The Woman Lit By Fireflies [Paperback]

Jim Harrison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1991

Across the odd contours of the American landscape-Jim Harrison's country--its natives search for that which isn't quite irretrievably lost, for the incandescent beneath the ordinary. An ex-Bible student with raucously asocial tendencies rescues the miraculously preserved body of an Indian chief from the frigid depths of Lake Superior, in a caper that nets a wildly unexpected bounty; a band of sixties radicals, now approaching middle-age, reunites to free an old comrade from a Mexican jail and rewrite their common history; a fifty-year-old suburban housewife flees quietly from her abusive businessman husband at a highway rest stop, climbs a fence, and explores the bittersweet pageant of the preceding years within the sanctuary of an Iowa cornfield. "Brown Dog"

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Four affluent former '60s radicals are called upon to rescue an ex-cohort from a Mexican jail; a hard-drinking diver for an illegal scavenging firm dredges an Indian's body from Lake Superior; a woman hides in an Iowa cornfield after fleeing her bigoted husband. "In each novella, the past rises up to challenge these deeply probed characters, forcing them to make moral choices," said PW.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This collection of novellas depicts three very different locales and character types. Harrison is on familiar ground in Brown Dog, portraying the grimly comic adventures of a northern Michigan ne'er-do-well who discovers the body of an Indian chief beneath Lake Superior. In Sunset Limited, a group of former Sixties radicals struggle to make peace with their pasts as they come to the aid of a still-political friend. The title piece, a new direction for Harrison, involves a strong, complex female character who spends a night in an Iowa cornfield after leaving her husband at an interstate rest stop. Some harshly polemical passages mar Sunset Limited and a two-dimensional portrayal of the husband detracts from The Woman Lit by Fireflies. Nevertheless, much in these tales will satisfy and occasionally surprise Harrison's fans.
- Lawrence Rungren, Bedford Free P.L., Mass.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 247 pages
• Publisher: Pocket (October 1, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671744526
• ISBN-13: 978-0671744526
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #367,205 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 3 terrific stories - one of my all time favorite books, August 29, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Woman Lit By Fireflies (Paperback)

I loved all of the stories. I became a fan and introduced many people to his work. They also loved it and we've looked for more and more. The stories are funny, the characters are interesting, and he writes with great style. I couldn't put it down. He made me laugh and he made me think. Perfect.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still great fifteen years later, August 8, 2006

By 

Lynn Hoffman, author:The Short Course in Beer (Philadelphia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Woman Lit By Fireflies (Paperback)

i came on my copy of this book a few days ago. i was unpacking after a move and there was a lot to do. i had fond memories so i started reading. two hours later i was still sitting on a box reading. the title story remains one of the most engaging stories written by a man about a woman.

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Audacious,Ballsy,Cynical,Exceptionally F*cking Good !!!!, June 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Woman Lit By Fireflies (Paperback)

HARRISON! HARRISON! HARRISON! Immortal I agree, this work is to me the same as sitting a spell to listen to the tales of the elders in town, to learn of the lives and times that you know nothing of, you couldn't know, without the memory of those who were there, or those who've heard the legends before. Descriptive, yes. Insightful, yes. Each character of the three novellas will hold a place inside of you long after the duration of the read. Clare will speak to your soul and carry you away on the wings of introspection. Sunset Limited will be like opening a photo album from years past and reminiscing the adventures and feelings of your bosom buddies. Brown Dog, the scoundrel, will take you on an exciting roller coaster ride of intuition, passion,wit and wiles to prove once and for all that the underdog will prevail!( hence his continuation in the Seven Ounce Man ) As an avid reader of non-fiction I am proud to say that I have restored my faith in the realm of fiction through the works of my fellow Michigander the honorable, the mighty, the great, mister Jim Harrison. Hello from Grand Marais!!!