Y is for...Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Gone: A Novel

I recently read Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Gone: A Novel by Stefan Kiesbye. I didn't like it, and yet, I'm surprised by some of the negative reviews I read on Amazon. I didn't like it, but I want to read it again. It's that kind of book. It leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth and a desire to run away from what it's telling you.

It's a book about evil and what it means to be human, to be part of a group, to be a child, a parent. It brings up questions of love, of greed, of sacrifice and the answers aren't pretty. The problem is, the answers are also very real and plausible.

Kiesbye's writing is enchanting. It's simple and straightforward, yet I found myself re-reading passages after realizing I missed a deeper meaning. The story details the relationship of four residents of Hemmersmoor, a small village in Germany. The setting is post-war Germany and it calls up some uncomfortable issues facing the generation of Germans growing up in a post-Nazi world. I liked this part of the book, having gone to school myself in Germany during the 1970s and catching a glimpse of these things. I found Kiesbye's references to the supernatural unique, complex and refreshing. This is not a fun read, but it's also not a book I can ignore. I'll read it again before I decide what I really think of it. Maybe this time I'll enjoy it.

Book Review

I is for I loved The Last Policeman by Ben H. Winters

I read this book in less than twenty-four hours. Hank Palace is a newly made detective on his first case. Unfortunately, the world is about to end and nobody else cares about solving crime. His victim is a ‘hanger’, assumed to be just another suicide that couldn’t face the upcoming extinction event. But something about the crime scene doesn’t sit right with Detective Palace and while the world hurls toward destruction, he does everything he can to solve the mystery of this apparent suicide.

I’m thrilled that The Last Policeman is just the first installment of what will be a trilogy. I literally could not put this book down. The main character is fascinating. He’s a good man with ideals that have gone out of fashion all too quickly. He is confused and a little lost, but refuses to give in to despair. I can’t wait to see what happens next. The novel is a complete read. The author doesn’t leave the reader hanging over the edge of a cliff, however, there is also so much more to know.

This isn’t like any other apocalyptic story I’ve read. It’s not a horror fest. The Last Policeman takes a thoughtful look at our mortality, both as individuals and as a species.  And yet, I did not trudge through this book. It was just tons of fun to read. I will read anything Ben H. Winters writes. (Except perhaps Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters)