Incendiary: A Novel
by Chris Cleave
List Price:
Our Price: $0.40
You Save: $13.60 (97%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Chris CleaveEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-12-29
ISBN: 1439157170
Number of pages: 256
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Reviews of Incendiary: A Novel
Book Review: A great book of incredible noise and fury
Summary: 5 Stars
This novel is excellent. It is a compelling read that keeps you engaged from the first to the last page. I strongly recommend it but it is unique in many ways. The novel is written as one long letter to Osama bin Laden by a woman who has lost her policeman husband and 4 year old son to a terrorist bombing in London. She is a victim of international terrorism. However the strength of this exceptional book is to reveal that she is also the victim of her husband's masculine dominance and emotional distance, she is the victim of classism which permeates so many life choices, she is the victim of the paternalism of government which thinks it knows what is best for its citizens, and she is the victim of the strange bedfellows of oligarchy that direct society. Yet, the novel's great strength is to show that despite the powers that suppress and victimize the heroine of this novel, she is realistically resilient, capable of making the best out of the worst situations, open to discovery of the hidden gifts in life, and capable of forgiving.
As a working class attractive young women, the heroine experienced a childhood of depravity and poverty yet is determined to give her son something better. Her husband works on the police bomb squad and is a bomb himself since he is emotionally suppressed and non-communicative with his wife, leaving her in a state of anxiety that she finds can be relieved by sexual trysts with men she meets in local pubs. She meets a smooth operator in Jasper Black, a newspaper editorial writer, who develops an obsession with her despite having an upper-class educated beautiful girlfriend, Petra, who is just as much a sexual freak as he is. Our heroine is repeatedly victimized by these two and yet she has emotional power over them due to her healing, calming, understanding inner strength. In an effort to contribute to the fight against terrorism, she approaches Terrance Butcher, her supervisor's supervisor in the police department and the head of anti-terrorism efforts. Again we see her victimized and again we see her resolve and resiliency.
The book is full of dark black humor, satire, and a jaundiced perspective on human nature. This is balanced however with his un-named heroine, who gradually grieves, forgives and moves on with life. It is as if Cleave is saying that this core of human nature is our hope in a time of crass commercialism and status and international conflict. She became a symbol for London and for all humanity in personifying the ability to rebuild. Cleave gives us several references to the great fire in London and to the bombings during World War II. He reinforces this theme of rebuilding lives and ctities with his final lines where she says: "Come to be Osama. Come to me and we will blow the world back together WITH INCREDIBLE NOISE AND FURY."
Political Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Political Books
Spinning Dixieby Eric Dezenhall
Thomas Dunne Books; Published: 2006-12-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.69
Price in other shops:
Doing Dangerously Wellby Carole Enahoro
Vintage Canada; Published: 2011-05-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.47
Price in other shops:
The Autobiography Of Joseph Stalin: A Novelby Richard Lourie
Da Capo Press; Published: 2000-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovichby Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn
Henry Holt & Co (P); Published: 1978-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.98
The Blue Woundby Garet Garrett
General Books LLC; Published: 2012-01-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.14
Phineas Finn (Oxford World's Classics)by Anthony Trollope, Simon Dentith
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2011-12-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.22
Price in other shops:
The Woman Who Did (Oxford Popular Fiction)by Grant Allen
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1995-06-29; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Blood Kin: A Novelby Ceridwen Dovey
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2009-02-24; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops:
The Army of the Republic: A Novelby Stuart Archer Cohen
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2008-09-02; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $0.78
Price in other shops:
Citizen Vince: A Novelby Jess Walter
Harper; Published: 2005-04-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.58
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
Layer Cakeby J. J. Connolly
Grove Press, Black Cat; Published: 2004-08-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.00
Price in other shops:
The Hours: A Novelby Michael Cunningham
Picador; Published: 2000-01-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.97
Price in other shops:
A Disorder Peculiar to the Country: A Novelby Ken Kalfus
Harper Perennial; Published: 2006-12-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.05
Price in other shops:
Sports Talk (A Longman Topics Reader)by Lisa Beckelhimer
Longman; Published: 2008-08-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.50
Price in other shops:
Her Fearful SymmetryScribner; Published: 2010-09-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.11
Price in other shops:
The Zero: A Novel (P.S.)by Jess Walter
Harper Perennial; Published: 2007-08-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Shoeless Joeby W. P. Kinsella
Mariner Books; Published: 1999-04-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.50
Price in other shops:
Sister of My Heart: A Novelby Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Anchor; Published: 2000-01-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.80
Price in other shops:
Cutting for Stoneby Abraham Verghese
Vintage; Published: 2010-01-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.74
Price in other shops:
Little Bee: A Novelby Chris Cleave
Simon & Schuster; Published: 2010-02-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.97
Price in other shops: