An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England_ A Novel - Brock Clarke [0]
An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England
"Wildly, unpredictably funny.... Although it is his fourth book, it feels like the bright debut of an ingeniously arch humorist, one whose hallmark is a calm approach to insanely improbable behavior.... The parodies here are priceless."
-The New York Times
"Funny, profound.... Clarke's novel is an agile melding of faux-memoir and mystery. Spot-on timing gives it snap, and a rich sense of perversity ... lends texture. It's a seductive book with a payoff on every page."
-People magazine, Critic's Choice, four stars
"Clarke's novel sizzles. This straight-faced, postmodern comedy scorches all things literary, from those moldy author museums to the excruciating question-and-answer sessions that follow public readings.... They're all singed under Clarke's crisp wit."
-The Washington Post Book World
"[An] absurd, if weirdly compelling faux `memoir,' which takes aim at the danger of stories―at least false ones.... Gets at some unexpectedly poignant emotional truths."
-USA Today
"An Arsonist's Guide contains sentences and images that could stand beside the works of the former owners of the literary residences put to flame."
-The New York Times Book Review
"Absurdly hilarious.... Searingly funny."
-Entertainment Weekly
"Enormously funny.... A cautionary tale about the strength of stories to burn a path of destruction."
-The Chicago Sun-Times
"Darkly comic.... Bittersweet and ultimately sorrowful, Clarke's book suggests that we're all subject to the whims of the stories we tell ourselves."
-Los Angeles Times
"This is a sad, funny, absurd, and incredibly moving novel. Its comic mournfulness, its rigorous, break-neck narrative, delight. Bless Brock Clarke and his spookily human arsonist. They've given us a wonderful book about life, literature, and the anxieties of their influence."
-Sam Lipsyte, author of Home Land
"Clarke turns up the heat on New England's classic novelists―and their homes.... Moving and memorable."
-The Charlotte Observer
"Clarke has the ability to crack us up with his clever insight into human nature and suburban angst, but there is also a depth to his characters that helps raise the story above straight satire."
-MSNBC.com
"Every bit as quirky and engaging as its title.... Evokes John Irving, with a dollop of Tom Wolfe tossed in for good measure.... Pulsifer's disarming charm and witty insight carry the day."
-St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"While I was reading this dark, funny, tragic novel, I would look at the people around me and feel sorry for them because they weren't occupying the same world I was; they weren't living, as I was, inside the compelling, off-kilter atmosphere of Brock Clarke's pages. This is the best book I've read in a long time."
-Carolyn Parkhurst, author of The Dogs of Babel
"Both philosophical and deeply funny.... Resembles Richard Ford crossed with Borges: a thoughtful, playful exploration of everyday life, as well as a metafictional examination of the purpose stories serve in our lives."
-Time Out New York
"Sam's disasters are good news for readers ... particularly if they like their comic novels with a sharp edge, witty commentary and hilarious allusions."
-The Miami Herald
"[A] wacky and wildly imaginative novel.... It's nearly impossible not to care about and laugh with Sam. He's a misunderstood outcast, a knight errant on a quest to clear his name. But in this hilarious and original novel he does much more: He appeals to the fool in everyone and comforts us in knowing that we're not alone."
-Chicago Tribune
"Part mystery, part comedy, part insightful memoir, Arsonist defies the conventional formula in producing a wildly entertaining novel."
-Daily Candy
"Brock Clarke flames entire genres of fiction in this clever and often hilarious tale."
-Paste
"[A] brilliant novel."
-People, Style Watch issue
"Sam Pulsifer is now one of the great naïfs of American literature.... [This] rollicking, hilariously and subtly heartbreaking novel ... is at the same time a wrenching examination of what