The Fires

by Rene Steinke

Smoke has as many different scents as skin. Part of the pleasure is not knowing what it will be -- sulfurous or closer to incense or airier and sweeter as I imagine the smell of clouds. Ella is a connoisseur of fire, a woman enthralled by it as other women are by love. She savors the seductive promise of a spark, the caress of a curling wisp of smoke, the all-consuming hunger of a spreading blaze. Ella's heart seethes with a rage that can be spoken only with tongues of flame. In her remarkable first novel, Rene Steinke has created a narrator so lyrical and lucid in her madness as to raise the book to the level of romance. Trapped in a sleepy Indiana town, torn by inner demons that drive her to pyromania and promiscuity, Ella is at once entirely original and unforgettably real. As she struggles to come to terms with her family's tormented past and her own uncertain future, she draws the mesmerized reader ever deeper into her scorched soul, revealing a sensuality that will spiral into final, fiery destruction -- unless it can be quenched by love.

Genres: Fiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

René Steinke is a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow. Her most recent novel, Friendswood (Riverhead), was named one of National Public Radio’s "Great Reads" of 2014. Friendswood was shortlisted for the St. Francis Literary Prize, and it was an Amazon Book of the Month. Her previous novel, Holy Skirts, an imaginative retelling of the life of the artist and provocateur, Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, was a Finalist for the National Book Award. Her first novel is The Fires. Her essays and articles have appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, O Magazine, Redbook, Houstonia, Salon, Bookforum, and in anthologies. She is the former Editor of The Literary Review, where she remains Editor-at-Large. She has taught at the New School and at Columbia University, and she is currently the Director of the MFA program in Creative Writing at Fairleigh Dickinson University. She lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

The prose of this novel is rich and poetic as we follow Ella, a 22 yr old woman, through that crooked place between childhood and adulthood, between following the path that our parents told us would be there, and finding our own paths.

Here, Steinke uses fire, in the past (Ella bears scares from childhood) and in the present (Ella is fascinated by fire, and begins to set them) as the motif for destruction and change. I found the whole novel satisfying and cathartic.

[Veronica F · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good writing, the words flowed and chopped. I thoroughly enjoyed the actual writing. However, the story left much to be desired. It built and built and built then never quite sparked.

[Hayley · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's the basis of what could have been a really good novel in the mess that is The Fires, but it's just put together all wrong. The main character Ella is more an amalgamation of dysfunctions that probably aimed at making someone intriguing and tortured, but only leaves a confused impression of a person where her sole good quality is that she isn't a racist. The plot has a lot of revelations about Ella's family that are good on paper, but presented in the wrong order so that the tension leeches out almost immediately after the first big plot twist at the plot's mid-point. I wanted to care, but couldn't in the end.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stream of consciene style from the POV of Ella, a strong and spunky character who worms her way into the reader's heart and stays there.

[Kellanselle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eh... I picked up this book because I'm a sucker for titles and interesting-looking covers. I thought the book would lead somewhere. All of the "unknown family secrets" were not very interesting. They left me thinking, "That's it?" They certainly weren't big enough reasons to carry on the way they did throughout the book. I also thought there was going to be some hidden reason for the main character having burns all over her body, but no. There wasn't even closure at the end. The story was just over with no real resolution. Waste of my time.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps because I read this book almost immediately following The Seas (Samantha Hunt) and they share plot elements, I was left wanting something more/different. The story is engaging and the characters very well developed--albeit damaged.

[Jennifer]

eh. very dark. glad it was short.

[Lenore · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was not big on character development or even world creation/development. It wasn't my style.

[Erica · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for me.... read about 75 pages and gave up.

[Bridget · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book ages and ages ago but when I think about it, I still taste smoke in my mouth.