Status Updates From The Fire She Fights

“‘… A heroic Black man, and now with you here, a heroic woman - somehow we make them feel smaller. You gotta be your own hero. That’s how you can stand up for the little guy. Take care of you.’”

My feeling about the book is essentially unchanged. The word that keeps coming to mind to describe the writing is “journeyman”. It’s functional but could be so much better. Even when the characters experience traumatic events, the emotion of the moment doesn’t really carry through.

Wow, I read 150 pages yesterday—mostly during Odesa’s afternoon nap. This was written by a former fire captain, which is to say not by somebody who is a *writer* by trade. You can tell. The writing is plain, without any distinct voice. It’s also perhaps TOO focused on the technical aspects of firefighting. It’s not letting those things serve as a backdrop to the story but is forcing them to BE the story.