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Who by Fire (Stephanie)
When I was contacted by author Diana Spechler to review her book Who By Fire (368 pgs, Harper Perennial, 2008), I was flattered. I was also a little hesitant. I always feel a certain amount of pressure to like a book, knowing it was sent by the author, herself. But there was no need to worry when reading this book. Diana Spechler’s debut novel is fantastic! I can only hope she keeps writing!
from the Prologue:
After Alena disappeared, my mother was brimming with blame. She blamed the state police for not making enough of an effort. She blamed other families for not understanding. If my father sat down to watch TV, she would say, “You think your daughter has the luxury of watching television?” She started grinding her teeth so hard, she had to wear a mouth guard. For a year, she dragged Ash and me all over New Jersey, making us tape up fliers to telephone poles, as if we had lost her favorite cat. She never directly blamed us, her two remaining children, but she ofter began a thought with, “If it had been you instead of Alena….” Of course, she always followed that up with “Don’t give me that look. I never said I wished it had been you. God forbid. What do you take me for?” But we have always understood: Alena was the baby. Alena was the favorite. Six-year-old Alena, with the paint-brush black hair and the chin dimple and the jeans rolled halfway up her calves, Alena imitating our eighty-four-year-old neighbor’s smoker voice, Alena whizzing through the kitchen on roller skates with pink wheels — Alena was the irreplaceable one.
Thirteen years after six-year-old Alena was kidnapped, the Kellerman family is still feeling the affects. Bits, the older sister, uses sex and men to try to fill the void in her soul caused by her sister’s disappearance. Ash, the older brother, left college his freshman year to travel to Israel. His void is filled with religion. He has moved to a yeshiva to become an Orthodox Jew. And Ellie, the mother, spends her days trying to rescue her remaining children.
Ash has cut himself off from the rest of his family. Feeling more guilt than the others, he thinks the only way he can atone for his past “sins” is to live the Orthodox lifestyle. Ellie and Bits thinks he’s gone and joined a cult. But when Alena’s body is recovered after all these years, it’s up to Bits to try and bring Ash home. Bits, the girl that can’t even take care of herself.
This novel is about love and loss; grief and guilt. It is about broken people and their need to try to “fix” the other. Each person has handled this horrible tragedy in his own way and each to an extreme. Diana Spechler has created some intensely flawed characters and brought them to life. With each mistake made, the reader draws closer to the characters. They are extremely human and very well written.
Hard to read at times, Who by Fire is an excellent debut from a very talented writer. Although I spent a lot of time wanting to shake these people, I fell in love with the Kellermans. Especially Bits. Having lost a sibling myself, I could so totally relate to her that at times it was scary. This is a highly recommended read for everyone that loves a book with an intensely character-driven plot. This book deserves to be read. 4.5/5
Who By Fire (Literary Feline)
Maybe I’m overstepping my boundaries, maybe I’m supposed to let my kids make their own mistakes—that’s what the self-proclaimed experts say—but I know about mistakes, about how indelible they can be. [pg 45]
Who By Fire by Diana Spechler
Harper Perennial, 2008
Fiction; 343 pgs
It is rare I read a book longing for more when I reach the end. It was that way with Who By Fire, however. I wanted the story to go on, to know what would happen to the characters next. I was not ready to close this chapter on their lives. Not just yet. I am not talking about those types of endings that leave you in the lurch or where you aren’t satisfied. Rather, I am talking about a book that has you so invested in the characters’ lives that you aren’t ready to let go.
Alena was only six years old when she was kidnapped from right outside her home. She was the youngest of three and the favorite of her parents. Her disappearance was the breaking point of the Kellerman family. Alena’s father abandoned his family, leaving behind a broken wife and two children, all of whom would bear the scars for a lifetime.
Bits, the oldest of the Kellerman children, lives her life recklessly. She began turning to sex at an early age, hoping to fill a void deep within her. She feels empty and lost and seems to feed off of the chaos in her life. She does not let anyone get close to her and instead uses people without much regard for their feelings or thoughts.
Like Bits, Alena’s brother Ash feels alone in the world. He blames himself for his sister’s disappearance, holding close a secret which burns him from the inside. He is angry at himself, lashing out at others. Unlike his sister who runs away from all that might tie her down, he turns to religion, something controlled and focused to quell the pain inside of him. He thinks that by breaking away from his past and dedicating himself completely to religion, he will find the peace and happiness he seeks.
Ellie Kellerman, their mother, wants nothing more than to have her family back. She lost her youngest child and her husband and is desperately afraid she will lose her remaining children as well. In her mind, her children are both disappearing from her, in particular her son, who she believes has joined a cult. She is willing to go to any length to reel him in.
When Bits learns from her mother that her sister’s remains have been discovered, she decides it is up to her to bring him home. She travels to Israel where her brother is now living and learning among the Orthodox Jews at a yeshiva. She blames herself for her brother’s self-exile from the family, for his turning to what she thinks is extremism in his faith, and believes that it is up to her to save her family.
The story is told from the points of view of Bits, Ash and Ellie. Diana Spechler takes a chance writing each part in first person, but it proves quite effective. The reader gets a deeper understanding of the characters, their motivations and their pain. There are also other characters who stand out in the novel for their own reason, including Monica, a girl on a mission who at first seems confident in herself and in her beliefs, but who really is a lost soul herself, and Todd, Ash’s roommate at the yeshiva who is still searching for his niche in the world. He was perhaps my favorite of all the characters.
Yet it was Ash’s story which most moved me. I could identify with his reasons for turning toward faith for direction, more than I could Bits’ life choices. Like him, I find comfort in order and self-control rather than in chaos and recklessness. Ash turned to religion for the wrong reasons, out of guilt and self-loathing. He hoped for a cure, to be rid of his past. He clung to it like a drug. The religion itself is not the problem, although to some, the practices and beliefs of Orthodox Judaism may seem extreme and overzealous.
Who By Fire is not just about Ash, however, despite his family’s focus on him. It is about all three of the main characters and their relationship with one another. They each are suffering in their own ways and have made choices, sometimes bad ones, in an effort to cope with a terrible tragedy from their past. This is a story about grief, loss, guilt and blame. It is also a story of hope. Despite the direction their lives have gone and in spite of the past, Ash, Ellie and Bits are all searching for something more, something better in life, and for each other, even Ash, who may not realize it.
I loved this book on many levels. I am drawn to books that touch on religious themes as this one did. Not as a way of preaching or teaching about a religion, per say, but about a character’s self-journey. Judaism and its many facets is one religion that I have always been interested in. Also, I appreciated how well Diana Spechler crafted her characters. They were terribly flawed and not always the most likable and yet I really came to care for them. In addition, the setting seemed very appropriate. Set partly in Israel, the turmoil there seemed to mirror the turmoil of the family, as well as highlighted some of the good, including Israel’s diversity. Overall Who By Fire was a compelling and moving novel that will stay with me for awhile to come.
Rating: 
(Very Good +)
For more information about the author and her books, please visit the author’s website. Be sure and stop by yesterday’s interview with the author if you haven’t done so already!
Many thanks to both the author, Diana Spechler, and her publicist, Audrey Harris, for providing me with a copy of Who by Fire.