On Fire: A Personal Account of Life and Death and Choices [Hardcover]

Larry Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1994

Award-winning novelist Larry Brown's first work of nonfiction looks back at the life he left--that of full-time firefighter. "A wonderful book."--John Grisham "Larry Brown is never romantic about danger and . . . in this book he goes through his life with the same meticulous attention with which Thoreau circled the woods around Walden Pond."--The New York Times Book Review. A BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH -CLUB selection.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This memorable collection of short essays, some of them merely fragments, is the first venture into nonfiction by fireman turned novelist Brown ( Dirty Work ). After 17 years as a firefighter in Oxford, Miss., home of the state university and William Faulkner, Brown devoted himself to full-time writing, which had been an avocation for 10 years. Most of his observations here are about fighting fires, the camaraderie among those who perform this service, the tragedies and the miracles they encounter. But there are other pieces, some humorous, others poignant, on Brown's family, on hunting and fishing, on his pets and his attempts to raise rabbits for the market. 25,000 first printing; $25,000 ad/ promo; author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Brown, author of the award-winning working-class novel Joe (1991), here gives nonfiction a try with a memoir of his fire-fighting days in his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi. Most of a firefighter's 24-hour day is spent killing time: cooking, watching dirty movies, doing routine equipment maintenance, and sleeping; Brown catches the lazy, good-old-boy camaraderie of the firehouse perfectly. With somewhat less success, he also reflects on how he spends his 48 hours off--fishing, drinking, hunting, and playing with his kids. Such tales are charming but sound a minor key when placed alongside the account of a fire at Ole Miss' law school, in which Brown captures precisely the adrenaline rush, fear, and exhaustion beyond reasoning that a big fire evokes in firefighters. Brown's compassionate rendering of ambulance runs, where he uses the hydraulic Hurst tool to break through smashed vehicles and reach trapped victims, is the best writing here, however. Brown portrays himself modestly, not as a hero risking his life, but simply as a professional with a job to do. Brown's work schedule is too loose a means of organization, but his individual essays are witty, reverent, and moving. John Mort

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 182 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill; First Edition edition (January 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565120094
• ISBN-13: 978-1565120099
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,392,633 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Notes from the Firehouse in Oxford, Mississippi, March 8, 2003

By 

Ronald Scheer "rockysquirrel" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: On Fire (Paperback)

I did not know of Larry Brown until I saw the film "Big Bad Love," based on one of his stories. I wasn't crazy about the film but was fascinated by the imagination it emerged from, and gave one of his books a try. For starters, I read his memoir "On Fire," about his years as an Oxford, Mississippi, fireman. I thought it would be about fighting fires, responding to emergencies, and what goes on in the firehouse in between. I expected some reflection on the world of firemen, which I understand to be a social order of its own, like policemen.

There is all of that and considerably more in this wonderful collection of short essays, many of them dashed off during those off hours in the firehouse, often recounting an experience Brown and his compatriots just had, rescuing someone trapped in a smashed car, putting out a fire, or just screwing around. You learn something of the process of firefighting as Brown reconstructs the events of several fires, including one in the top floor of a building at Ole Miss. He explains how they use the Jaws of Life. You learn about the daily routines of checking equipment for readiness, as well as continual training in CPR and different kinds of fires.

But much in the book is unexpected. There are pieces about dogs, hunting, lost kittens, cookouts, practical jokes, watching hawks, petty thefts, driving, drinking beer, and S and V on HBO. Essays that will stay in my memory include his account of a trip to New York to appear on the Today show when one of his books is published and learning while he's there that his wife and son have been hurt in a car accident, then discovering when he finds out they are OK that his dog Sam has died. The mental image of him crying in the airport is vivid and moving.

On a more hilarious note is an account of a long day's drive to a training exercise in the Delta, where they arrive late and drunk. On a more literary note, there's his account of setting up a hose to provide fake rain for a documentary film at William Faulkner's home, just down the road from the firehouse. His reflections on Faulkner sitting in the house and writing novels are full of awe and respect for a giant of letters, a giant who had a cup of coffee every night at a local restaurant where he always left a dime tip for the waitress.

If you've read or you're thinking of reading Brown's fiction, I recommend this book. It's a wonderful introduction to the man and his world, and you get a sense of the raw material that feeds his imagination.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Made in America (Mississippi in particular), November 5, 2001

By 

Garbageman (the other side of California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: On Fire: A Personal Account of Life and Death and Choices (Hardcover)

Judging from the reviews here, one would expect Larry Brown's "On Fire" to be a travesty of modern nonfiction, an insult to firefighters and rescue personnel, and a rough estimate of the degree to which mankind has fallen from some form of enlightened perch. For grief's sake, people, it's only a book, and a fairly good and compelling one at that. Apparently many people (either in or out of the fire service) have such lofty expectations of their heroes (reinforced sadly by the events of September 11) that to envision firefighters as doing anything more rowdy than a tough game of touch football is to destroy the halos we all love to put on them in our society. Truth is, folks, and this is a firefighter talking here, most of them have the same ordinary, mundane concerns as you and other dead-end jobbers do, especially those whose careers take them down dark paths (as dryly and matter-of-factly as Brown writes them here). They love and hate, they rage and submit, they work and play, they hunt and fish, they drink and smoke, they are ordinary men and women, and they are somehow more important for many of the reasons Brown indicates. What I feel is the book's greatest strength is that Brown's portrayal is as much a myth-destroyer as it is a myth-builder: firefighters, he seems to say, rise above the mundane when asked, and slip beneath it when allowed.

Now as for the whole hunting / fishing / cruelty to animals bent that seems to turn everyone off, I suggest you all buy a plane ticket to Memphis, drive south toward Oxford itself, and observe the country Brown writes about and writes from. In case you haven't read any of his other works, it's pretty consistent with other Larry Brown, and yes, it's country-boy living. Some can handle it, and some don't. As for Brown, I think he probably feels as I do: thanks for stoppin' by, and if you see something you don't like, then don't let the door hit you too hard. Frankly, I read Larry Brown for just that attitude and reality, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

If you're looking for a glorious depiction of firefighting, or a glamorized portrayal of the Mississippi South, you're invited to read a few fictional accounts of each. But if you want the cold, hard reality of life that only Brown ever seems to bring to light, the pop open a cold one and join him for a tale or two. It'll be, as he says, "mighty fine".

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hot stuff -- an inspiration for writers!, June 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: On Fire (Paperback)

This is an excellent book about a man who knows who he is, dreams of what he might be, and works his butt off to make the near-impossible real.

It's a great book for struggling writers to read because Larry Brown came from nowhere to become one of the great writers of his generation and he did it on the strength of his will alone.

There are passages in this book so lovely they make you catch your breath.