Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The Great Fire

The Great Fire
The Great Fire
Author: Shirley Hazzard
Genre: Literature & Fiction
Book Type: Paperback
reviewed on + 10 more book reviews


Praised as one of the 1001 books to read before you die, so I had to try it. Came away unsure of why it is proclaimed as so great. I tend to really like personal stories based in an unsettled or uncertain setting, such as post-war. Usually characters living in urgency are characters with depth and emotion; however, I found the characters in this book to be flat and static. The strand of emotional and physical desire between the adult male main character and the immature and vulnerable child/woman to verge on abusive. With no parents present to protect her (or uninterested in protecting her, which I found unbelievable), the pursuit of her lacked positive elements.