gibt es Unmengen Einblicke in die Gedanken und Gefühlswelt Kierans. Und das ist der Autorin tatsächlich sehr gut gelungen. Seine Wut und seinen Schmerz, seine Hoffnungslosigkeit und auch Verzweiflung konnte ich beim Lesen geradezu spüren, auch seine Aggressionen, mit denen er nur schwer umzugehen weiß. Kieran hat nichts, was ihn im Leben hält – zwar machen sich seine Eltern Sorgen und Gedanken, aber letztlich können auch sie ihn nicht erreichen. Hoffnung gibt es für Kieran nicht – nur einen kleinen Lichtstrahl, als er J kennenlernt. Über J erfährt der Leser nicht viel, auch sie schleppt eine Menge Ballast mit sich rum, und der eine scheint für den anderen wie ein Anker zu sein.
Der Schreibstil des Buches ist sehr umgangssprachlich und schonungslos, lässt sich dadurch aber sehr flott lesen. Man taucht geradezu ein in die Gefühlswelt Kierans, leider aber auch in die hoffnungslose und sehr bedrückende Atmosphäre der Geschichte. Licht im Tunnel hat es leider kaum gegeben, und auch wenn Kieran schon fast am Ende der Geschichte eine Entscheidung trifft, die ihn vielleicht in eine richtige Richtung bringt, ist das Buch doch eher von Hoffnungslosigkeit geprägt. Unterstützt wird diese noch durch eine Rahmenhandlung, in die die Geschichte eingebettet ist – nämlich die Unruhen, die 2011 in London und anderen britischen Städten nach der Erschießung eines farbigen Mannes durch die Polizei entstanden sind und rasch ein ungeheures Ausmaß angenommen haben.
Das Ende der Geschichte bleibt relativ offen und der Leser mit seinem bedrückten Gefühl alleine zurück. Da hätte ich mir irgendein anderes Ende gewünscht, nicht unbedingt ein Happy End, aber zumindest eines, das Mut macht und mich nicht so bedrückt und hoffnungslos das Buch zuschlagen lässt.
Mein Fazit
So richtig überzeugen konnte mich die Geschichte um Kieran, der seinen besten Freund durch einen Mord verliert, leider nicht, auch wenn es der Autorin wirklich sehr gut gelungen ist, Kierans Gefühle und Gedanken, seine Wut und Aggression zum Ausdruck zu bringen. Mir hat in dieser Geschichte eine positive Seite gefehlt, die mich am Ende nicht ganz so mut- und hoffnungslos zurücklässt. Der Schreibstil ist sehr umgangssprachlich und schonungslos, so dass man sich der Stimmung und Atmosphäre kaum entziehen kann – ich hatte aber einfach andere Erwartungen an die Geschichte und gebe daher 3 von 5 Sternen.
Im Mittelpunkt der Geschichte steht Kieran, von seinen Freunden auch Stick genannt, dessen bester Freund Mac gerade nach einer Party auf offener Straße umgebracht wurde. Eigentlich wollten die beiden weg, nach Spanien, um sich dort einen schönen Sommer zu machen - und vielleicht nie wiederzukommen. Doch jetzt sitzt Stick fest in Manchester mit seinem Schmerz, seiner Wut und seiner Hoffnungslosigkeit – und weiß einfach nicht, wie es weiter gehen soll.
Vielleicht habe ich mich mit dem Buch so schwer getan, weil ich mit Stick doch so meine Probleme hatte ; er ist kein sympathischer Protagonist, den man direkt ins Herz schließt – ganz im Gegenteil. Drogen, Saufen und Sex scheinen das einzige zu sein, was ihn interessiert. Sicherlich hat Stick es nicht einfach mit seiner zwanghaften Mutter, mit der er in einer kleinen schäbigen Wohnung lebt, und einiges in seiner Vergangenheit ist wahrlich schief gelaufen, trotzdem konnte ich nicht richtig mit ihm fühlen, vielleicht auch, weil ich dafür dann doch zu wenig über ihn erfahren habe und ich den Eindruck hatte, dass Stick letztlich nur einer von vielen ist, denen es ähnlich geht.
Eigentlich passiert in der Geschichte gar nicht richtig viel, dafür aber gibt es Unmengen Einblicke in die Gedanken und Gefühlswelt Kierans. Und das ist der Autorin tatsächlich sehr gut gelungen. Seine Wut und seinen Schmerz, seine Hoffnungslosigkeit und auch Verzweiflung konnte ich beim Lesen geradezu spüren, auch seine Aggressionen, mit denen er nur schwer umzugehen weiß. Kieran hat nichts, was ihn im Leben hält – zwar machen sich seine Eltern Sorgen und Gedanken, aber letztlich können auch sie ihn nicht erreichen. Hoffnung gibt es für Kieran nicht – nur einen kleinen Lichtstrahl, als er J kennenlernt. Über J erfährt der Leser nicht viel, auch sie schleppt eine Menge Ballast mit sich rum, und der eine scheint für den anderen wie ein Anker zu sein.
Der Schreibstil des Buches ist sehr umgangssprachlich und schonungslos, lässt sich dadurch aber sehr flott lesen. Man taucht geradezu ein in die Gefühlswelt Kierans, leider aber auch in die hoffnungslose und sehr bedrückende Atmosphäre der Geschichte. Licht im Tunnel hat es leider kaum gegeben, und auch wenn Kieran schon fast am Ende der Geschichte eine Entscheidung trifft, die ihn vielleicht in eine richtige Richtung bringt, ist das Buch doch eher von Hoffnungslosigkeit geprägt. Unterstützt wird diese noch durch eine Rahmenhandlung, in die die Geschichte eingebettet ist – nämlich die Unruhen, die 2011 in London und anderen britischen Städten nach der Erschießung eines farbigen Mannes durch die Polizei entstanden sind und rasch ein ungeheures Ausmaß angenommen haben.
Das Ende der Geschichte bleibt relativ offen und der Leser mit seinem bedrückten Gefühl alleine zurück. Da hätte ich mir irgendein anderes Ende gewünscht, nicht unbedingt ein Happy End, aber zumindest eines, das Mut macht und mich nicht so bedrückt und hoffnungslos das Buch zuschlagen lässt.
Mein Fazit
So richtig überzeugen konnte mich die Geschichte um Kieran, der seinen besten Freund durch einen Mord verliert, leider nicht, auch wenn es der Autorin wirklich sehr gut gelungen ist, Kierans Gefühle und Gedanken, seine Wut und Aggression zum Ausdruck zu bringen. Mir hat in dieser Geschichte eine positive Seite gefehlt, die mich am Ende nicht ganz so mut- und hoffnungslos zurücklässt. Der Schreibstil ist sehr umgangssprachlich und schonungslos, so dass man sich der Stimmung und Atmosphäre kaum entziehen kann – ich hatte aber einfach andere Erwartungen an die Geschichte und gebe daher 3 von 5 Sternen.
Read
June 11, 2015I’m usually a little wary about unsolicited review copies. Mainly because, like most readers, I have a pretty strong sense of what works for me in a book. At first glance, Before the Fire was different. It sounded like just my sort of read. Contemporary? Check. Gritty UK setting, complete with the London riots? Check. But the more I think about Before the Fire, the more disappointed I am.
The first hiccup in my enjoyment of Before the Fire was Stick’s atrocious personality. But I kept ploughing through, After all, I’m a firm believer characters do not have to be ‘likeable’ for a book to be good or enjoyable. I can deal with frustrating characters, but they have to have some redeeming features. One of my favourite UKYA series, also gritty and crime-related, is the perfect example of this. But things got worse once Stick met J, the girl who could ‘fix him’ and be everything for him after a total of about five minutes together. I absolutely hated his objectification of J (and women in general), and the way he clung to her simply because he wanted to get her into bed. I get there are people like that everywhere, but it’s not a personality I really want to spend time with, in fiction or reality.
Apart from Stick’s personality problems, I did see a lot of potential in this book. I think one of the reasons I kept reading was the faint hope that maybe, just maybe this might be realised. I would have loved to learn more about Stick’s mum’s apparent OCD, what happened to his sister Sophie and how her death precipitated his parent’s split, regardless of his disgusting personality. But apparently, Stick’s ‘romance’ with J was the more important part of his story. Personally, I think Before the Fire would have improved immeasurably had J not been a part of Stick’s story.
I also felt cheated on a couple of fronts reading Before the Fire. Firstly, the riots. The blurb implies the 2011 event plays some sort of vital role in the story. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. In fact, they first get a mention until 36 pages out from the end. WHAT. That was actually one of the reasons I stuck with this book despite practically loathing the main character. What a bloody mug. In another, less obvious sense I felt cheated by the cop-out ending. Stick has learned nothing from the death of his best friend at the hands of a violent thug. Also, finding a girlfriend is not the answer to the death of your best friend.
It wasn’t until I sat down to write this review, I realised I felt so strongly about Before the Fire. I just cannot recommend this with any integrity. Stick was a terrible person and I really didn’t enjoy reading about his hollow relationship with J. Give me family drama, uncomfortable characters and thoughtful exploration of grief any day. Unfortunately, Before the Fire was not it.
This review and many more can be found at The Unfinished Bookshelf.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for providing a copy of the book for review.
The first hiccup in my enjoyment of Before the Fire was Stick’s atrocious personality. But I kept ploughing through, After all, I’m a firm believer characters do not have to be ‘likeable’ for a book to be good or enjoyable. I can deal with frustrating characters, but they have to have some redeeming features. One of my favourite UKYA series, also gritty and crime-related, is the perfect example of this. But things got worse once Stick met J, the girl who could ‘fix him’ and be everything for him after a total of about five minutes together. I absolutely hated his objectification of J (and women in general), and the way he clung to her simply because he wanted to get her into bed. I get there are people like that everywhere, but it’s not a personality I really want to spend time with, in fiction or reality.
Apart from Stick’s personality problems, I did see a lot of potential in this book. I think one of the reasons I kept reading was the faint hope that maybe, just maybe this might be realised. I would have loved to learn more about Stick’s mum’s apparent OCD, what happened to his sister Sophie and how her death precipitated his parent’s split, regardless of his disgusting personality. But apparently, Stick’s ‘romance’ with J was the more important part of his story. Personally, I think Before the Fire would have improved immeasurably had J not been a part of Stick’s story.
I also felt cheated on a couple of fronts reading Before the Fire. Firstly, the riots. The blurb implies the 2011 event plays some sort of vital role in the story. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. In fact, they first get a mention until 36 pages out from the end. WHAT. That was actually one of the reasons I stuck with this book despite practically loathing the main character. What a bloody mug. In another, less obvious sense I felt cheated by the cop-out ending. Stick has learned nothing from the death of his best friend at the hands of a violent thug. Also, finding a girlfriend is not the answer to the death of your best friend.
It wasn’t until I sat down to write this review, I realised I felt so strongly about Before the Fire. I just cannot recommend this with any integrity. Stick was a terrible person and I really didn’t enjoy reading about his hollow relationship with J. Give me family drama, uncomfortable characters and thoughtful exploration of grief any day. Unfortunately, Before the Fire was not it.
This review and many more can be found at The Unfinished Bookshelf.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan Australia for providing a copy of the book for review.
September 8, 2022
Seriously what's the point of this book? There's not much impact from this book. Yes, it talks abt grief but I don't even feel touch by it. Every characters in this book don't have a single personality in them. The main guy's personality is getting drunk in the middle of the day, hates the world bcs he's tired living a planned life and horny. Like I understand the aspect of the main guy not knowing what he's going to do in the future but majorly I don't see the point of this book tbh.
May 13, 2016
Before the Fire by Sarah Butler
I read Sarah Butler’s debut, Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Love, because I met her briefly and by accident – and consider it one of the best novels I’ve read in recent years. On the strength of it, I bought Before the Fire – and I’m glad I did. As an author who explores different genres myself, I appreciate Butler’s courage in delivering with this second novel something ‘other’, rather than a variation – especially in the context of the pressure often applied for commercial reasons: to package a brand and then repackage it. Before the Fire is simpler than its predecessor in its register, more directly linear in its storyline, and several shades different in its tone.
For all its sadness and London grit, Ten Things… is after all about love, and while the denouement skilfully sidesteps sentiment, there’s a kind of bright, vulnerable hope that moved me deeply as the two key characters make an unexpected connection. In Before the Fire, love is an idea that got buried under the ‘shit’ of reality, an idea that got ‘fucked’. It only begins, in Stick’s consciousness, to emerge from the wreckage of living alongside the excitement of the riots that offer him a kind of inverted purpose. What Butler sets out to do, having researched the unrest of 2011 and its causes, is to take her character through the months that led him, as a looter with a weapon, to the blazing streets of Manchester. It’s not a story of redemption and by the end the sum total of Stick’s hope could be described as a few tea lights in a derelict warehouse by midnight. I’m a Quaker, I’m nearly sixty and a middle-class woman, so with Stick and his world I’m in territory that’s personally alien and disturbing. I wouldn’t, as someone inspired by Marilynne Robinson, Carol Shields and Ann Tyler, have selected this novel from the shelf, and on my Kindle I read it in conjunction with Silas Marner. But I cared. Butler took me somewhere I’ve never been and illuminated it. I could smell, taste and breathe it because she makes every element of her story, darkly desperate as it is, vivid and real. She gives us humour with light, quirky touches in the dialogue and in the imagination of a central character I now know better than my own son!
The novel compels because it’s jagged with feeling – the explosive power of grief and loss, hopelessness and betrayal, shame and rage. And the impotence. There’s real hatred at the core of Stick’s drama, and it makes that barely-surfacing love – fragile and full of doubt as it is – harrowingly poignant. I may not reread this second novel as I plan to reread the first, but both are memorable for an intensity deftly controlled with stylistic facility and psychological honesty. Sarah Butler is a writer whose novels demand that we live with them and that they live in us after the final page.
I read Sarah Butler’s debut, Ten Things I’ve Learnt About Love, because I met her briefly and by accident – and consider it one of the best novels I’ve read in recent years. On the strength of it, I bought Before the Fire – and I’m glad I did. As an author who explores different genres myself, I appreciate Butler’s courage in delivering with this second novel something ‘other’, rather than a variation – especially in the context of the pressure often applied for commercial reasons: to package a brand and then repackage it. Before the Fire is simpler than its predecessor in its register, more directly linear in its storyline, and several shades different in its tone.
For all its sadness and London grit, Ten Things… is after all about love, and while the denouement skilfully sidesteps sentiment, there’s a kind of bright, vulnerable hope that moved me deeply as the two key characters make an unexpected connection. In Before the Fire, love is an idea that got buried under the ‘shit’ of reality, an idea that got ‘fucked’. It only begins, in Stick’s consciousness, to emerge from the wreckage of living alongside the excitement of the riots that offer him a kind of inverted purpose. What Butler sets out to do, having researched the unrest of 2011 and its causes, is to take her character through the months that led him, as a looter with a weapon, to the blazing streets of Manchester. It’s not a story of redemption and by the end the sum total of Stick’s hope could be described as a few tea lights in a derelict warehouse by midnight. I’m a Quaker, I’m nearly sixty and a middle-class woman, so with Stick and his world I’m in territory that’s personally alien and disturbing. I wouldn’t, as someone inspired by Marilynne Robinson, Carol Shields and Ann Tyler, have selected this novel from the shelf, and on my Kindle I read it in conjunction with Silas Marner. But I cared. Butler took me somewhere I’ve never been and illuminated it. I could smell, taste and breathe it because she makes every element of her story, darkly desperate as it is, vivid and real. She gives us humour with light, quirky touches in the dialogue and in the imagination of a central character I now know better than my own son!
The novel compels because it’s jagged with feeling – the explosive power of grief and loss, hopelessness and betrayal, shame and rage. And the impotence. There’s real hatred at the core of Stick’s drama, and it makes that barely-surfacing love – fragile and full of doubt as it is – harrowingly poignant. I may not reread this second novel as I plan to reread the first, but both are memorable for an intensity deftly controlled with stylistic facility and psychological honesty. Sarah Butler is a writer whose novels demand that we live with them and that they live in us after the final page.
June 2, 2015
Set in the lead up to the London riots of 2011, Before the Fire is an intelligent and believable coming of age story about an eighteen year old boy who is grieving for his best mate. Kieran, better known by his nickname, Stick, believes that his life is finally starting to take a turn for the better. He has suffered a few traumas during his childhood--the death of his sister and his parents divorcing soon after. Stick lives with his mum, who has OCD and who is reluctant to admit that there is a problem. His dad, meanwhile, has remarried and he and his new wife have two daughters. It is not difficult to see why Stick is resentful of his situation, though his parents are presented as being basically okay people (despite their failings,) and who most definitely care about their son. Anyway, Stick and his best mate Mac have organised a trip to Spain, where they are planning to live and work, and Stick is thoroughly looking forward to the change and to leaving Manchester behind. But on the evening of their going away party, Mac is murdered and Stick is left behind ...
Before the Fire is brutal in its honesty and in its portrayal of a troubled teenage boy. And this is exactly what makes it such a compelling read. Far from offering an idealised view of adolescence, the author tells things as they are, presents readers with real-life problems and writes situations that made me stop and think about human nature. I also liked the paring of Stick with J, a delinquent girl with a penchant for trouble. The whole thing is about as far away from a cliched YA romance as you can get and as a reader, I thoroughly appreciated the contrast. Stick, his family and his girlfriend are all far from perfect, but the situations felt real and easy to identify with. I may not necessarily condone everything that the character does, but I loved having the opportunity to try and understand why he did it.
The London riots themselves provide an interesting backdrop and parallel--just as Stick wants answers to the death of Mac and to avenge it--the riots were caused by a demand for answers and a way of avenging one person's murder. It is interesting what Stick does when he finally finds himself face to face with Owen Lee, the man responsible for Mac's murder--the scene shows a real test of character.
If you're looking for a hard-hitting, confronting read about what life can be like for some kids, then Before the Fire is an excellent choice. Recommended.
This review also appears on my blog, Kathryn's Inbox.
Before the Fire is brutal in its honesty and in its portrayal of a troubled teenage boy. And this is exactly what makes it such a compelling read. Far from offering an idealised view of adolescence, the author tells things as they are, presents readers with real-life problems and writes situations that made me stop and think about human nature. I also liked the paring of Stick with J, a delinquent girl with a penchant for trouble. The whole thing is about as far away from a cliched YA romance as you can get and as a reader, I thoroughly appreciated the contrast. Stick, his family and his girlfriend are all far from perfect, but the situations felt real and easy to identify with. I may not necessarily condone everything that the character does, but I loved having the opportunity to try and understand why he did it.
The London riots themselves provide an interesting backdrop and parallel--just as Stick wants answers to the death of Mac and to avenge it--the riots were caused by a demand for answers and a way of avenging one person's murder. It is interesting what Stick does when he finally finds himself face to face with Owen Lee, the man responsible for Mac's murder--the scene shows a real test of character.
If you're looking for a hard-hitting, confronting read about what life can be like for some kids, then Before the Fire is an excellent choice. Recommended.
This review also appears on my blog, Kathryn's Inbox.
February 9, 2017
Manchmal liest man den Klappentext von einem Buch und man will unbedingt das es einem gefällt, man es so dringend, dass man sich voller Begeisterung auf das Buch stürzt, doch irgendwie will der ersehnte Funke nicht überspringen. Und am Ende ist unklar ob es am Leser, an den hohen Anforderungen oder am Protagonisten liegt, doch man bleibt unbefriedigt zurück. So ging es mir mit "Die Nacht brennt" von Sarah Butler, der Klappentext und die ersten Seiten haben mich in Hochstimmung versetzt, aber dann flaute alles irgendwie ab. Die Story selbst und vor allem der Schreibstil haben mir sehr gefallen.
Erzählt wird die Geschichte aus Sicht von Stick. Stick kommt aus einem schwierigen Familienverhätlnis, und versucht diesem durch seine Reise zu entfliehen. Immer wieder scheint es, dass einfach zu viel auf Sticks Schulter lastet, weshalb er einfach weg muss, um sich zu finden. Sarah Butler schafft es durch kleine innere Monologe und selbstzweifelnde Fragen hier einen realistischen Protagonisten zu erschaffen. Eine Figur mit der wir mitfühlen und der wir folgen können.
"Alle taten so, als wäre es tatsächlich passiert, als wäre Mac wirklich tot, aber das konnte nicht sein. Stick war nicht tot, wie konnte Mac es da sein?" (Seite 60)
Ich möchte nicht zu viel vorweg greifen, aber schlussendlich bin ich mit dem Verlauf der Geschichte von Stick nicht glücklich gewesen. Vielleicht bin ich auch ein zu großer Romantiker und hätte mir einfach etwas anderes für Stick gewünscht, ein anderes Leben und eine andere Zukunft. Das Ende lässt mich mit so vielen Fragezeichen zurück, und es kam mir auch so vor, als hätte Stick sich innerhalb der Geschichte kaum entwickelt, was total schade ist, denn Potenzial war dafür definitiv da.
Zum Glück habe ich ein paar Tage mit meiner Rezension und meiner letztendlichen Bewertung gewartet, denn ich war nach dem Lesen wirklich frustriert. Rückblickend lässt sich aber erkennen, dass Sarah Butler vielleicht auch einfach realistisch an das Thema heran gegangen ist. Es gab eben keine Wunder oder Schicksalwendungen, es war die ungeschönte Wahrheit die dem Leser hier präsentiert wird und genau das macht glaube ich den Reiz dieses Buches aus.
Fazit:
Ein Buch das definitiv nichts für Romantiker ist, denn es liefert uns schonungslos die Realität. Es zeigt die Gefühle von Verlust, Angst und Wut wie sie unser Protagonist Stick erlebt und umsetzt. Das Ende konnte mich nicht wirklich zufriedenstellen, aber spätestens durch ihren Schreibstil schafft es Sarah Butler definitiv den Leser zu inspirieren.
Erzählt wird die Geschichte aus Sicht von Stick. Stick kommt aus einem schwierigen Familienverhätlnis, und versucht diesem durch seine Reise zu entfliehen. Immer wieder scheint es, dass einfach zu viel auf Sticks Schulter lastet, weshalb er einfach weg muss, um sich zu finden. Sarah Butler schafft es durch kleine innere Monologe und selbstzweifelnde Fragen hier einen realistischen Protagonisten zu erschaffen. Eine Figur mit der wir mitfühlen und der wir folgen können.
"Alle taten so, als wäre es tatsächlich passiert, als wäre Mac wirklich tot, aber das konnte nicht sein. Stick war nicht tot, wie konnte Mac es da sein?" (Seite 60)
Ich möchte nicht zu viel vorweg greifen, aber schlussendlich bin ich mit dem Verlauf der Geschichte von Stick nicht glücklich gewesen. Vielleicht bin ich auch ein zu großer Romantiker und hätte mir einfach etwas anderes für Stick gewünscht, ein anderes Leben und eine andere Zukunft. Das Ende lässt mich mit so vielen Fragezeichen zurück, und es kam mir auch so vor, als hätte Stick sich innerhalb der Geschichte kaum entwickelt, was total schade ist, denn Potenzial war dafür definitiv da.
Zum Glück habe ich ein paar Tage mit meiner Rezension und meiner letztendlichen Bewertung gewartet, denn ich war nach dem Lesen wirklich frustriert. Rückblickend lässt sich aber erkennen, dass Sarah Butler vielleicht auch einfach realistisch an das Thema heran gegangen ist. Es gab eben keine Wunder oder Schicksalwendungen, es war die ungeschönte Wahrheit die dem Leser hier präsentiert wird und genau das macht glaube ich den Reiz dieses Buches aus.
Fazit:
Ein Buch das definitiv nichts für Romantiker ist, denn es liefert uns schonungslos die Realität. Es zeigt die Gefühle von Verlust, Angst und Wut wie sie unser Protagonist Stick erlebt und umsetzt. Das Ende konnte mich nicht wirklich zufriedenstellen, aber spätestens durch ihren Schreibstil schafft es Sarah Butler definitiv den Leser zu inspirieren.
April 13, 2016
Before the Fire by Sarah Butler projects itself as a novel about a boy struggling with grief who falls in love with a girl during the 2011 London Riots. What Before the Fire is really about though, is a boy so overcome with anger and a stinging bitterness towards society that those around him are all left feeling alienated. Just as I felt alienated when reading the story about our main character Stick who loses his best friend in awful circumstances early on in the book and is left to navigate a world he has no desire to be in. While Stick’s loss is upsetting, Stick as a character is infuriatingly selfish, and I found my sympathy wore thin quickly. In one sequence his dad (who he hates for some unfounded reason) offers him an employment opportunity, to which he turns up his nose.
“When you two have finished organizing my life, and making out I’m too shit to do anything to do anything except sell fucking double glazing, let me know will you?” – p. 106
Having a dislikeable protagonist doesn’t have to be frustrating for the reader but Butler’s take on male chav culture through Stick is insufferable. Alongside this issue, is the abundance of details given to this story that never reach any kind of climax, making them very obvious plot devices. There’s an instance where Stick feels some very uncomfortable sexual tension with a certain character, an instance which is never referenced in any way later in the book, where is the continuity?
Before the Fire is more of an enjoyable experience when cut into individual moments that aren’t burdened by an over-arching plot that never seems to be progressing. I enjoyed Stick’s drug-addled eighteenth birthday and the family fallout which followed but within a few pages the book was back to its dreary, ordinary self. The struggles of being an adolescent boy come far darker than this, yet for all the wrong reasons, Before the Fire may be one of the most depressing interpretations of it you'll ever read.
more at: https://thesightsandsoundsblog.wordpr...
“When you two have finished organizing my life, and making out I’m too shit to do anything to do anything except sell fucking double glazing, let me know will you?” – p. 106
Having a dislikeable protagonist doesn’t have to be frustrating for the reader but Butler’s take on male chav culture through Stick is insufferable. Alongside this issue, is the abundance of details given to this story that never reach any kind of climax, making them very obvious plot devices. There’s an instance where Stick feels some very uncomfortable sexual tension with a certain character, an instance which is never referenced in any way later in the book, where is the continuity?
Before the Fire is more of an enjoyable experience when cut into individual moments that aren’t burdened by an over-arching plot that never seems to be progressing. I enjoyed Stick’s drug-addled eighteenth birthday and the family fallout which followed but within a few pages the book was back to its dreary, ordinary self. The struggles of being an adolescent boy come far darker than this, yet for all the wrong reasons, Before the Fire may be one of the most depressing interpretations of it you'll ever read.
more at: https://thesightsandsoundsblog.wordpr...
June 4, 2015
Finished reading: “Before the Fire” / Sarah Butler. 03 June 2015
ISBN: 9781447252153
Borrowed from the local library.
I really enjoyed this book. The time is just before the English riots of 2011 that started in London and spread across the country. The story focuses on Stick (known to his family as Kieran), an almost 18 year old about to set off on a road trip to Malaga with his best mate, before fate intervenes. The characters and situations are all entirely believable. It is a story of loss, grief and resilience told with deft touches of humour and, ultimately, optimism.
This book is held in the Adult Fiction collection of my library but I can imagine that some libraries might classify it (quite appropriately) as Teen Fiction.
While this makes an excellent read for adults, it is particularly good for teens as it shows there are good and bad choices in life and making the good choice is both possible and rewarding.
ISBN: 9781447252153
Borrowed from the local library.
I really enjoyed this book. The time is just before the English riots of 2011 that started in London and spread across the country. The story focuses on Stick (known to his family as Kieran), an almost 18 year old about to set off on a road trip to Malaga with his best mate, before fate intervenes. The characters and situations are all entirely believable. It is a story of loss, grief and resilience told with deft touches of humour and, ultimately, optimism.
This book is held in the Adult Fiction collection of my library but I can imagine that some libraries might classify it (quite appropriately) as Teen Fiction.
While this makes an excellent read for adults, it is particularly good for teens as it shows there are good and bad choices in life and making the good choice is both possible and rewarding.
November 6, 2015
June 2011 and Stick and Mac are ablaze with the promise of adventure. Just finished school, they’ve bought a wreck of a car and are planning to drive from Manchester to Malaga, where beaches, girls and a washing-up job in a bar await them. But, the night before they’re due to leave, a random knife-attack puts a stop to that. Mac is dead and Stick’s going nowhere. Bereft and stunned, his family’s attempt to console him only fuel his anger and the limitations of the law are like a slap in the face to his friend and others like him who live on the wrong side of town. His tentative friendship with the feisty J seems like the only thing that could save him. But she’s a firebrand with a grudge against the police, and the August riots are on the way to Manchester.
Full review http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdo...
Full review http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdo...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews