ShortBookandScribes #BookReview – Fire by John Boyne
Fire by John Boyne will be published by Doubleday on 7th November in hardcover, eBook and audiobook. My thanks to the publishers for the proof copy.
This is the third in the elements quartet and you can read my reviews of the first two books, Water and Earth by clicking on the titles.
From internationally bestselling author John Boyne, a challenging and visceral narrative that asks the question: can one cataclysmic moment turn someone into a monster?
On the face of it, Freya lives a gilded existence, dancing solely to her own tune. She has all the trappings of wealth and privilege, a responsible job as a surgeon specialising in skin grafts, a beautiful flat in a sought-after development, and a flash car. But it wasn’t always like this. Hers is a life founded on darkness.
Did what happened to Freya as a child one fateful summer influence the adult she would become – or was she always destined to be that person? Was she born with cruelty in her heart or did something force it into being?
In Fire, John Boyne takes the reader on a chilling, uncomfortable but utterly compelling psychological journey to the epicentre of the human condition, asking the age-old question: nurture – or nature?
Fire is the third in John Boyne’s Elements quartet. Having read Water and Earth already, I was prepared for a hard-hitting read but I thought Fire was probably the most powerful so far.
Freya Petrus is a brilliant surgeon, working with patients who have been badly burned. She’s rich, beautiful and clever, but there’s something deep in her past that has affected her so completely that it’s coloured her actions throughout her life since.
Make no mistake about it, this is quite a disturbing novella. It asks questions about nature vs nurture. Are we pre-destined to be the way we are or do events in our life, especially in childhood, shape us? I don’t know the answer but this book certainly made me think. At times I understood where Freya’s actions were coming from but then was utterly horrified at the outcome. I felt the author intended the lines to be blurred.
There are themes running through all the novellas and some of the characters from the previous ones are mentioned in or appear in Fire. They’re all cleverly weaved together with similar thorny subjects popping up about consent and the effects of childhood trauma. It’s impressive that such a short read can invoke so many emotions in the reader, but then, having read many of John Boyne’s books, I know that this is what he does so well.
Boyne is a writer at the top of his game. Fire is a superb novella. I’m now eagerly awaiting Air which focuses on Aaron, Freya’s intern.
John Boyne is the author of fifteen novels for adults, six for younger readers, and a collection of short stories. His 2006 novel The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas has sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and has been adapted for cinema, theatre, ballet, and opera. His many international bestsellers include The Heart’s Invisible Furies and A Ladder to the Sky. He has won four Irish Book Awards, including Author of the Year in 2022, along with a host of other international literary prizes. His novels are published in sixty languages.
Twitter: @JohnBoyneBooks
Instagram: @JohnBoyneAuthor
