Because a Fire Was in My Head
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of Nebraska Press
Published:1st Apr '09
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
The fictional story of Kate Riley, antiheroine of the Great Plains, and her movement across the country and through her remembered past
Kate Riley is not the sort of heroine we meet in most American novels. Self-centered, shape-shifting, driven from one man to another and one city to the next, she is all too real but not at all the loyal and steady homebody of idealized womanhood. Kate's story is one of desperation and remarkable invention, a strangely American tale, narrated by one of our most original writers.Kate Riley is not the sort of heroine we meet in most American novels. Self-centered, shape-shifting, driven from one man to another and one city to the next, she is all too real but not at all the loyal and steady homebody of idealized womanhood. When we first encounter her, Kate is about to undergo exploratory brain surgery for a condition she herself has fabricated. Sobered by the gravity of the procedure, she commences a journey of memory that takes us back to the Saskatchewan village where she grew up and to the singular event that altered her forever and irrevocably set the course of her life. From her childhood, in which she was held captive to a mother gone mad, through her adult life, which unfolds as a mesmerizing sequence of men, abandoned children, and perpetual movement, Kate’s story is one of desperation and remarkable invention, a strangely American tale, narrated by one of our most original writers.
“Stunning. . . . The poetic detail of Stegner’s sentences—not to mention her wanton protagonist—is reminiscent of the novels of John Updike. . . . Because a Fire Was in My Head, her most ambitious novel so far, ought to attract for Stegner the wider audience she so richly deserves.”—Julia Scheeres, New York Times Book Review, Editor’s Choice
“A novel fully realized on every level, Because a Fire Was in My Head is a provocative literary work of weight and luster. A risky, intermittently melodramatic tale, it casts light both on the timeless mysteries of the human psyche and on the paradoxes of a notoriously contrary epoch, namely, post–World War II North America. . . . [A] bold and stunning novel.”—Donna Seaman, Los Angeles Times Book Review
“Kate’s downward spiral is undoubtedly grim, but Stegner punctuates it with muted hints of redemption; the result is uncommonly satisfying.”—Publishers Weekly
“Stegner’s supple use of language and precise evocation of period and place bring a literary intuitiveness to this inventive portrait of a scheming temptress, rendering with disarming psychological acuity Kate’s warring self-serving and self-destructive tendencies. Kate is too egocentric to be a sympathetic heroine, yet through Stegner’s masterful treatment, she does become a forceful, persuasive, and wholly mesmerizing character.”—Booklist
“Sometimes a character comes along that creates a confusion of feelings within the reader. Beautiful, ambitious, and self-centered young Kate Riley, the protagonist of this latest novel from Stegner is one of those characters . . . reminding one of that classic heroine we love to hate, Madame Bovary. Who can say what made Kate the way she is—her upbringing, the repressive culture, depression?—but that’s what makes this complex and emotional literary novel a compelling yet troubling experience.”—Library Journal
“Because a Fire Was in My Head will undoubtedly catapult [Stegner] to literary fame. . . . Stegner has rendered a truly tragic story, yet she writes it beautifully, demonstrating the stunning things that can be done with the English language when one is gifted.”—Deseret Morning News
“With bracing prose, Stegner turns a potential monster into a character both fascinating and pitiable; you may hate Kate, but you won’t want to leave her.”—Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly
ISBN: 9780803225145
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 345g
288 pages