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Baby's on Fire
Baby’s on Fire is a smouldering collection of twelve stories set in the West with strong female protagonists who are trying to find their way in the world as their ties of intimacy are damaged and broken. Stories in the collection have been previously published by Hunger Mountain, Iron Horse Literary Review, Hawaii Review, Los Angeles Review, and others.
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
142 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2015
3 people are currently reading
167 people want to read
About the author
Liz Prato
7 books62 followersLiz Prato is the author of Volcanoes, Palm Trees, and Privilege: Essays on Hawai‘i (Overcup Press), baby's on fire (Press 53), and editor of The Night, and the Rain, and the River: 22 Stories (Forest Avenue Press). Her newest book, Kids in America: Essays on Gen X will be published by SFWP in June 2022.
Liz lives with furry feline friends and her best friend/husband, who is a bookseller, musician, and writer. And, yes, she dreams of palm trees. Every day.
Liz lives with furry feline friends and her best friend/husband, who is a bookseller, musician, and writer. And, yes, she dreams of palm trees. Every day.
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
February 7, 2016
I reckon many reading this review are not familiar with writer Liz Prato or this slim volume of twelve stories, her debut collection. I'm doing what I can here, and in the real world, to change that. Fortunately I live in the literary Utopia that is the Pacific Northwest, where astonishingly talented writers are nearly as numerous as coffee shops and the community lifts up, supports and loves its own. Liz is a literary lion here, but you should know her, you should read her work.
These are raw stories told with clear-eyed intensity by female protagonists (save one), many of whom are in motion, on planes, in cars, in flux, running from or toward themselves, on the cusp of emotional upheaval.
The title story is a favorite. Jude, a recent college graduate who can't even get her "ass hired at Starbucks" mails her possessions home to Portland from Colorado and follows them meekly, resigned to living in her mother's basement until she can figure out a way through her failure. What follows is a deliciously subtle and sad confirmation of the adage, "You can't go home again."
The naturalness that pervades the stories' dialogue also translates into a deep sensuality within the characters. I don't know when I've been more aware of characters' skin, the feel of their bones, their breath. In the heartbreaking and lovely Riding the Shore Deb caresses her lover's nearly-hairless skull while Ginny leans over the toilet, vomiting up the wretchedness of her cancer. I ran my hand over the landscape of Ginny's skull, over hills and rivers and flat sand beaches.
In the ironic and coyly bitter Astronomical Objects, Prato uses a room's objects to frame the passion between two lovers ...(the) bed is a heavenly body, but for us it has no wings. Those heavy sheets and blankets and duvet would keep us tamped flat. We sit and we stand and we twist and we bend. In a chair, over a table on the floor. The bed is a prop, a place to find balance, but we rarely lie flat. Later, these lovers realize their partners are also having an affair. "Is it because—?"
No," he says. "They did it all on their own."
Prato's characters are waging intimate battles, like most of us, which is what makes this collection so revelatory and relatable. The characters and their problems are wincingly familiar because most of us face them every day, when we look in the mirror or into our hearts.
These stories are gems, but not polished and gleaming—though Prato's writing is, with a clarity and crispness as refreshing and energizing as a mountain stream—no, they are raw and uncut, far more interesting for their ambiguous endings and untidy characters.
Highly recommended.
These are raw stories told with clear-eyed intensity by female protagonists (save one), many of whom are in motion, on planes, in cars, in flux, running from or toward themselves, on the cusp of emotional upheaval.
The title story is a favorite. Jude, a recent college graduate who can't even get her "ass hired at Starbucks" mails her possessions home to Portland from Colorado and follows them meekly, resigned to living in her mother's basement until she can figure out a way through her failure. What follows is a deliciously subtle and sad confirmation of the adage, "You can't go home again."
The naturalness that pervades the stories' dialogue also translates into a deep sensuality within the characters. I don't know when I've been more aware of characters' skin, the feel of their bones, their breath. In the heartbreaking and lovely Riding the Shore Deb caresses her lover's nearly-hairless skull while Ginny leans over the toilet, vomiting up the wretchedness of her cancer. I ran my hand over the landscape of Ginny's skull, over hills and rivers and flat sand beaches.
In the ironic and coyly bitter Astronomical Objects, Prato uses a room's objects to frame the passion between two lovers ...(the) bed is a heavenly body, but for us it has no wings. Those heavy sheets and blankets and duvet would keep us tamped flat. We sit and we stand and we twist and we bend. In a chair, over a table on the floor. The bed is a prop, a place to find balance, but we rarely lie flat. Later, these lovers realize their partners are also having an affair. "Is it because—?"
No," he says. "They did it all on their own."
Prato's characters are waging intimate battles, like most of us, which is what makes this collection so revelatory and relatable. The characters and their problems are wincingly familiar because most of us face them every day, when we look in the mirror or into our hearts.
These stories are gems, but not polished and gleaming—though Prato's writing is, with a clarity and crispness as refreshing and energizing as a mountain stream—no, they are raw and uncut, far more interesting for their ambiguous endings and untidy characters.
Highly recommended.
August 11, 2018
Another amazing short story collection, this one by Liz Prato. I love the beautiful complexity of the women in these stories—their heartbreaking need for connection and intimacy, and the ways in which our world denies this. Prato is a fantastic writer. These stories are imbued with a lovely sense of warmth, an almost warm water dive into sense and pleasure.
April 19, 2015
This book is a haunting, raw, sometimes difficult (in the best way... in the way that challenges the reader to rise to the material) collection of short stories. The characters that populate these stories are so human and fully realized that it's almost as if they are in the room with you while you read. (I'm tempted to describe many of the stories as character portraits with actual plots woven in, so the best of both kinds of literary fiction.) A stunning collection from a very talented writer.
August 16, 2015
Boy, it's hard to get me to love a short story collection, but Liz Prato managed to do just that. Her characters feel like people you know, and her small stories are brilliant wedges of their lives. With straightforward but lush prose, languid sensuality, and solid storytelling, Baby's on Fire is a tiny gem.
May 16, 2015
Baby's on Fire is a collection of stories that shine a spotlight on characters burning through the moments the reader spends in their company. I particularly love the heart of each character, the way each story creates a world for me to explore, and pushed against traditional structure to infuse her stories with simmering energy by weaving present and back story masterfully. And the writing. Each story had moments where I stopped to reread a sentence just to enjoy it again, as in these two sentences I think should printed on book bags and sold to every writer who understands the importance of community: "Our love is what happens when artistic souls recognize each other. We rushed together like twins separated at birth."
August 25, 2015
These stories spark and crackle and effervesce, giving us characters poised on the knife's edge of life's turning. Artfully told, fully realized, heartbreaking in places and funny in others--this is a great collection to read on your lunch hour, on the train, or in any other situation where you've got just a snippet of time to occupy. Small stories rich in the details of place and time, they'll appeal to just about anyone who enjoys well-written, character-driven fiction.
May 25, 2015
WOWZA. Prato's debut collection is jam-packed with beautiful, big-hearted stories. I tried to take my time with this one, and it still didn't last long enough.
December 15, 2015
http://mariesbookgarden.blogspot.com/...
I'm not really much of a short story person. I'd always prefer reading a novel. In fact, I didn't actually know this was fiction until I reached the beginning of the second story!! (Yes, I know it says "Stories" on the front!)
My first exposure to Liz Prato was when I heard her read at a book launch for Brave on the Page, an anthology of essays by and interviews with Oregon writers, in which my husband was also featured. Her autobiographical piece immediately drew me in....full of stark, gut-wrenching detail. I knew she was a writer to watch.
...So I was excited to read Baby's On Fire, the first book she's written (and I didn't know it was short stories). You know you've found a good short story, when you wish it were a novel...and that's how I felt about many of these stories.
One thread runs through these stories: the characters have been scarred by tough times. In the title story, for example, the unemployed, depressed main character arrives home in Portland to discover her family's house had been burned to the ground.
Two other sad stories in particular made me want more: "The Adventures of a Maya Queen" and Riding to the Shore," interestingly, both involving cancer. And one story, "Covered in Red Dirt," takes place in Hawaii, always an intriguing setting for me.
In each story, Prato paints a beautiful, if sometimes heart-breaking, picture of lives lived hard and people who have been through the wars. She too has survived more than one heart should bear, and it shows in her work. A person who hasn't experienced deep losses could not write like this and could not represent these characters' lives and thoughts so well.
Multnomah County Library named Baby's on Fire as one of its best books of 2015. I feel fortunate to know such a talented writer who creates touching stories that stick with you for days.
I'm not really much of a short story person. I'd always prefer reading a novel. In fact, I didn't actually know this was fiction until I reached the beginning of the second story!! (Yes, I know it says "Stories" on the front!)
My first exposure to Liz Prato was when I heard her read at a book launch for Brave on the Page, an anthology of essays by and interviews with Oregon writers, in which my husband was also featured. Her autobiographical piece immediately drew me in....full of stark, gut-wrenching detail. I knew she was a writer to watch.
...So I was excited to read Baby's On Fire, the first book she's written (and I didn't know it was short stories). You know you've found a good short story, when you wish it were a novel...and that's how I felt about many of these stories.
One thread runs through these stories: the characters have been scarred by tough times. In the title story, for example, the unemployed, depressed main character arrives home in Portland to discover her family's house had been burned to the ground.
Two other sad stories in particular made me want more: "The Adventures of a Maya Queen" and Riding to the Shore," interestingly, both involving cancer. And one story, "Covered in Red Dirt," takes place in Hawaii, always an intriguing setting for me.
In each story, Prato paints a beautiful, if sometimes heart-breaking, picture of lives lived hard and people who have been through the wars. She too has survived more than one heart should bear, and it shows in her work. A person who hasn't experienced deep losses could not write like this and could not represent these characters' lives and thoughts so well.
Multnomah County Library named Baby's on Fire as one of its best books of 2015. I feel fortunate to know such a talented writer who creates touching stories that stick with you for days.
December 16, 2015
Okay. Not stories of happiness. The characters are depressed, and/or dealing with death, or don't know where to turn, or are simply lost. There are no babies set on fire. Though sometimes it's sadder than that.
And it's a great book.
The characters are very believable. And the writing doesn't try hard to do that. You know these people exist somewhere, as do each of their real problems. Which sucks for those real people.
But I was left with a really satisfying feeling after each story. Not so much telling myself, "This is great writing," but more, "That was so believable, and I feel for those people." Which means it is great writing.
So get this book, read a story or two at a time, then read five or six comics of "The Far Side," or watch "Anchorman" afterward to balance yourself out. It's all great entertainment.
July 10, 2015
Liz Prato's signature brand of verve and honesty shines through this collection of short stories, demonstrating why so many flock to her readings and seminars. There is a clear sense of place infusing each story, with markers that will be immediately recognizable to residents of the cities highlighted therein. This debut set of shorts -- the genre which this author has dominated for years -- showcases both her literary talents and her editing chops: each word is precisely chosen, and imbued with meaning that resonates on both a literal and symbolic level. Don't miss this breakout book!
September 26, 2016
These stories aren't just stories in the normal sense of the word. I think of these stories more as intricate machines, clocks with legs, a mechanical parrot that talks. These stories are so well put together, the characters bleed real blood, they yearn and don't get what they want. Closure happens but not when we want it to. Music is threaded throughout all these pieces. You'll be both surprised and delighted, you'll shed a tear or two, you'll laugh out loud, if you are like me you will probably even see yourself in many of these stories. Highly recommended!
Read
January 8, 2022Liz Prato has a talent for diving into the core of a scene, a character, a situation. "minor league lessons" opens with-My grandmother floored the accelerator on the golf cart. In one sentence we have the setting (maybe a golf club, maybe a home for retirees?) the character (a crazy/angry/independent grandmother?) and situation (is she driving away or toward something that she wants or doesn't want to see?)
Liz Prato drives the reader to the heart of each character. In "riding to the shore" Ginny's beauty, silliness and love of life shines immediately-Ginny stood on the counter of the diner decorated in tinfoil. . . She even made a tinfoil tiara, perched on her red wig. . . Ginny clasped a ketchup bottle. . . It's such an honor to be nominated. What a shimmering character! Or in "baby's on fire"-I couldn't even get my ass hired at Starbucks.
But what strikes me the most is that every story is so different in every way, not just the scenes, the characters and the situations, but the journey through inertia, sorrow, satisfaction, depression, accomplishment, surprise, irony, acceptance, hope.
This book is a trove of treasures!
Liz Prato drives the reader to the heart of each character. In "riding to the shore" Ginny's beauty, silliness and love of life shines immediately-Ginny stood on the counter of the diner decorated in tinfoil. . . She even made a tinfoil tiara, perched on her red wig. . . Ginny clasped a ketchup bottle. . . It's such an honor to be nominated. What a shimmering character! Or in "baby's on fire"-I couldn't even get my ass hired at Starbucks.
But what strikes me the most is that every story is so different in every way, not just the scenes, the characters and the situations, but the journey through inertia, sorrow, satisfaction, depression, accomplishment, surprise, irony, acceptance, hope.
This book is a trove of treasures!
August 31, 2018
These stories are so good, beautifully written, richly layered, and not a word longer than necessary, leaving the reader to ponder what comes next. In the title story, the protagonist’s life has fallen apart, and she has finally accepted that she has to go home. But there is no home to go to. The house burned down, and her mother and little brother are in worse shape than she is. Now what? In “Minor League Lessons,” a failed ballplayer copes with his crazy girlfriend and his unpredictable grandmother, coming to a wonderful conclusion. In “I See You in the Bright Night,” a young man and woman who were teenage lovers and who both escaped abusive homes, come together as adults, remembering a turning point when things might have been different. There is not a dud in this collection. I just want more from this sister Oregonian writer.
December 6, 2024
I have heard the word “soulful” used to describe author Liz Prato , and I have always agreed with that, but it has never been more evident than in the pages of this book. I am not a reader of short stories, but these stories have so much heart and depth, that I felt so drawn to and involved in each of them, which is usually my main complaint with the short story genre: that they are over before you even get invested. And though they are all separate and different stories, there is something that ties them together. I don’t think I am articulate enough to describe it - perhaps human relationships, people at pivotal moments in life, struck by tragedy and/or at a crossroads - it’s just an overall feeling of a seamless flow.
August 5, 2019
Powerful collection of short stories, full of characters made so real they stay with you after their story is over.
May 11, 2023
I’m kind of speechless and biased, so I don’t want to really leave a review for this one. Ba-boom.
May 17, 2015
'Baby's on Fire' is a strong collection of 12 beautiful stories. I picked it up and couldn't put it down. I ended up in tears. More than once I caught myself admiring the writing - it's vivid and truly everything I read for, well developed characters grappling with themes of loneliness, family, and relationships. I am looking forward to this author's next book.
August 18, 2015
This short story collection was amazing! I took my time with each story twice (not only due to being a slow reader but) because of the intensity of the prose and how beautifully written it was to read as a whole. Liz Prato has easily become another one to add to my list of favorites and an author whose new writing I eagerly await to experience once again in the near future!
July 9, 2015
The twelve stories in Baby’s on Fire are radiant, infused with Liz Prato's signature blend of clarity, humor, and intimacy. Her characters spark and crack against each other, many of them rattled by unexpected change, wanting to find their way back to the things they used to have, and often the wanting proves transformative. Highly recommended.
December 30, 2015
Author as non-entity.
America, yes she is free / across, I cross, the deepest sea / For emigrants and natives too / it's picture- postcard, red, white and blue / Tell me America, sing me a dream / how you kissed The Flag and let out a scream / Lady Liberty, her ever seeing eyes / she walks among us sometimes and repeats her lies.
Chris Roberts
America, yes she is free / across, I cross, the deepest sea / For emigrants and natives too / it's picture- postcard, red, white and blue / Tell me America, sing me a dream / how you kissed The Flag and let out a scream / Lady Liberty, her ever seeing eyes / she walks among us sometimes and repeats her lies.
Chris Roberts
February 15, 2016
This lovely volume was marred only by the publisher's inept typesetting. I'm assuming it was for financial reasons (trying to cut the page count), but the too-tight tracking and leading really did the author a huge disservice.
I loved all these stories of women struggling with various losses (and one random story about an ex-baseball player).
I loved all these stories of women struggling with various losses (and one random story about an ex-baseball player).
July 10, 2015
Liz Prato was born to write. Her talent to bring a story to life is unlike anyone's I have ever read. Her passion for her craft comes out in her writing. I highly recommend this book of short stories that will keep you reading cover to cover once you start.
May 2, 2015
You can read my full review here: http://atticusreview.org/small-battle...
October 12, 2015
I loved every story!!! Will share with everyone I know!!
October 21, 2015
Wonderful! Fantastic prose and stories.
June 3, 2016
Definitely on fire! Stories to savor!
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews