glad you guys brought this up; just ordered this book for an upcoming trip and will hope to join you.
If anyone reading The Fireman also subscribes to The New Yorker, check out the fiction piece, “The Fugitive,” by T. Coraghessan Boyle in the July 4th issue. It’s a short story about a man with a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis. Although the story is completely different from Joe Hill’s fantasy, it has an eerily similar theme about the lengths to which authorities will go to protect the citizenry from disease, and the limited options available to an infected person.
^You don’t actually have to be a subscriber. It’s on line: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/05/12/the-fugitive Thanks for the tip!
@mathmom, that’s the right title, but the wrong story (from 2014). Here’s the one I was referring to: http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/04/the-fugitive-by-t-coraghessan-boyle
Arrgghhh! I just found out about this book club, and the book looks like it would be fascinating. Do you think there’s any chance I could finish it in time? I’m usually a quick reader…
Sure! I’d say it’s a 11 to 12 hour read for a fast reader. So, if you have a couple of hours a night, 10 days is more-than-ample time.
(The audiobook is 22 hours and change, and I can usually read a book on paper in half the time it takes to listen to the audio).
I zipped through in a couple of weeks and I am the world’s slowest reader. (Though I admit I had a plane ride to California to help me.)
Oh and thanks for the correction Mary, I started to read the other story and it didn’t seem quite right, but went back to work instead.
I’m also a slow reader, but the book went pretty fast for me. @NerdMom88, if you don’t finish by August 1st, don’t come back to the thread until you’re done, because there are spoilers galore once discussion begins. But we usually chat for a week or 10 days and you can jump in at any time.
I’ve been really busy but am almost through with the book and I only started it five days ago. Regardless some of us show up to the book club discussion a day or two (or more) late. It’s happened to me. The general feeling is the more the merrier and there’s no pressure to be present the first day.
Still, it’d be an easy book to finish in the next 10 days or so. See you on August 1 or shortly thereafter, NerdMom88. 
I downloaded a copy and will start on it tomorrow. See you in August!
One of the best things about this club is that you don’t have to finish the book for the meeting. And you can reread during the discussions.
I’ve resumed reading the book after having had to abandon it when I was sick earlier this month. I’m now about halfway through, and I’m glad to see that enthusiasm is being expressed by others. At this point, The Fireman is very far from being a favorite of mine. I can’t help wondering whether I’m the only one who feels this way…
With about 350 pages left to get through (sigh), maybe the book will finally succeed in drawing me in.
^ It’s a genre that won’t appeal to everyone, no doubt about it. But I think the story is complex enough–and bizarre enough–to generate a good discussion. At least I hope so! (I know I have many questions and comments that I’m looking forwarding to sharing…)
No problem at all with the genre. I have other issues, but I’ll hold my tongue for now. I’m curious to see where the story goes.
I just finished. I’m still deciding how I feel about it. I think the book and I have a love/hate relationship.
Almost finished. At a certain point, the plot really kicks into gear. Before that, I found that great patience was required.
I finished yesterday. Because of the book’s length and some traveling I’ve done, it seems like it took me an extraordinarily long time to get through it.
It’s August (already!) and time for our discussion of The Fireman by Joe Hill. I loved reading this book, although it won’t go on my short list of favorites. What I mean is, I was in the mood for an over-the-top adventure—“pleasing mayhem," as Kirkus Reviews put it—and The Fireman delivered. That said, I have a feeling the novel won’t stick with me very long; I finished it a couple of weeks ago, and the details are already fading, as is often the case with even the best beach read.
I could not find any discussion questions online, so I sat down and wrote a passel of them, using whatever random ideas came into my head. Consequently, some questions may be too long, some too short, and others will show my bias in one way or another. I’m also quite sure I missed some key themes and plot points, so please feel free to add your own questions to the mix.
I’m headed off to a long day of work–may not have a chance to check in again until evening–but carry on!
This book goes on my “it was okay” list. Despite the 700+ pages, I thought it was an easy read. I think The Fireman was a perfect name for this novel, even though I consider Harper the main character. The story was built around fire and how to control it. I liked the character of John Rookwood. He was endearing and charismatic in a bristly kind of way.
I did enjoy the book very much and it did make me think I’d like to read other books of his. There’s some beautiful writing - I could see that he thought about the craft of language and plotting - particularly in the early parts of the novel.
I think what bothered me most was that I felt that what started off as a pretty realistic what if went off into over the top fantasy land with the ability to spray fire (barely believable) and to send off shapes of fire separate from you (not believable at all). That really took away from my ultimate enjoyment of the story, which was too bad because there was much to love.
Here’s an example of a little thing he did near the beginning of the book that I really loved. Harper (talk about names - that goes indelibly to Harper Lee in my mind) is this seemingly sunny girl-woman who can’t even bring herself to swear using Mary Poppin’s “spit spot” when others might use stronger language. But when her husband leaves her alone with Dragonscale and she reads his awful novel and she assumes she will be bursting into flames too - her language changes:
That was when I knew I was going to like the book, even though I could never bring myself to watch the Disney version of Mary Poppins. I loved the original books which are wonderfully subversive.