Customer Reviews

Riley's Fire

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Oh dear, I really wanted to like this book but found the writing so clunky and haphazard (slipping in and out of the child's POV and vocabulary) that it was hard to finish. The only reason I gave it any stars at all was that Riley's self-acceptance and the explanation he ultimately came up with for his situation were lovely and touching.
By then, however, the story was poisoned by her casual racism--which then Byrd compounds by creating some racist characters, who at least are more open and self-aware about it than Byrd herself! There's just no excuse for perpetuating the negative stereotypes about African-Americans; it's as if Byrd really thinks they're all welfare queens, ex-cons and dialect-spouting orderlies.

The childhood tragedy of the story pulled me into a read, but the writing is not very good. It is exhausting as prose. It is one of those stories that makes you feel guilty for not liking it, as if you're not being generous. The writer clearly had been throuhg the terrible tragedy with her own child, and that is very sad for her and of course her child. If she's going to write about this, however, I shouldn't feel any more guilty to say I didn't like how it was told if she's all right with using it as material.

Because the author's sons were burned in a playhouse fire, I was intrigued by her personal story and wanted to see how that would play out in this fictional account of a burn victim. I was disappointed by this book that I found confusing and difficult to understand. Since the story is told from an 8 year old burn victim's perspective, the storytelling is limited. I was longing for more detail that an 8 year old would not have the maturity or knowledge to explain. I almost wish Lee Merrill Byrd told the story from a mother's perspective. There certainly are disturbing images throughout the book that are difficult to stomach, most notably the way Riley's mother treats him. However, I found myself struggling to get through this book. With short chapters and big margins, it should have been a page turner, yet I finished the book with more questions than answers.

The premise of this book is certainly intriguing -- it's the story of the accident and recovery of a boy (of indeterminate age) who is airlifted to a burn hospital in Galveston, TX after a horrifying incident in which he played with gasoline in a garage, burned the garage and almost killed himself. The child gradually comes to consciousness and learns about what has occurred. Along with the chronicle of the physical torture which he undergoes is a deeper story as he adjusts psychologically to the new world in which he must live, in which people will stare and he will have to explain what occurred on an almost daily basis. The most disturbing sectin of the book, as other readers have noted, is the last, in which the mother is tasked with taking Riley out of the unit for a "day out", in order to adjust to the stares and pointing which she too will have to cope with for the rest of her life. In many ways, we see how the young child is actually better able to cope with his new enviornment than his mother is -- and how his generosity of spirit enables him to forgive those who cannot accept him. I, too, would have liked to read an interview with the author, perhaps at the back of the book. I wanted to know if she herself was the mother at the end of the book and what specifically she hoped to impart by writing it.

but was confused by the run-on thoughts and ideas. Most of the AA characters are portrayed in a negative light, which only distracted from the story. Riley's Fire needed a talented editor to make it shine. The ending left me with many questions, and wishing this had been a better book.

Characters weren't developed and story lacked interest. Such a shame considering the possibilities of a story like this.

This book is written in the point of view of a seven-year old burn victim from the time he is admitted at the burn center and is finally well enough to be released to go back home. I found the book to be well-written, providing insight into a world we hardly see and the ways tragedy can effect more than what is visible and physical. The reader is placed in Riley's shoes, as he progresses from being barely conscious to becoming aware of his surroundings to ever-so slowly regaining his health. It is only later in the book that we learn how seriously Riley had been injured and was recovering. The characters in this book are taken for a ride by life that no one would have ever have asked for and the book portrays the different ways these tragic events have had an effect and the different ways those involved react, some of them maybe even more tragic than the event itself. When reading this book, I am reminded of a boy I went to school with, who was a burn victim, and how when I first saw him, I was deathly afraid. This book explores this topic very well, how the victims can look like monsters, even to themselves, but are still very much human and very much in need of basic human needs.

Despite being a tear-jerker and sad, I enjoyed reading this book and I am especially struck by the book's portrayal of the will us humans have to survive despite odds and mounting obstacles.

Despite the sad subject and setting of this book, I felt uplifted by young Riley's spirit and his acceptance of his life and the people in it. I loved his little-boyness; for me, Byrd's Riley is one of the best drawn child characters since the children in To Kill A Mockingbird. Others characters were interesting or disturbing; I'd surely love to see a sequel to Riley's Fire. The ending was a bit too much of a surprise for me, but a surprise, nonetheless!

Riley's Fire took on a feeling of experience as the book began with Riley's semi-conscious awareness after being severely burned over most of his body. Riley's narration of his experience seemed very real as he described his surgeries and baths by Jackson and Johnson. Every character in the book had a unique quality and impressed Riley in a different way. His response to each character was very typical of a boy his age. Each character, in turn, was very real and very imaginable. Once I began reading this book I became a part of the whole experience. Very few books can accomplish this as much as Riley's Fire. The ending tied in the whole story to offer great wisdom and truth through a Christ like figure named Andy.

I was deeply impressed by the author's ability to get inside the head of a child living through an almost unspeakable tragedy. Riley, despite the gravity of his injuries, is still first and foremost a child, preoccupied with concerns he shares with all children his age: the need for love, the need for understanding, and the desperate need for order in a word suddenly turned upside down. Author Lee Merrill Byrd's Riley transports the reader inside this child's world, and it's a journey that ought not to be missed.