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Jul 03, 2009

Cynthia rated it:

The stories of four main characters, three fictional, one real, intertwine on one fateful day near 1844 era Concord, MA, the birthplace of transcendentalism. Henry David Thoreau and his friend John Hoar have been fishing in Walden Pond on a hot, dry, windy day in May. John insists they light a fire in the woods so they can make fish stew from the day's catch. Henry (who's recently `rearranged' his name from David Henry) has misgivings but lights the fire anyway. The famous Walden Pond woods fire More...

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Nov 18, 2009

Eileen rated it:

This novel just won the 2009 Mercantile Library/Center for Fiction's Best First Novel Prize!

Move Pipkin's Woodsburner to the top of your reading pile! While Woodsburner is a novel about Henry David Thoreau, it manages to exceed or escape all of the ponderous transcendental baggage that could sink a good story. The Thoreau of the novel is a young pencilmaker who has not yet retreated to Walden; the fire he sets in the Concord woods is the result of a fish chowder gone wrong. Woodsburn More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Aug 02, 2010

Marcy rated it:

This is a wonderful and thought provoking story about five main characters whose deep philosophies are told one by one, chapter by chapter, as each reflects upon his/her past and present life. One character is Henry David Thoreau, who, by accident, starts a fire in the the woods, which eventually destroys over 300 acres of land. (This part is true). The other characters who we come to know well before the fire, change in some way as they fight the fire in unison.

1. Caleb, the p More...

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Jun 11, 2009

AJ marked it as to-read

From NPR:

Woodsburner, by John Pipkin, Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, Hardcover, 370 pages, List Price: $24.95

True fact: One year before he built his cabin on Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau accidentally scorched 300 acres of the Concord woods. In Woodsburner, John Pipkin's lyrical debut novel, Pipkin re-creates the events of that day from the perspective of Thoreau and several other Concord residents — an opium-addicted preacher, a pompous bookseller and, in some of the novel' More...

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Jun 06, 2010

Geoff rated it:

An . . . interesting book, but I can't really recommend it. On a sentence-by-sentence (and sometimes paragraph-by-paragraph) level, it's often excellent. Pipkin is good at describing things (fire, the woods, sometimes people) and actions (a ship exploding, men fighting a forest fire). The writing is good enough often enough to hold you.

But in larger ways--plot, characterization, theme, in other words all the most important stuff--the book is frequently maddening. The plot (whic More...

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Jul 13, 2011

Tom rated it:

Pipkin has lots of talent for vivid, lyrical description.
He does not, however, have much talent for sympathetic imagination.
As a result, his Thoreau comes off as a wooden nonfictional figure dropped into a fictional world of made-up characters with whom he has no idea what to talk about. Instead he has thoughts and mutters lines that simply confirm what anyone familiar with Walden already knows. To his credit, Pipkin seems to have figured out early that either he couldn't find a wa More...

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Aug 09, 2009

Alice rated it:

The premise of the book is a true story: Henry David Thoreau one day accidentally set a fire that spread and burned down 300 acres of the woods near Concord, Massachusetts. This was BEFORE he moved to a cabin on Walden Pond and wrote his famous book, and could have been the impetus for his decision to stop making pencils for his father and start contemplating philosophy and nature. At least that's what Pipkin would have us think happened in this beautifully written debut novel that explores the More...

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Jun 01, 2011

Noëlibrarian rated it:

I wish I could give this book 6 stars, because it does so well the strange job of capturing that certain spirit that infuses much of my favorite American mid-19th century literature: A compelling mix of questing, Westward Expansion tempered by a sorrow for the loss of innocence of the New World, with an overlay of bizarre spiritual beliefs ranging from Puritanism to pantheism. I have a soft place in my heart for Henry David Thoreau, perhaps because he reminds me of the better angels of my own a More...

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Jul 13, 2009

Allyson rated it:

Beautiful writing and an interesting presentation of Henry David Thoreau's possibly pivotal moment of his environmental theories & formulations.
But there were 2 or 3 inclusions I found unnecessary and distracting- the pornographic book plates as well as the "witches" were oddly unnecessary. And Caleb was completely annoying.
The jumping from character to character was instrumental in fast development of each person's history and actions, but seemed a facile way to achieve More...

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Aug 02, 2009

Rachael rated it:

This took some time to get into, but it was really delightful. The book concerns a fire that Henry David Thoreau accidentally set in the woods outside Concord. The fire overtook hundreds of acres of trees and came close to burning down the town itself, as well as nearby Walden Pond, and as a result Thoreau ended up, the following year, taking residence at Walden Pond to watch nature regrow itself. But, the novel is just as much concerned with the lives of everyday people alongside the event -- a More...

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Mar 08, 2010

Bayshore rated it:

It is a delight to read a novel that doesn't assume I'm limited to a fifth grader's command of the English language. Although the inspiration for the story came from an entry in Thoreau's "Journal", Pipkin skillfully interleaves the perspectives of a hand full of other people, each of whom views the fires as a personally fated event. And, like all crises, some meet the challenge, growing in inner strength, while others fail. As the blind woman (herself a symbol of fate) soliloquizes More...

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Aug 06, 2009

Chris rated it:

Great novelization of one afternoon in Concord, Mass, in 1844, when America's first great environmentalist, Henry David Thoreau, set a fire that burned 300 acres of woods to the ground, indeed threatening Concord itself. My friend Andrew Lenaghan handed my a galley copy of this first novel by John Pipkin, and I swear you can smell the pine pitch combusting. Pipkin seems to develop a set of theories about Thoreau here, one of which I think is that had he not suffered the shame of having torched More...

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Apr 14, 2011

Joy rated it:

This book uses some interesting characters to dramatize an interesting event in a (in my opinion)rather uninteresting period of American history, pre Civil War New England. David Henry Thoreau burns down a very dry Concord Woods. These characters are very representative of type and many would fit into 21st century America, i.e. the business man who stoops to selling unethical products to keep his legitimate business solvent, the farmer who refuses to help control the fire until it actually start More...

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Nov 28, 2011

Kelly rated it:

I knew nothing about Thoreau's accidental burning of the woods, so I found this book interesting for that fact alone. Here is my confession: I was an English teacher for 18 years before becoming a librarian, and I love to read, but I have never favored American Literature pre mid 1900s. I like the IDEA of the early American authors, but I find their writing boring. So, I read this book hoping it would endear transcendentalism to me a bit more. I liked the mixture of fact and fiction in the book More...

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Jul 22, 2009

Mike rated it:

Hugely disappointing. For anyone looking for insight into Thoreau's life and thought before he built his cabin near Walden Pond, you'll be disappointed too. All I learned really was a little bit about the manufacture of pencils. Thoreau accidentally sets the woods ablaze, and we learn about the lives of diverse individual whom the fire impacts. One character was a loner and had lived in isolation in the forest. One character is overwhelmed by a family and a mortgage. You get the idea. Of More...

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Feb 21, 2011

Open Loop Press rated it:

In Woodsburner, John Pipkin's first work of historical fiction, the Henry David Thoreau whose shadow looms large over American letters is an uncertain artist, a contemplative pencil maker, and an accidental fire-starter.

What lesson then, Henry asks himself, is his current experience awakening? He knew when he struck the match that there had been no rain for weeks. He knew the wind was strong, the grass dry, the woods asleep. These are not bits of innate wisdom; they are universal tru

More...

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Apr 28, 2010

James rated it:

On an April day in 1844 Henry David Thoreau and a friend accidentally caused a fire that consumed about 300 acres of timber and threatened the town of Concord. Woodsburner is about that fire and about how it affects the lives of the novel's wonderful ensemble of characters. Because each of those characters is identified with a fire other than the Concord fire, one could almost say it's a novel about fire. Each character has a fire in their life and it means different things to each of them. More...

24 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 02, 2009

Rich rated it:

Is a person's fate within their control, or is it written in the stars? John Pipkin explores the possibilities in this novel. It is well written and and engaging even as multiple characters, each with their own story and motivation are revealed.

Each character struggles with who they currently are, and who they want to be; this makes Henry David Thoreau an excellent choice as one of the voices because most of his own writing is concerned with living deliberately.

Thoreau's More...

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Jun 08, 2009

Sue rated it:

I really enjoyed this beautifully written novel.There were only 5 or 6 main characters, (that's if you include the fire, which certainly had a life of its own);but so much about each person's life & secrets is written. This book is based on an ironic true event that happened to Thoreau before he built his cabin on Walden Pond- he actually started a 300+ acre forest fire that the town's people were forced to try to put out. Again, this was a sensitive & thought-provoking book that is well worth More...

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Nov 13, 2011

Jodi rated it:

Goodness, this was a faster read than I thought it would be. Each chapter was a different character based on Thoreau's real-life incident when he accidentally set fire to some nearby woods in the Concord area. Felt sympathy for many of the characters (Henry David one of the least--portrayed as quite pompous) and it ended ‘right’ for the one I most wanted it to. Well-written and although I gave it four stars, probably won’t give it another thought after this write up.

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Jun 13, 2009

Laura rated it:

Thoreau accidentally burns down 300 acres of the Concord woods, and as ever, ponders the significance of it all. He is less irritating than usual because he is buffered by a cast of characters, some more interesting than him, some less- but I liked this book. I'd also recommend March by Geraldine Brooks, with Mr. March - mostly absent from the Little Women story- as the focus of the book. A more intersting and completely realized story than this one, actually.

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May 28, 2011

Lynnette rated it:

Woodsburner springs from a little-known event in the life of one of America’s most iconic figures, Henry David Thoreau. On April 30, 1844, a year before he built his cabin on Walden Pond, Thoreau accidentally started a forest fire that destroyed three hundred acres of the Concord woods—an event that altered the landscape of American thought in a single day.
Interesting concept the execution (some characters) was tedious.

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Jun 18, 2009

Ann rated it:

In 1844 Thoreau accidentally set the woods near Concord on fire. This is a book about that fateful day, and how it marks a major turning point for him and 3 other characters caught up in fighting the fire. I know the time, place, and person pretty well, and I think that Pipkin "gets it." He builds on what facts are known, and finds the drama in complex motivations. This Thoreau is no hero, but he's on his way (at age 26, finally).

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Jan 03, 2012

Lynne rated it:

This, based on an incident in which naturalist Henry David Thoreau accidentally let a fire get out of control and burn through hundreds of acres, almost reaching Concord, is a fascinating novel. Pipkin, first-time novelist, follows Thoreau and several other characters as the fire rages toward Concord, and luckily, the characters he creates, complete with backstories, are very, very interesting ones.

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Nov 07, 2011

Matthew rated it:

This book has a fun conceit - it is set during a fire set by Thoreau during a few-hour period as the fire grows and the town of Concord rises to fight it. There are a motley cast of characters, including a sad immigrant in love with the wife of his landlord, a great evangelical preacher, and a frustrated bookseller.

It is a quick read, and worth the time for the characters.

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Jan 07, 2010

Lauren rated it:

This was a lovely novel. Pipkin does not leave the focus on Thoreau--he is just the catalyst that sets the story (and the fire) in motion. Pipkin has created some wonderful characters--the silly self-centered playwright, the warm and loving woman and her drunk, spiteful husband. And of course, Oddmund Hus, who has suffered great tragedy and loneliness and who is transformed by the fire.

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Aug 02, 2009

Julia rated it:

Based on a true event in Thoreau's early life, when, in 1844, he and a friend set fire to the woods near Concord. The fictional characters are also focused on limiting the fire, and their lives are also intertwined in unpredictable ways. Despite the choppiness in the telling - the chapters bounce back and forth from one character to the next - the book is an interesting read.

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Aug 04, 2011

Serena rated it:

Well-written character vignettes for the most part, but ultimately I felt the whole was less than the sum of its parts. Some of the characters were far more interesting than others - I skipped the later chapters on Thoreau and the crazy preacher. I just didn't find that the stories came together in a compelling way.

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Dec 26, 2009

Karen rated it:

Thoreau and friend accidently started a fire in the concord woods in 1844. The story is the day of the fire. But the charachters that Pipkin draws are funny and tragic and have great depthj. He chooses to write the stories of those on the edge of change.

NB New years resolution: keep up with goodreads

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Sep 07, 2010

Cindy rated it:

This is a marvelously-written novel. Pipkin nails the 19th-century prose and perspective, but what's best is the way his characters speak. I was slightly dissatisfied with the "After" portion of the ending, but over all I think I understand why the book has garnered an award. It deserves more of them.

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