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3rd out of 92 books
—
18 voters
Woodsburner
by
John Pipkin
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.
Against the bac...more
Against the bac...more
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
April 28th 2009
by Nan A. Talese
(first published April 16th 2009)
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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
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. Woodsburner is beauti...more
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. Woodsburner is beauti...more
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 preacher who is fi...more
1. Caleb, the preacher who is fi...more
Jun 11, 2009
AJ Conroy
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's most flat-out beautifu...more
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's most flat-out beautifu...more
A disappoinment, but an interesting read.
I would compare it, in a sense, to an overly produced album, next to a roughly produced low -fi album. One may be technically accomplished but the later has more heart. Woodsburner was an overly produced album, created in a state of the art studio by a good technician. This book, in its description, purported to be about Henry David Thoreau starting a forest fire in Concord just before he moved to Walden Woods, a topic which interested me immensely. Par...more
I would compare it, in a sense, to an overly produced album, next to a roughly produced low -fi album. One may be technically accomplished but the later has more heart. Woodsburner was an overly produced album, created in a state of the art studio by a good technician. This book, in its description, purported to be about Henry David Thoreau starting a forest fire in Concord just before he moved to Walden Woods, a topic which interested me immensely. Par...more
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 (which switches betwee...more
But in larger ways--plot, characterization, theme, in other words all the most important stuff--the book is frequently maddening. The plot (which switches betwee...more
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 way into HDT's s...more
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 way into HDT's s...more
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
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 ad...more
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 those ends. And giv...more
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 those ends. And giv...more
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 t...more
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
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
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 course,...more
Dallas Morning News review. . .
This beautifully written literary novel depicts the incident in which Thoreau of pre-fame and pre-Walden days accidentally started a forest fire that burned 300 acres. I love Thoreau so found the chapters on him compelling. The author did a lot of research and has a nice light touch with it. The book alternates POV characters on the day of the fire, and some of them I found fascinating and some boring and began to skim them. This is a celebrated novel but is nonetheless very slow moving and only...more
I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, it was full of beautiful sentences, vividly described scenes, and characters I could remember. The story is loosely based on an actual event in the life of David Henry Thoreau (who later became Henry David). The author did a good job of weaving the little amount known of the day Thoreau set fire to the woods around Concord, Massachusetts into a story of four persons fighting the fire - a priest, a farmer, a writer, and Thoreau. Their stories d...more
Feb 21, 2011
Open Loop Press
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
editors-reading-list,
john-pipkin-influences
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 truths that tra...more
In 1844, Henry David Thoreau accidentally set the woods surrounding Concord, Massachusetts on fire, burning over 300 acres of forest and several farms. Luckily, the fire was contained before it could reach nearby Walden Pond, where Thoreau would eventually live as a recluse and write his famous transcendentalist reflection,
Walden, the following year.
This book takes the Concord Woods fire of 1844 and uses it to frame an exploration into the minds and personalities of not only Thoreau, but also s...more
Walden, the following year.This book takes the Concord Woods fire of 1844 and uses it to frame an exploration into the minds and personalities of not only Thoreau, but also s...more
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. Beca...more
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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 character has not yet em...more
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 character has not yet em...more
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...more
Fascinating story behind this book -- apparently Henry David Thoreau set a forest fire in his youth and burned a significant portion of the Concord woods. This is a fictionalized version of that account, with stories being told by five characters. We hear the lives of each, and what brought them to Concord at this point in their lives. The fire causes character development of one kind or another...in all but Thoreau himself. He was pompously introspective the whole book. It didn't turn out to be...more
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.
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.
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.
Interesting concept the execution (some characters) was tedious.
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).
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A fine period piece...it is a rare feat to be able to freeze a moment in history and to show us the people of the time and offer a swatch of the thoughts, ambitions and fears of their era.
Mr. Pipkin is successful on most fronts at offering this glimpse of a fledgling United States. My main point of contention is that at times it reads more as a sociological study than an actual novel with characters and a story...the story is somewhat missing. However, the historical chronicle and presence of He...more
Mr. Pipkin is successful on most fronts at offering this glimpse of a fledgling United States. My main point of contention is that at times it reads more as a sociological study than an actual novel with characters and a story...the story is somewhat missing. However, the historical chronicle and presence of He...more
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.
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.
It is a quick read, and worth the time for the characters.
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“Every second of every day, a man is the sum effect of every second that has touched him before; he routinely encounters influences that will produce changes and actions that he cannot begin to predict or understand. And yet to acknowledge the complexity of these causes and motives was not to disallow agency. In that, all men are equal, even the cloistered monk--equally innocent, equally guilty. A man is not wholly responsible for what he becomes, but he is absolutely accountable for who he is.”
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Jul 14, 2009 10:43am