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The Great Fire
The Great Fire
Author: Shirley Hazzard
More than twenty years after the classic The Transit of Venus, Shirley Hazzard returns to fiction with a novel that in the words of Ann Patchett "is brilliant and dazzling..." — The Great Fire is an extraordinary love story set in the immediate aftermath of the great conflagration of the Second World War. In war-torn Asia and strick...  more »
ISBN-13: 9781844080571
ISBN-10: 1844080579
Publication Date: 5/6/2004
Rating:
  • Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
 3

3.2 stars, based on 3 ratings
Publisher: Time Warner Books Uk
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

reviewed The Great Fire on + 4 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
This book has won many awards, including the National Book Award, and Shirley Hazzard's prose can be wonderful. For me, it was a little bit of a struggle to read through the entire book. Much of the story centers on an unlikely love story in the East, immediately after WW II.
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reviewed The Great Fire 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.
jazzysmom avatar reviewed The Great Fire on + 907 more book reviews
This is a British love story, so if you are interested in this place and era, you will like this. I very much enjoyed it. It is very well written and takes place after the war. It had me in tears in places but it is such a beautiful story, I just keep reading and turning the pages. I'm thinking this is possibly one of my most favorite love stories that i have read in the past few years.
bluebells2 avatar reviewed The Great Fire on + 5 more book reviews
A true love story during a unique period of time. Very engrossing and really enjoyed the international issues, the history, the way it was written and the love of the parties involved. A possitive, enjoyable read.
jareylee avatar reviewed The Great Fire on + 25 more book reviews
1947, Occupied Japan, story of love and separation. I needed a dictionary for some of the vocabulary in this book. Should be read twice; first to get the plot and characters (and vocabulary) and then to appreciate the author's excellent writing.
reviewed The Great Fire on + 25 more book reviews
The writing is very choppy. I had to read many sentences over again which greatly interrupted the flow. I thought some of the sentences were beautiful, but the book just was too ponderous.
reviewed The Great Fire on + 10 more book reviews
Hazzard is a master crafts(wo)man when it comes to writing. Every sentence is gorgeous!


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