Customer Reviews

Fires of Spring

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I have long been a fan of Michener's, particularly the way he brings an area to life. I picked up Fires of Spring almost as an after-thought and was completely mesmerized. It really brought home the locale (I am from the area) and kept me thoroughly entertained throughout the entire book. I could visualize exactly the life and atmosphere even though I was born much later. My copy is much dog-eared as it is one of the few books interesting enough to hold my interest again and again.

"The Fires of Spring" tells the story of a boy growing up in Pennsylvania in the early part of the century. An early Michener effort, it is a very moving and deep story about love, friendship, enemies and life in general. It's not Michener's usual, and will be an interesting comparative read for anyone familiar with his later work.

One of the finest books ever written. I would like for all readers to know about this book, because this book has the kind of depth that readers long for and cannot find amid the formulaic installment writers of this era. What is amazing is how this novel remains so vibrant 50 plus years after its release. The human interest aspect is still so poignant. The cast of characters are among the most interesting ever created and Mr. Michener does such a great job of bringing the time and place alive that you can smell it. I can't see how this was never made into a movie. From the poorhouse where he was raised by his aunt that ran the place to the funhouse where he meets a tragic prostitute that he falls in love with, David's story is a wonderful odyssey. The scene where the indigent members of the of the poorhouse pool their pennies to buy David clothing remains one of the classic moments in literature. I wish that today's writers would pick this book up before they pick up a pen and learn how to create this kind of chemistry in their books rather than just applying their formula. The only knock I have on this book, is that it lured me to read other Michener works that I found boring and longwinded. But I treasure this novel and so will you..

This book was enjoyable to read. I was just reading it for an english assignment first, but I started to enjoy the book. I liked how Michener set up the whole story. Seeing what happened to David Harper was quite interesting. I would recommend this book to anybody who likes life stories because that's basically what this is about. I guess the thing i like the most is all the girls David goes through in the novel... all of them are different characters.

In THE FIRES OF SPRING, published in 1949, James A. Michener relates the story of an orphan in America during the first thirty years of the twentieth century. Part autobiography, the late author avoids the Dickensian trap of the abusive orphanage and presents instead a group of interesting characters. Although THE FIRES OF SPRING is chock full of sexual relationships, it never sullies itself with page after page of graphic detail. The realism holds up even after almost a half century. My first fear was that having been written in the mid-1940s, THE FIRES OF SPRING would read stale at best, laughable at worst. But to my delight, the narration is fresh and the story entertaining. I have read most of Michener's work and stumbled across The Fires of Spring by accident recently. I'm glad I overcame my initial reluctance to tackle an "older" volume. I later read his book THE NOVEL, and found it to be vastly inferior in terms of plot development and organization. I recommend THE FIRES OF SPRING to anyone, Michener fan or not.

Published in 1949 when Michener (who only began writing at age 40)was 42, "The Fires of Spring" is one of those epochal novels that all early writers seem compelled to write. It tells the story of David Harper (Michener, presumably)as he grows up in a Pennsylvania poorhouse, takes odd jobs as a teenager, goes to college and discovers literature and writing, and finally winds up as a struggling author in New York City. Along the way, he meets a wide variety of men and women who significantly help change his life. For those of you who are only familiar with Michener's later historical fiction epics, this book gives you a new awareness of Michener's earliest passions, his painful strivings and motivations as a young man, and his often lonely artistic aspirations and observations. Prepare to be deeply moved, surprised, and richly rewarded!

I read this book over thirty years ago, then again this month for book club, and found my impressions had changed over the years. But, even though I cannot skim so easily over the occasional insensitive and backward way women are treated, I kept in mind that this work was completed in the 1940's, and found that, for the most part, it truly held up over all these many years. Very different from Michener's later works in style and magnitude, the tone and sense of place is equal to any of his later works, in my opinion, and more succinctly accomplished. For me, the relationships early on were what stood out the most, and made me reflect on the author's life, as it paralleled his own experiences so closely; an orphan boy growing up in Quaker country who yearned to see the world, was fascinated with mathematics, and eventually becomes a writer. All very like the author. Young David Harper's interactions with the old men of the poorhouse are gems you want to hold onto forever. Michener shows us that there is love and beauty to be found even in the least likely of places, and I look forward to reading this again in thirty years!

Even though Michener wasn't exactly young when he wrote THE FIRES OF SPRING, he could remember very vividly what it had been like, and nowhere in all his succeeding work was he able to recapture the first ferment of youth as he did here. The book also takes us back to pre-war times, to the early part of the American century, the part that was stifled due to depression and national disunity.

David is a great character and, like many of Dickens' heroes, he's born in an orphanage and raised in the poorhouse. Like 30s social realism, we discover that actually life raised communally isn't all that bad (see the kibbutz lifestyle promoted by Michener's contemporary, Leon Uris, in EXODUS) because of the parade of colorful characters, some nasty, mostly loveable, that people David's life with wisdom.

And then when he reaches puberty, his body awakens, and between his legs burn the fires of spring! And here Michener brings us a gallery of different kinds of women with different attitudes towards the body and towards sexuality. In some places rather risque, even by today's standards, THE FIRES OF SPRING is an astonishing and heartrending book. One of Jim's best.

It arrived quickly and in the condition described. We are happy with the purchase.

a really nice read that was done in the 40's that really stands the test of time.