everyone's a little to blame for everything

Who by Fire
Diana Spechler

I'll be upfront and say right away that I didn't expect to enjoy Who By Fire as much as I did. When I read the cover blurb, I expected a story that bordered on trite, another run-of-the-mill story of a family torn apart by tragedy and reunited through misadventures.

Who By Fire may be the story of a family torn apart by tragedy and reunited through misadventures, but to write it off as being trite or run-of-the-mill is to do a disservice to a truly wonderful novel. I received a review copy in the mail and expected to consider reading it (as I often consider books given to me to review) a chore that distracts me from my "real" reading. I read the opening pages and was immediately shocked.

I did not expect to be so captivated.

Before I knew it, my school work fell neglected, my bookbag unopened. (That's what early starts are for, anyway...right?) The spooky read that had been so entertaining me lay forgotten on my nightstand. More surprising still, I found myself reading despite husband watching hours of television (at high volume, of course), but so engrossed was I that I tore through the novel without even looking up. The next day in school, I read while my students wrote an essay, even though that time would have been more productively spent marking papers. It didn't matter. I had to know what was going to happen.

I finished Who By Fire in record time, surprising for a review copy I hadn't even planned to enjoy.

Now that you know it enthralled me, I'll tell you a little about it -- but beware, however, that it truly transcends summary, for the blurb on the back of the book didn't come close to doing it justice. Here, I'll even copy it here:

Bits and Ash were children when the kidnapping of their younger sister, Alena — an incident for which Ash blames himself — caused an irreparable family rift. Thirteen years later, Ash is living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel, cutting himself off from his mother, Ellie, and his wild-child sister, Bits. But soon he may have to face them again; Alena's remains have finally been uncovered. Now Bits is traveling across the world in a bold and desperate attempt to bring her brother home and salvage what's left of their family. Sharp and captivating, Who by Fire deftly explores what happens when people try to rescue one another.

But Who By Fire is more than this; it's both poignant and yet laugh-out-loud funny, informative and yet entertaining. Spechler tackles what tears a family apart as well as what brings them together, what drives people to religion and others away from it. Simply put, however, Who By Fire is a wonderful novel that doesn't need to be classified in any of the above ways.

Who By Fire shines for other reasons as well. As someone woefully ignorant about Judaism, I found the passages concerning Ash's life incredibly informative. Never did Spechler bore the reader with unnecessary details, and informative details were deftly woven into the storyline so that they blended seamlessly, without seeming plunked in or heavy-handed. The character of Bits also attests to Spechler's talents as a writer, for Bits, a character that could so easily fall into cliche, remains fresh, dynamic, and entirely life-like. However, the honor of being my favorite character has to go to their mother, Ellie. She brought a warmth and humor to the novel that propelled me onward, as I often couldn't wait to reach the next chapter she narrated.

If I had to nitpick, I might argue that the novel's end is too neat and tidy, but I'd be lying if I said I wanted it to end any other way. After reading about these characters for so long, I'd come to truly care for them, and the ending left me satisfied and content. Although such an ending probably wouldn't happen in reality, I wouldn't have been happy if Who By Fire ended any other way.

In a nutshell: Who By Fire is immensely readable, surprisingly profound, and totally enjoyable. I look forward to Spechler's next endeavor.

Bibliolatry Scale: 5 out of 6 stars