An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
by Brock Clarke
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Book Summary Information
Author: Brock ClarkeEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-09-02
ISBN: 1565126149
Number of pages: 317
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Book Reviews of An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
Book Review: Witty and Intelligent
Summary: 5 Stars
Smart and highly stylistic, AAGTWHINE is not for everyone, as the range of reviews here shows. If you're looking for a book to get lost in, with characters of great depth and emotion, where a man facing great personal disappointment overcomes tragedy and becomes a better person, don't read it. If you are sick of the above, though, and want an intelligently witty take on memoirs, book clubs and modern writing, enter here.
Summary of An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
A lot of remarkable things have happened in the life of Sam Pulsifer, the hapless hero of this incendiary novel, beginning with the ten years he spent in prison for accidentally burning down Emily Dickinson's house and unwittingly killing two people. emerging at age twenty-eight, he creates a new life and identity as a husband and father. But when the homes of other famous New England writers suddenly go up in smoke, he must prove his innocence by uncovering the identity of this literary-minded arsonist.In the league of such contemporary classics as A Confederacy of Dunces and The World According to Garp, An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England is an utterly original story about truth and honesty, life and the imagination.
Amazon Best of the Month, August 2007: In An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New Englan, the quirkiest title for a book since Special Topics in Calamity Physics, Brock Clarke lights up the page with the chronicle of a man who, as a teenager, accidentally burned down the Emily Dickinson House in Amherst, Massachusetts, killing two people. ("It's probably enough to say that in the Massachusetts Mt. Rushmore of big gruesome tragedy, there are the Kennedys, and Lizzie Borden and her ax, and the burning witches at Salem, and then there's me.") After serving ten years in prison for the crime, Sam Pulsifer moves on with his life, but the emergence of a copycat who's turning New England's literary landmarks to ash puts Sam back in the spotlight and on a quest for the truth. Comparisons to The World According to Garp and A Confederacy of Dunces may be bold, but this heartfelt, funny, and highly entertaining tale promises to be Brock Clarke's breakout book for certain. --Brad Thomas Parsons
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