The Fire-Eaters: Amazon.co.uk: David Almond, Daniel Gerroll: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

Continuing his tradition of strange and wild novels for young adults, David Almond, in The Fire Eaters, introduces a bizarre character making a sparse living as a self-mutilating, fire-swallowing street performer. McNulty's existence shakes young protagonist Bobby Burns to the core as he contemplates the end of the world (the year is 1962 and the US and Soviet Union seem to be heading toward nuclear war), power, pain, class and death, as well as friendship. The menace and sweetness in Bobby's life parallels the worlds, big and small, he inhabits. A loving family, seaside home and good friends form the foundation. But a crack in that wall is spreading: Bobby's father is ill, class differences are separating him from his best friend, and a ruthless schoolmaster is forcing Bobby to understand that everything has a price. McNulty's growled refrain--"Pay! You'll not see nowt till you pay!"--reiterates the lesson for the often bewildered, but ever stronger boy. Readers familiar with Almond's other haunting books, including the award-winning Skellig, will welcome this rich, challenging novel. As always, Almond refuses to shy away from the big topics, resulting in a novel dappled with light and dark, filled with wonder and mystery. --Emilie Coulter, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

'- the best book he has written since Skellig. Almond offers us this strange and haunting story himself - unabridged again - and although he lacks an actor's virtuosity, he reads finely and his northern accent lends an integrity to a partly autobiographical narrative that keeps the listener faith ful.

Almond understands children and writes with unerring sensitivity about them ... Almond shows, too, that even a child may understand what it means to feel elegiac.' (The Observer 20030719)

David Almond is a fine writer, one of the very finest we have. He is simply incapable of writing a bad sentence. In THE FIRE-EATERS, his sense of place is unerring. ... It is for me David Almond's best book - yes, more compelling than SKELLIG. For this is a complete book, masterful in every aspect. Almond has never been so self-assured... There is the intensity of family life, wonderfully observed and delicately drawn... fear pervades this book, fears we all know, but there is hope too. And we need that. How we need that. (Michael Morpurgo, Financial Times Magazine 20030719)

David Almond's The Fire-Eaters is an exceptional novel. Precisely written, it hauntingly evokes the life of a small community at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. (Lesley Agnew, The Bookseller 20030719)

'Once in a while a book comes along that takes over your head and your heart. David Almond's The Fire-Eaters is such a book ... The writing is lyrical and atmospheric and establishes a strong sense of place. The novel engages many emotions and lets you, for a while, live with, and know, this sensitively drawn community.' (Wendy Cooling, The Bookseller 20030719)

'Almond makes familiar issues fresh; his characters are finely drawn and his depiction of place perfectly realised.' (Julia Eccleshare, The Guardian )

'Written in Almond's very particular style that is both spare and poetic, his powerful evocation of time and place where personal relationships reflect wider issues, will not appeal to thrill-a-minute readers but will engross the more mature 12-year-old plus.' (Dinah Hall, The Daily Telegraph )

'a tale so marvellously told that it seems a shame to to label it as only for children... Almond is exceptional in his ability to make happiness real, at the same time as suggesting its fragility.' (Justine Picardie, The Telegraph - Arts section )

SKELLIG: 'Gripping, beautifully and brilliantly written. Everyone is raving about this unforgettable book.' (The Sunday Times )

KIT'S WILDERNESS: '...this superb piece of lyrically-written literary fiction captivates children and their parents alike.' (The Guardian )

HEAVEN EYES: 'David Almond understands the joy and fear of being alive better than most - Heaven Eyes is a mysterious gift of a novel.' (The Times )

SECRET HEART: 'This gripping book will enrich your soul and fire your imagination.' (The Daily Telegraph ) --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

Agony of Waiting for WW3 15 Mar 2004

By MadMaggie

Format:Hardcover

The Fire Eaters by David Almond

This wonderful novel by David Almond, who is already well –known as the author of the ground breaking, Carnegie and Whitbread winning children’s novel “Skellig”, shows us the irrationality and unfairness of life in 1962 through the eyes of 11-year-old Bobby Burns as it takes us to Northern England to a world overshadowed by the Cuban Missile Crisis. What makes David Almond’s writing so special is his ability to view the world so clearly and dispassionately from a child’s point of view. He eschews any form of judgement keeping authorial comment completely absent as Bobby copes simultaneously with the cruelty of sadistic teachers and the possible death of his sick father but still has time to consider the plight of others as exemplified by the outsiders; Daniel the long haired intellectual’s son, McNulty the shell- shocked, hunchbacked fire eater and Ailsa the clever, motherless girl truanting to care for her father and brothers. Bobby is shown as a generous, credulous child who deals with all the inequalities of life calmly and objectively.
The cruelty and unfairness of the Catholic grammar school in the early sixties with the male leather strap wielding staff is shown with all the horror of a young child but what struck me most forcibly was young Bobby’s chosen willingness to be a martyr and fight the tyranny. There are echoes of Roald Dahl’s “Mathilda” in some of the scenes as the merciless black robed staff choose token victims at random to be publicly beaten.
An enjoyable, absorbing read from a multi award-winning author although “The Fire Eaters” is aimed at teenagers it is a book to be enjoyed by both teenagers and adults. It won the Nestles’ Smarties Gold Award and the Whitbread Children’s Book of the Year 2003 award.

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

To the Edge of Doom: 29 Jan 2004

By A.K.Farrar

A stunning book that touches on the territory of Lord of the Flies in its use of the apocalypse and exploration of the cruelty and exploitation common humanity is capable of.

The Rite of Passage we observe is that of all humanity as it totters on the brink - a multi-layered brink with elements of the political and the personal brilliantly exploited by Mr Almond to give a book not only accessible to young people but enjoyable to a more adult readership.

At the centre is the character of McNulty with his cry, "Pay!" He is the fire-eater and escapologist who illuminates, in a way worthy of Beckett, the condition of man at the end of a century of world conflict.

As a teacher of English I would recommend this to any of my students as a thought provoking text which will grip them from the first page. As a human being I am glad I read what is sure to become a classic.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

Pay! You'll not see nowt till you pay! 28 Jun 2004

By Hatstand

Format:Paperback

This is a wonderful and moving book.
It really touched my heartstrings, and is the first Almond book I've read.

It's set in 1962 during the Cuban Missile and centers around the life of young Bobby Burns, an 11 year boy growing up on the East coast of England.
Bobby's life seems charmed - a perfect family, a loving mother and father and a community of friends who love and protect him - but things are changing.
Whilst the World teeters on the brink of Nuclear War Bobby's father has a mysterious illness, and life at his new Catholic school is cruel and viscious and unfair.
In the midst of all this is McNulty, the mysterious Fire breathing strongman who seems to be be fighting his own war against past demons.
Who is he, where does he come from and what does he want from Bobby?

Almond's writting is rich and multi-layered but with a lovely defness of touch.

He skillfully intermingles the personal battles of young Bobby and his family and friends with what happened during that tumultous year of 1962.
The end result never feals forced but instead is a convincing story that just oozes warmth and depth from page to page.