How to start a fire and why

Original language: English

Original title: How to set a fire and why

Translation: Virginia Rech

Year of publication: 2016

Valuation: highly recommended

A training novel. Lucia, a practically orphaned teenager, becomes involved with a quasi-terrorist cell, the fire society, whose manifesto ‘How to start a fire and why’ is presented to her as a kind of addendum to the dogmatic codes bequeathed by her father:

1. Don’t do anything you’re not proud of.

2. Don’t be a robot.

3. There is no private property.

These commandments, clearly anarchist in nature, lead Lucia down a path full of moral dilemmas, which are presented in a very subtle way by Ball, through the voice of a young woman who is both astute and naive, with unbridled intelligence, more with an attraction to deflagration, literal and metaphorical.

Jesse Ball’s narration gets to the point. He presents ideas forcefully and using an innocent look, with a certain recklessness and impudence. Lucia’s personality serves to simultaneously criticize and defend anarchism. The consequences that Lucia faces for her actions are presented as a consequence of living in a highly structured and oppressive society.

Throughout the novel, Ball explores the duality between the search for personal freedom and the ethical responsibilities that come with belonging to a radical group. Lucía is constantly torn between her desire to break with established norms and the impact of her actions on those around her.

Furthermore, the setting of the story contributes significantly to the overall tone of the work. The urban settings, cold and dehumanized, serve as a reflection of the alienation that Lucía feels (for example, the description of Lucía’s house, with an interesting format of the text). Ball’s phrases are agile and evocative, capturing both the beauty and the rawness of the protagonist’s most intense moments.

In the same way as I referred to another book by Ball, without a doubt a stimulating read.

Other works by Jesse ball reviewed in ULAD: children 6

If you didn’t do so in the previous review, take some time to watch the interview with Jesse Ball.