Customer Reviews

The Smoke Jumper

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Nicholas Evans' first two books were unique in their drama. His third book The Smoke Jumper has all but established him as one of the best storytellers around. The spine tingling path of three people in this new episode will leave you wanting more. Evans has a wonderful way of painting pictures with his words and places you in the middle. The Smoke Jumper is a must-read for its story of those who dream of more and don't always get it. It's a beautiful rendition of a love story gone awry...

Nicholas Evans takes us through a decade of the lives of photographer Connor Ford, musician Ed Tully, and artist Julia Bishop. This is more than a story about a smoke jumper, more than a story about love. This is a story about friendship, spirituality, and courage. It's about abandonment and individuality. It's about sadness and it's about hope. The author is a good storyteller and even though the course of the story is diverse and unusual, he never loses the reader as he goes from one person to the next, from one continent to another, painting pictures of their lives through his words. While Connor is off photographing pictures across the ocean, Julia and Ed are living a quiet, "normal" life in Montana. But each of them is creating a mosaic of his or her life with the pieces that were left scattered behind them as they moved along. Life is a series of events, some connected, some not. Evans tells about the events in the lives of Connor, Ed, & Julia and pulls it all together into something that will stay with you for a long time.

Julia Bishop, trying to live a peaceful life, is court ordered to take a group of troubled teenagers to a mountain top retreat to discover themselves, and come to terms with their dark pasts. As the time passes on, and the teens begin opening up to Julia, a horrible fire rages through the mountain canyons, destined to claim lives, but from the sky comes photographer, and part-time smoke jumper, Connor Ford.

Like an angel, Connor comes from the sky to rescue Julia, the woman he loves, except braving the flames won't be enough, for Julia is involved with his best friend Ed, and even though Julia cares for both men, the tragedy that strikes on the mountain will force her to make a decision, one that will pull them apart, and change all of their lives...forever.

Trying to get past what happened on that fateful mountain, Connor decides to give up smoke jumping and focus on his photography career. Touring the country taking pictures of the world's worst wars, and disasters will be bring him fame, but never happiness, so feeling he has nothing to live for, Connor will dare death to take him-once again-when another fire strikes, and he must walk through the flames once more.

Combining the exciting elements of photo journalism, and ferocious fires, 'The Smoke Jumper' explores how far we will go to get happiness in our lives, and the price that is paid when we finally have it. With it's strong narrative, fleshed out characters, and fast pacing, the novel keeps the drama level high, without being sappy, giving readers a powerful tale of guilt, honor, and love.

Nicholas Evans has written a compelling novel that is as good as his best-selling novel 'The Horse Whisperer', maybe even better. A strong contender for a late summer blockbuster, 'The Smoke Jumper' will satisfy his many fans, and win him many more.

Nick Gonnella

I was shocked to read so many negative reviews on this book. Yes, the setting was broader than Montana forest fire fighting but the title says something about the person's character as well, and that was the theme throughout the book. Perhaps so many found fault because they have difficulty respecting characters who don't put their own needs before all else. This is not a book for the ME generation. It is a wonderful story of good people facing life's difficulties with honor and dignity. The beauty with which it was written was like a salve to my soul, having recently read a string of popular novels with the descriptive power of fifth grade essays. I loved The Horse Whisperer and The Loop as well, and will certainly purchase the next Nicholaus Evans novel I see on the power of the author's name alone.

Nicholas Evans is one of those writers I love to hate; he can write so darn well it puts most other authors to shame and that forces me to compare prose like his against those of other writers...which most cannot even begin to stand up to. If he had something more original to write about, I think his books would win applause from even the most stubborn literary fan. But he doesn't do that here...but still, he MAKES us care about his characters by getting us in so close and so intimate with them that we can't help but care!

The story is that of two friends, Ed Tully and Connor Ford. They have other jobs and live half a continent away from each other, but they come together every summer to become Smoke Jumper brethren in and around Montana. Smoke Jumpers are those slightly psychotic and carelessly heroic few firefighters who jump out of planes near fire-lines and dig fire-breaks and try to foil mother-nature's red tongued devils. Ed and Connor have a tight bond of friendship that is unshakable because of their smoke jumping past.

Enter Julia Bishop, a beautiful, intelligent, and caring woman who hooks up with Ed. Ed, of course, wants to introduce her to Connor, and soon does. Connor is immediately struck with her beauty (both internal and external) as is Julia struck with him. But they deny their feelings for one another because of Ed (Connor's long friendship with him and Julia's caring for him). Soon Ed gets injured and is blinded during a raging fire and Julia and he are thrown closer together by this. Connor is moved further out, but he still cares for her greatly. Ed proposes and Julia accepts. Connor moves further out. Soon, it is learned that Ed cannot have children due to his diabetic history and poor medication choices in the past. So they (Julia and Ed) ask Connor to be a sperm donor. Connor agrees and Amy enters the world throwing all kinds of emotions around.

How does it end? What happens to Connor and Julia? Or will there ever be a Connor and Julia? Does Ed know how his best buddy feels about his wife? And what of Amy, the child of Connor's genes and Julia's womb? How does this mess settle itself into a legitimate storyline? It does. And does well.

It is an old story told time and time and time again, and that's one of the reasons that I gave it only four stars. It is also schmaltzy in places and highly predictable...but still....darn it! You can't help but care about these people. I found myself getting choked up a few times as I read what befell some of them.

It's a fun book and reads breezily, but has it's weak points. But boy can Mr. Evans write!

It was the title that threw me. After the wonderful first 150 pages, the setting changed so drastically that I wondered if I was reading the same book. Perhaps a broader title would've better prepared me. Hey, how can I knock a book that brought me to tears on two occasions? On the other hand, how can I highly recommend a book that makes you plod through the final hundred pages to reach an inevitable conclusion?

Nicholas Evans evokes scenery and natural beauty like few other fiction writers. On top of that, he does a decent job of creating character and dialogue, of capturing the nuances of relationships. With "The Smoke Jumper," Evans takes us into the lives of four interesting people--not all of whom will survive to the end of the tale--and asks us to follow along obediently. For the first third of the story, I was willing to follow. The plot moved quickly, and I actually cared about these characters as they faced personal trauma, forest fires, rock climbing, and outdoor survival. The twists were subtle, yet effective. I was intrigued and would've rated it five stars up to that point.

The next portion was a bit rockier. I, like one of the characters, felt as though I was following blindly. Exhibiting trust in the author's skill? No doubt. Hoping that this journey would lead to unpredictable places? You bet. Although Evans maneuvers through the emotions and difficulties of this section gracefully, I still felt as though I was being set up for the...drum-roll, please...obvious anti-climax.

And I was right. The story moves so far from its original setting and course that I felt I was reading an entirely different novel. "The Smoke Jumper" comes around at the end and delivers, as expected. On the last page, Evans even manages to pull together the horse, wolf, and fire themes of his three books. And that may be the problem: perhaps Evans felt driven to make this book broader, bigger, grander. In my opinion, he should have stuck to one theme. What started out hot, by the end...was not.

This was by far the most entertaining CD I have listened to in a very long time. I enjoyed listening to this story while commuting to work and back. I even obeyed the speed limits so I could hear more of the book before arriving at my destination. Luke Perry was the narrater and he did a remarkable job. Makes for an enjoyable stress reducer while commuting in work traffic. This had a great storyline and with Luke Perry reading it, you just can't ask for more!

This book was just plain bad. I rolled my eyes and made scoffing noise throughout and don't know why I bothered to finish it. I would have had a more entertaining time picking ticks off a dog.

From Chapter I, the ending was predictable and annoyingly so. The characters were bland except where a modicum of depth was imposed for the sake of continuing a boring story line. Everyone was oh, so amazing, perfect, talented, and wonderful, or tormented or beautiful and unaware of it. Yuk!

And, there were approximately four story lines at once that seemed to have little connection until the end. I'd pass on this one. Try a Harlequin Romance; there's more mystery, action/adventure, sex, and storyline.

This is most of all a well-told tale of love, friendship, tragedy and triumph. Not new material at all: a love-triangle, a friendship that is challenged by disaster and love for the same woman, the adversities of life and finally fate working in a good way after all.

Since the "horse-whisperer" we know that Mr. Evans is a solid story-teller and takes his time to develop the lead characters. For this he spends the first half of the story on the beginnings of Ed's and Connor's friendship as smoke jumpers in Montana. At the same time he introduces us to Julia who is the central love interest. After a climactic forest fire there is a scissure in the story that I believe is well-placed. Just as the lives of these 3 people are changed dramatically, so are the pace and the main storylines of the book. Evans pulls this off, though, because his characters and settings are well-developed by his groundwork in the first half of the novel.

The book is an overall very good weekend, page-turner read.
Less one star for it is predictable after all.

Having read some reviews prior to reading the Smoke Jumper I was prepared for the worst. Lucky we all have different tastes, how boring if we all thought the same because I enjoyed Nicholas Evans latest tale.
The Smoke Jumper certainly holds up with the best for a good portion of the book. The relationship between Ed, Julia and Connor is one of true friendship and the difficulties they all faced and how they dealt with them after the fire was truely sad.
Connor's exploits after were a little disjointed, or should I say the telling of them didn't sit well. But, this was a life story by Nicholas Evans and life doesn't flow along evenly either.
Yes, parts of the african theme weren't needed but then it's part of this story.
Overall, a good read by Nicholas Evans. Yes! I have to say a worthwhile read.