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The Burning Jacket
Eleven-year-old Raynie lives with her mother, Molly, in Anaheim, California, watching over her rescued desert tortoise, Erma Geddon. Raynie's goal is to save endangered species, particularly reptiles, from environmental threats.
Molly, recently divorced from Raynie's father, owns a bakery but dreams of being a successful visual artist. Granny Tooley, Molly's mother and Raynie's grandmother, lives as a squatter in the forest of the Southern Oregon coast range, running from childhood demons and determined to stay "off the grid."
Raynie's visits to Tooley's forest during spring breaks are the perfect time to burn last year's trash in bonfires and the perfect time to regale Raynie with stories about her ancestors, the caregivers of the earth. An important part of the bonfire experience is Granny Tooley's threadbare "burning jacket," a heavy, felted monstrosity the color of urine, spotted with black rimmed-craters where wayward sparks from past fires burned through the dense wool. The jacket smells like sour milk and lanolin. Washing the jacket is not allowed. Neither Raynie nor Molly are aware that Tooley's secret is hidden in the hem of that mangy burning jacket.
After loggers clear-cut the forest, Tooley becomes a nomad, living in her old truck, Dorothy Ann, with her two dogs. The three protagonists, Raynie, Molly, and Granny Tooley, struggle with personal challenges against a backdrop of rapidly growing environmental and political concerns. Touched by dreams and death, the three prevail and grow, as each stumbles through chaos toward a cadence that synchronizes with her own heart.
340 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2010
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
October 26, 2011
I just finished this book and absolutely loved it! I became interested in reading this book because I saw it was 2011 WILLA Award finalist for contemporary fiction and the story was based in a part of Oregon that I visited a few years ago. The story follows three female family members, eleven-year-old Raynie, her mother Molly and her eccentric grandmother, Tooley who lives in the tandem with nature and lives as a squatter deep within the Oregon forest. She is at odds with her daughter Molly but is beloved by her granddaughter, Raynie. Tooley is quite a character with her burning jacket which holds her past and future close to her heart. The jacket is very old, smelly, color of urine and has holes burn on it from past bonfires-very worn. I wish I would have had a burning jacket passed down to me with colorful true stories by a beloved soul just like Tooley.
September 26, 2010
A Wry, Truly Oregonian Rites of Passage Gem
Rich in imagery of the complex emotional connections of three generations of women in a family —imagery splashed like a wild colorful collage of old-fashioned lush velvets and ancient natural fabrics of past eras contrasted sharply in texture and tone with today's harder synthetics and metallic threads —Rand's story captures the family’s haphazard development with a rare wry flair. The Burning Jacket deftly and empathically illustrates the effects of the two older generations in the family and current local and global environmental influences on a thoughtful pre-teen girl transitioning into adulthood in Southern California. Worried about her family's dysfunctions and the greater extension and inter-relationship of these dysfunctional dynamics in her larger environs, the girl struggles to make sense of her consequent deep inner chaos, as she is caught between the values and perceptions of her suburban peers and her estranged parents, contrasted with those of her back-to-the-land, mystical grandmother. The soon-to-be teen grows up fast and furious over five years, during which she tries to piece together a workable sense of reality and a path she can tread with integrity within a backdrop of the speeding decay of the natural world. Can her grandmother Tooley's earth-loving rituals test well in the Southern California fast lane jungle, providing her a functional if quirky map to guide her through the illusions around her, or is it going to be impossible for her to bridge the chasm between the life of mystical visions and adventures shared with her grandmother on vacations and her modern everyday home environment? The captivating page-turner tale Nel Rand spins traverses a cross section of current West Coast alternative life choices and leaves the reader to ponder if the wisdom of a radical crone can somehow guide us all through this age of sudden unknown shifts, cataclysms, extinctions, and endings. Nel Rand draws upon her over a half century as a mother, daughter, political intellectual, feminist, forest-dwelling painter and weaver, environmental action pioneer, and Oregonian alternative thinker ahead of her time to birth an enchanting story of a possible zany Phoenix of hope rising from the ashes of Grandma Tooley's backyard fires.
Rich in imagery of the complex emotional connections of three generations of women in a family —imagery splashed like a wild colorful collage of old-fashioned lush velvets and ancient natural fabrics of past eras contrasted sharply in texture and tone with today's harder synthetics and metallic threads —Rand's story captures the family’s haphazard development with a rare wry flair. The Burning Jacket deftly and empathically illustrates the effects of the two older generations in the family and current local and global environmental influences on a thoughtful pre-teen girl transitioning into adulthood in Southern California. Worried about her family's dysfunctions and the greater extension and inter-relationship of these dysfunctional dynamics in her larger environs, the girl struggles to make sense of her consequent deep inner chaos, as she is caught between the values and perceptions of her suburban peers and her estranged parents, contrasted with those of her back-to-the-land, mystical grandmother. The soon-to-be teen grows up fast and furious over five years, during which she tries to piece together a workable sense of reality and a path she can tread with integrity within a backdrop of the speeding decay of the natural world. Can her grandmother Tooley's earth-loving rituals test well in the Southern California fast lane jungle, providing her a functional if quirky map to guide her through the illusions around her, or is it going to be impossible for her to bridge the chasm between the life of mystical visions and adventures shared with her grandmother on vacations and her modern everyday home environment? The captivating page-turner tale Nel Rand spins traverses a cross section of current West Coast alternative life choices and leaves the reader to ponder if the wisdom of a radical crone can somehow guide us all through this age of sudden unknown shifts, cataclysms, extinctions, and endings. Nel Rand draws upon her over a half century as a mother, daughter, political intellectual, feminist, forest-dwelling painter and weaver, environmental action pioneer, and Oregonian alternative thinker ahead of her time to birth an enchanting story of a possible zany Phoenix of hope rising from the ashes of Grandma Tooley's backyard fires.
September 21, 2010
This lady can write! This story is a three-pronged odyssey: three women bound by blood and spirits that complement and strengthen as well as separate and confound. Ms. Rand's description of her forest made me weep for the shear beauty of its powerful animistic vigor.
The title carries the subtlety of the plot: the burning jacket is at once a ratty old garment passed from grandmother to child as well as an echo of the burning bush of the Christian Bible from whence God spoke to His child.
I have to say, after reading this second of Ms. Rand's work that this author has discovered how to enrich her literary style with active meaningful plots, multiple complex characters, and descriptions that transport the reader into the scenes--no small feat and a welcomed change from literary fiction that too often showcases a writer's dexterity with the language at the expense of plot and in-depth characters.
I urge you to consider this a must read.
The title carries the subtlety of the plot: the burning jacket is at once a ratty old garment passed from grandmother to child as well as an echo of the burning bush of the Christian Bible from whence God spoke to His child.
I have to say, after reading this second of Ms. Rand's work that this author has discovered how to enrich her literary style with active meaningful plots, multiple complex characters, and descriptions that transport the reader into the scenes--no small feat and a welcomed change from literary fiction that too often showcases a writer's dexterity with the language at the expense of plot and in-depth characters.
I urge you to consider this a must read.
January 27, 2012
THE BURNING JACKET by Nel Rand is an exquisite read, built on the stories of three generations of amazing women. As with her first novel, MISSISSIPPI FLYWAY, Nel Rand writes in a lyrical/poetic fashion. The voices of her characters are strong, distinct and finely drawn. Rand is a mistress of wordage, leading the reader down the path only to tease with surprises..none of which I will give away. Themes abound: family strengths and weaknesses, connections with nature and creativity, good and evil clashes in the forests, in relationships and self. This unique book well deserves all the honors that have come to it, including as a finalist for the WILLA award from Women Writing the West. What will Rand send out next? It is sure to be a book rich with characters, including setting as character; she consistantly evokes a world of mysticism, natural beauty and poignancy.
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October 4, 2010What I love most about this book is the characters, and how they each move through life and overcome their personal struggles. The character of Tooley in particular is absolutely fascinating. The personal decisions she makes in her life are an inspiration to us all. This is a realistic depiction of what it is like to overcome personal struggle, and move on with our lives in spite of the chaos that surrounds us. Those who enjoy stories of women, Native American Fiction, and Environmental Activism will find this book very moving. The ending brought me to tears.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews