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Incendiary (Book Club Readers Edition)

by Chris Cleave (Goodreads Author)

3.56 of 5 stars 3.56 · rating details · 5,872 ratings · 1,101 reviews

I am a woman built upon the wreckage of myself.

In an emotionally raw voice alive with grief, compassion, and startling humor, a woman mourns the loss of her husband and son at the hands of one of history’s most notorious criminals. And in appealing to their executioner, she reveals the desperate sadness of a broken heart and a working-class life blown apart.

Paperback, 272 pages

Published January 11th 2011 by Simon & Schuster (first published 2005)

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Feb 03, 2013 Lance Greenfield Mitchell rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Original, entertaining, authentic and believable

An East End [of London:] woman decides to write a letter to Osama bin Laden after a team of his suicide bombers wreck her life by indiscriminately blowing up the crowd at a football match, killing both her husband and her four-and-a-quarter year-old son, along with over a thousand other football fans.

The letter is written, mainly in the authentic language of an East End gal, but with snippets of people from other worlds. The grammar and punctuatio...more

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Dec 20, 2009 Jeanette rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: started-it-hated-it

UGH!! This is horrible! Trying to read it is like banging your head against a concrete pillar. You should only do it for the feeling of relief when you finally decide to stop.

I read about 30 pages and I can't take any more. The narrator is an obsessive---the kind who alphabetizes everything in her kitchen cupboards and freezer...and then goes one level deeper and alphabetizes within the alphabetization!
This entire "Dear Osama" story is written in that obsessive fashion. Annoying details repeat...more

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Feb 25, 2012 Kristen rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I would like to give this book 2.5 stars, but since I can't, I've decided to round it down to 2 stars.

The subject matter is incredibly depressing and there were several portions of the book that left me in tears... in public... on the subway. However, I did enjoy the "open letter" writing format and thought that it made the protagonist easier to relate to. As someone who lived and worked in NY during 9/11 I thought that it was an extremely realistic portrayal of someone going through an unfatho...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Pat Herndon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I listened to the audiobook. The audiobook performance was superb, with the perfect reader to perform the material. I am sure that her reading enhanced my perception of the book...but. But, this plot line had some strange flaws in what I would otherwise describe as an excellent story. I read Little Bee and thought that it was an amazing work. Then I read Gold and thought, Chris Cleave does not understand female friendship. I was very pleased that this book was moving at an excellent pace..great...more

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Feb 18, 2009 N. rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2009, fiction

Ich hoffe schlichtweg, dass das englische Original eine bessere Sprache bietet.

Im Deutschen ist es jedenfalls recht vulgär/einfach. Auf der einen Seite sollte es so sein, um eine bessere Stimmung aufzubauen, auf der anderen Seite wird maßlos übertrieben.

Was sehr schade ist, ist dass der Autor wirklich gute Ideen und Ansätze hat, aber niemals in die Tiefe geht. Man hofft immer, dass noch mehr kommt.

Die Geschichte handelt von einer Frau, die bei einem Anschlag ihre Familie verliert. Und das ist...more

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 23, 2008 Robert Beveridge rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: finished, cuy-co-pub-lib

Chris Cleave, Incendiary (Knopf, 2005)

Dear Osama,

With these two words, Chris Cleave kicks off his powerful novel Incendiary, and you know it's not going to be something you've seen before. And indeed it is not. The entire thing is written by the unnamed protagonist in a letter to Osama bin-Laden after al-Qaeda bombed a stadium during a big match, taking the lives of her husband and son. She tries to make a go of life afterwards, but while she never explicitly asks the question, it's embedded in...more

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Mar 03, 2011 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Oh boy! Very much sucked into this book. It is a letter to Osama bin Laden after a bombing in London by a grieving wife and mother. Very intense. Can't put it down.

1 like · like · see review

Aug 29, 2010 Elizabeth rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really like Chris Cleave's writing, and I enjoyed this ending more than the one in Little Bee. It helped to listen to this London-centered novel on tape, since there are a lot of British-isms throughout. I could easily picture myself living in a post-Osama bin Laden world, and I found some of his descriptions of grief and anger spot-on. I don't know that I can rate it much higher since the subject depressed me throughout and I found some of the plot a little too crazy for me, but I did enjoy i...more

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May 08, 2013 Rita De oliveira rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Como lidar com um sentimento de culpa quando não se tem culpa? Uma mulher assiste na televisão em direto à morte do marido e do filho quando se encontra em casa com o amante. Um ataque bombista durante um jogo de futebol num estádio de Londres provoca o caos e a tragédia, mergulhando a cidade e cada habitante num ambiente de medo e desconfiança.

Mas tudo isto acaba por ser um pormenor para ela, que sofre todos os dias e todas as horas com o que perdeu, tendo de lidar com o amante jornalista que n...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: british, death, terrorism

London is recovering from a terrorist attack. Suicide bombers killed hundreds at a Chelsea/Arsenal football game. In a narrative styled as a letter to Osama bin Laden, we see the effects of losing a husband and child (4 years, 3 months) on one young woman. Her tale is heartbreaking, horrifying, and frighteningly possible.

Cleave has written a book that is remarkable for his writing style and his ability to create believable characters. The choice of a letter to a terrorist is unusual and Cleave's...more

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Apr 05, 2013 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Dystopian, disconcertingly feasible and utterly compelling. You don't have to be British to get it, so please don't be put off by dismissive reviews from elsewhere. The narrator's vernacular is authentic working class London, East End. She is a survivor, just like many before her from that part of town (Eg 1938-1945). Her obsessive compulsive traits and her repetition of her son's age might have a bit to do with the fact that the boy had been taken from her in the most horrific circumstances ima...more

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Apr 02, 2013 Paula rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Chris Cleave gives his female protagonists wonderfully clear and unique voices. The witty, insightful, yet flawed young woman who narrates this novel is overcome with grief and madness - yet she is the most rational person in the entire novel. Madness and outrage are the only sane responses to her horrific circumstances.

The underlying grief is a tangible physical presence. I could see the horrific firey scenes of her son's last moments; I could taste the salt in her tears, hear her screams and f...more

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Mar 22, 2013 Mckenna O'brien rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

McKenna O’Brien
Honors English 9
Karcz Block 4
22 March 2013
Incendiary
Would you ever write a letter to Osama Bin Laden after he ruined your life? Incendiary is written entirely as if the main character is writing a letter to you about her life, like you are Osama. You never figure out the name of the woman telling the story, but you seem to know everything else about her and her life. Although Chris Cleaves young adult fiction, Incendiary, is interesting, there isn’t much of a story like other than...more McKenna O’Brien
Honors English 9
Karcz Block 4
22 March 2013
Incendiary
Would you ever write a letter to Osama Bin Laden after he ruined your life? Incendiary is written entirely as if the main character is writing a letter to you about her life, like you are Osama. You never figure out the name of the woman telling the story, but you seem to know everything else about her and her life. Although Chris Cleaves young adult fiction, Incendiary, is interesting, there isn’t much of a story like other than telling about the main character and her terrible life.
The main character wants her husband and son back after they were bombed by an incendiary bomb at a soccer game. She can’t get them back, and misses them so much she starts seeing things. She can’t seem to turn her life around, or go a day without thinking about what happened to her family. We see this when she says, “Well Osama I sometimes think we deserve whatever you do to us. Maybe you’re right maybe we’re all infidels. Even when you blow us into chunks we don’t stop fighting each other. I suppose you heard the details on the radio did you? It must have been strange for you sitting there in your cave with your Kalashnikov. I suppose you were sitting out on the rocks before dawn listening to goat bells when one of your men came over to you. Did he say Hey boss turn on the radio we did it we blew up the Arsenal’s shiny new stadium? Did you smile? Did you hear the news breaking while you watched the sun rise over the mountains?” (52). This shows her talking to you as if you’re Osama, and also mentioning the bomb that went off at the stadium that day which is a big part of the story.
I would recommend this book to readers who are mid-teens or older and like to read about tragic events. I would rate this book a 2 out of 5 stars because the book didn’t have much of a story line after the bomb attack, and was kind of all over the place. Overall I thought this book was really depressing to read.
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Mar 04, 2013 Jenn rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I was excited to read this because I really liked Little Bee and I loved Gold. This novel has a totally different feel. It's a novel in a form of a letter to Osama Bin Laden from a grieving mother in London. Her husband and young child were killed in a bombing at a soccer match.

At times this is a tough novel to read. Not only is she grieving, but there are some graphic scenes that I wanted to get through quickly (both about the bombing and sexual). Also since it's in a sort of letter there are...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I hate when I read a book that has an engaging protagonist, a compelling story, and an intriguing location, along with some awesome action and the author keeps you reading, rooting for the narrator and then....he RUINS it ALL during the last twenty pages. I won't do a spoiler alert by telling you HOW he wrecks it. All I will say is I only recommend the first 214 pages of the 237 page book. After that the whole things gets shot to hell. the story derails, crashes, burns, and just stinks.

I like th...more

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Feb 02, 2013 Eva rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I listened to the unabridged version, performed by Susan Lyons. She does a great job. It also skips the issue of grammar.

I would say I love Cleave's books (read Little Bee some time ago), except it feels strange - can you actually enjoy a book about a terrorist attack on London?! (Or mistreatment of refugees, for that matter?) Cleave makes unexpected connections, detailed and accurate observations sound hilarious on the background of the society's bigger picture. Having a woman write a letter to...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Molly rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bookclub, madness

This was our other choice for bookclub and I wound up reading both (the other, Wild by Cheryl Strayed) and I'm so grateful I did. Both are gorgeous in entirely separate ways.

This one's writing is from persona, which means we get these run-on sentences and loose slang and the character's personality really bustles to the front. She becomes a very real person, one thickly layered, and as a mama, and as all of us left in book club are mamas of very young children, our hearts peel apart at what she...more This was our other choice for bookclub and I wound up reading both (the other, Wild by Cheryl Strayed) and I'm so grateful I did. Both are gorgeous in entirely separate ways.

This one's writing is from persona, which means we get these run-on sentences and loose slang and the character's personality really bustles to the front. She becomes a very real person, one thickly layered, and as a mama, and as all of us left in book club are mamas of very young children, our hearts peel apart at what she must live with. I love the way in which the plot devolves as it progresses and the narration becomes fully questionable in exactly the ways you might expect it to. I love that I fall in love with her a little bit, which allows me to understand why she can have a husband (had a husband) and two very different-intentioned men love her too. She's quirky but much of the quirk is just trying to hold on, both before and after the incident.

I think trust and believability are in the hands of this writer, and I'm so grateful to have turned to his first book. I loved Little Bee as well, though probably not nearly as much as this one and that's more rooted in craft than anything else.

I also remember seeing a film adaptation with Michelle Williams (whom I very much so have a crush on) a long bit ago, but I don't remember how much the two resemble one another. It's worth a second look; the shake-up of the initial tragedy is enough to quietly observe (and think, "There but by the grace of God go I...") and not feel as compelled to hug my daughter in an insipid way but wonder, truly, what on earth it would mean to me to have that part of my life sliced away--the daughter, the husband, what fills the house each day. What would it mean to lose every comfort and how would madness descend, perhaps, or how could I make my own life meaningful in honor of two people who were IT for me.

I guess, in some ways, that's what I mean about NOW: how do I live my life in honor of these two people (and in a month, there will be another, if all goes well) who have, in many ways, and much of those literal, saved my own life? How do we do right (and still be human)?(less)

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Dec 11, 2012 Cleo rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: owned-books, review-copy

Incendiary is Chris Cleave's other book, which I once again received from Simon & Schuster. Though the premise of this one sounded less interesting, I might say that this was one was in some ways my favorite, at least in terms of the writing. In Incendiary, a British lower-class women mourns and recalls the death of her son and her husband at a soccer match which was bombed by Osama bin Laden.

Incendiary was really moving, made more so by the way that the woman (who is never named) talks or r...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Kayla rated it 2 of 5 stars

I was at first drawn into the raw emotion of the book. I mean, what a concept! She's writing to Osama Bin Laden himself! What a unique voice this is going to develop into! It made me cry and laugh at regular intervals throughout most of the first section ("spring") and I was excited to have unearthed a hidden gem, but the tone soon exhausted itself. I like the unedited voice- I always have, but especially in this case as the lack of clarity and structure lend themselves to the unnamed narrator's...more I was at first drawn into the raw emotion of the book. I mean, what a concept! She's writing to Osama Bin Laden himself! What a unique voice this is going to develop into! It made me cry and laugh at regular intervals throughout most of the first section ("spring") and I was excited to have unearthed a hidden gem, but the tone soon exhausted itself. I like the unedited voice- I always have, but especially in this case as the lack of clarity and structure lend themselves to the unnamed narrator's state- but there were times when it became metafictitious and forced.
Maybe it's my fault, as I've never been married nor a mother, let alone lost a child and husband. (Though I have been through the depths of depression, and from what I've garnered from it, it's not a time when you can sit down with a pen and marry words to exactly what you're feeling.) But this book died on me. I became impatient for the ending. And no don't you go all "oh the book was so clever and wonderful because it turns you into the narrator and the tangible book into its plot and now you know how she felt!" on me because that's not what I meant. Believe me, I was hooked the first few pages in and would've done anything to keep the book a thriving example of concise, truth-filled literature, but it offed itself right there in my hands. It became awfully forced and uncomfortably repetitive.
Speaking of offing oneself, though. Why doesn't she? And I'm not being daft- my life has been jarred multiple times by suicide and I'm aware of all that comes with it- I just can't see why Cleave keeps her alive, besides an outlet to use wonderful synonyms for "sad" and "dirty" and indulge himself in painting a "masterpiece" of insanity.
Everyone was so depressed through it, but they did the stupidest things about it. Really Petra? Inviting the mistress over to live with you? Oh yeah sure, fat load of good that'll do for your relationship! Fucking genius! And the narrator herself- becoming an omnipresent being encompassing the pain and devastation felt throughout London, and all that noise- she was off her rocker. She needed to take care of someone, so yes she found herself two new chaps and began fucking them and rocking them back and forth while they cried and making their tea just the way they liked it, but was that reason enough for them to like her? I mean, it takes some time for her to be established as a maternal figure to both Jasper and Terrance, but both of the first encounters aren't exactly Romeo and Juliet catching sight of each other's prettiness from across the ballroom. To Jasper she's a nervous wreck, shivering and drunk and openly cheating and not shutting up. To Terrence she's a devastated widow with a gun in her mouth. She spends an extended time in hospital pumped full of Valium and the rest of the novel inhaling vodka, G &Ts, and more unnamed pills. Her mind literally shows her what her eyes are seeing as if the world's constantly on fire, burning its residents to charred lumps of flesh. She hallucinates her little burning son following her everywhere, deflecting her feelings into him. Are the pickings in London really so bad that this is the woman who sweeps not one but two men off their feet? Maybe that's the author's point- that London sucks a lot- and if so, congratulations Cleave. You tricked me into realizing it. But this doesn't magically make the characters seem any less like plastic toys you're winding up and setting on the ground so they can roll around and run into walls and each other.
The novel ends with the narrator punching out of her semblance of sanity. "Well, that's that," I can almost hear you saying. "I've run out of weak metaphors for life not being worth living anymore. Better wrap this up as soon as I can." You leave her homeless yet employed, completely bonkers yet quieted down. I see the point- life goes on and all that- but I don't see how it contributes to a greater message. Why? Why tell this story?
I feel I should mention that I like the bit about her turning herself into Petra Sutherland. The yearning to disassociate herself from her own life might just be me again relying on my own personal experiences to decide if a novel touches me or not, but I found it wonderfully fresh and clear amidst the rubble of the rest of it. And when she used that guise to get into Petra's office- it was like an exciting spy novel for a moment there. Pity she didn't burn the two Petra to flames. At least then she could've done something proactive besides fucking and drinking and screaming.
In summary, this novel lost its flow. And, granted, my response to the first section is with the emotional baggage I usually feel at the climax of a novel, after I've caught on to themes and motives and symbols and after I've established how I feel about each of the characters, and that's the first time that's happened. But I don't see why the author did what he did- leaving the narrator Very Insane and the rest of London just sort of hanging.
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Sep 27, 2012 Rebecca Lunny rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: perks-of-working-at-a-bookstore, 2012

I can't decide how I feel about Incendiary, so here are a couple of my favorite quotes instead:
(view spoiler)...more

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Sep 20, 2012 marg rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: couldn-t-finish

OK, Cleave. It's officially over for us. You are a man on a mission, a guy who tries to pass himself off as clever but is merely gimmicky, a man who attempts pathos and ends up mawkish. BLARGH. Here, in no particular order, are the things I can't stand in novels, in general, and applied to this one, in specific:
1. Letters that magically, somehow, have perfectly remembered dialogues and long plot driven descriptions that no one would ever write.

It's not only lazy but impossible to believe. The wh...more OK, Cleave. It's officially over for us. You are a man on a mission, a guy who tries to pass himself off as clever but is merely gimmicky, a man who attempts pathos and ends up mawkish. BLARGH. Here, in no particular order, are the things I can't stand in novels, in general, and applied to this one, in specific:
1. Letters that magically, somehow, have perfectly remembered dialogues and long plot driven descriptions that no one would ever write.

It's not only lazy but impossible to believe. The whole time I am reading I am distracted by the 'oh wait, right, this is a terror victim's letter to Osama (yank those heart strings! Yank yank!) so I better slap in the name Osama where it is least relevant so as to remind you folks at home that that is my gimmick! Smooth, Cleave.

Which brings me to:

2. Yanking heart strings novels.

This falls into the category alongside Books About Kids With Cancer and Other Bad Diseases, Books About the Holocaust, and Books About Orphans. It's cheap, just like having a really long letter as your format. So of course how could I not feel for a woman who lost her son and husband to a senseless bombing, right? Except when the author tries REALLY REALLY hard to get you to feel that by employing all kinds of tricks. Also she was REALLY not likable. Which brings me to:

3. Remembering that you need your characters to be multi dimensional so you add in some random not so ok behavior so you can pat yourself on the back.

Said character has attitude, and not in a charming way. She represents the working class in London and you can all feel offended by this representation. Her smart mouth was annoying and her love for her family felt as forced as the times she did not feel that love, all the more dwarfed by the Big Catastrophe which brings me to:

4. Books that Ride on the Coat Tails of Actual Tragedies so as to Beef Up Their Lousy Rendition of Same.

Hello, Cleave? 9/11 called. It wants its sanctity back.
He basically rips off the smoke and chaos of a real act of terror and attempts to draw upon that in his stupid football game bombing, and not only does it feel cheap and wrong, but he then turns this event (based on an actual event) into something resembling satire (ok yeah THAT'S a great idea) as in, "Oh we can't be having Muslims working, even the ones who aren't religious. Well we can have the cab drivers but not anyone who might fly a plane." It's hard to put it exactly but as I was reading the "unraveling of London" as based on NYC part, it kept feeling like the lady in The Help who really, really wanted you to see how wrong everyone else was by exaggerating everything. I am not saying Muslims didn't get a lot of unfair backlash but I am saying that truth needs to read as truth, not your agenda driven attempt at getting me to react to something.
I read about as much of this as I could, and at that point it was not only offensive but actually ridiculous with characters who were over the top such that nothing could be taken seriously. MOVING ON.(less)

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Aug 22, 2012 Alex Csicsek rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

How would London respond when faced with truly genuine fear? Written before the horrific events of 7/7, author Chris Cleave paints a dystopian picture of London as we know it in the aftermath of a horrific al-Qeada bombing where 1000 men, women, and children were blown to bits as they enjoyed a day out at an Arsenal match. The story is told through the eyes of an average working class East End woman who loses her husband and son in the attack. Incendiary is a profound story of unbearable loss, a...more How would London respond when faced with truly genuine fear? Written before the horrific events of 7/7, author Chris Cleave paints a dystopian picture of London as we know it in the aftermath of a horrific al-Qeada bombing where 1000 men, women, and children were blown to bits as they enjoyed a day out at an Arsenal match. The story is told through the eyes of an average working class East End woman who loses her husband and son in the attack. Incendiary is a profound story of unbearable loss, and the sensitive yet unsoppy portrayal of a woman who loses her son in such conditions is a magnificent achievement in itself. But what I found most engaging was how the character navigates her way through the remade London which emerges from the ashes of the attack. It's a bleak London where life carries on but only under a debilitating blanket of fear - and it's all the more bleak because it rings so very true.

This book imagines how both the government and the public would respond to such a devastating attack. The scenario is one of lock-down, in which the government loses all trust in the public and people have no faith in one another. Some of the Orwellian government measures do seem a bit far-festched, particuarly internment of Muslims, but others like increased surveillance and curfews, are not just within the realm of possibility but have actually been implemented by this and the previous government.

The most disturbing aspect is the treatment of people by one another. Yes, there is an element of stiff upper lip, but lips become so stiff that mouths aren't used to talk with others. Most people retreat into isolated lives carried out alone or with families in flats, experiencing the outside world only through television.

There is an amazing scene near the end when, faced with the threat of another imminent attack, 'the panic' takes hold. It is a slow descent into utter chaos, where people not only ignore pleas for help from their fellow Londoners but have no qualms about pushing others out of the way to save themselves. It shows what happens when the slow-burning, pent-up fear of life under the threat of terrorism suddenly erupts, and it's not a pretty sight.

Cleave is right: today's Brits are not the self-same people who, faced with a blitz of aerial bombardment in the second world war, kept calm and carried on. 70 years of convenience, of cheap fatty foods and evening spent relaxing on sofas in front of mindless television, have done much to diminish that. One factor is the early disintegration of genuine communities, where neighbours are only people who happen to live near one another as opposed to united people making their lives together in a shared space. Mid-20th century Britain was a tough, sturdy nation - that strength has melted away into fat, and it's a depressing thought how this new sort of nation would respond under similar threat.

That's what makes Cleave's book such a fantastic read: it demonstrates a deep and intimate understanding of modern Britain, and shows how that character would respond under extreme circumstances.

Beyond the bounds of the book, however, are glimmers of a less depressing interpretation. When a real terrorist attack hit London (coincidentally on the same day Incendiary was published), although government pushed ahead with its programme to dismantle civil liberties, the people themselves did not respond with the lock-down mentality Cleave portrays. And when London descended into riots last summer, the real crowds on the streets - the true majority in every sense of the meaning - were those who came out afterwards with brooms and bins, determined to clean up their streets and reclaim their communities. Cleave has put his finger on a very real strain of the British character, but it's not the only real strain, and there is reason to believe the dystopian London of distrust and fear he paints does not lurk beneath the surface after all.

Let's just hope we never have to find out.(less)

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Jun 25, 2012 Amanda Stewart rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: must-read

Chris Cleave is a writer I wish I was tired of reading, because that would mean that my thirst for his books was at its limit. However, that is not the case. Ever since reading "Little Bee" several months ago, I've been entranced with Cleave's ability to portray and articulate his character's voices with simplicity and ease. "Incendiary" was his first book, which is a letter to Osama Bin Laden from a young, thirty-something wife and mother who lost his husband and son in a terrorist attack. Iron...more

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May 01, 2012 Ken Deshaies rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"Incendiary" is one of the best books I've read - ever. I also read Cleave's "Little Bee", as engaging a book as you want to pick up. However, this is different, both in style and content. Told through the voice of a lower class woman in London who is writing a letter to Osama Bin Laden after her husband and son were killed (along with hundreds of others) in an al-Qaeda suicide bomb attack at a soccer match. At the very moment of the explosion, the woman is not only having sex on her living room...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Mal Warwick rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A Wrenching Novel on the Human Cost of Terrorism

This entirely original and deeply troubling first novel is written in the voice of an unnamed working class Englishwoman, bright but poorly educated. For starters, she doesn’t have a clue about commas, or just about any other punctuation, for that matter. At first, what seem to be her run-on sentences are jarring, even off-putting. But the story is powerful, and the language shortly becomes easier to take. Before you know it, you’re hooked.

Incendia...more A Wrenching Novel on the Human Cost of Terrorism

This entirely original and deeply troubling first novel is written in the voice of an unnamed working class Englishwoman, bright but poorly educated. For starters, she doesn’t have a clue about commas, or just about any other punctuation, for that matter. At first, what seem to be her run-on sentences are jarring, even off-putting. But the story is powerful, and the language shortly becomes easier to take. Before you know it, you’re hooked.

Incendiary is structured as an open letter to Osama bin Laden from a devastated young mother whose husband and young son have died in a massive terrorist attack on a soccer game in London. The book’s four sections cover events in the spring, when the attack occurs, and in the succeeding summer, fall, and winter of one terrible year, perhaps the worst in London’s history. But here’s how the narrator puts it all in context:

“You’ve hurt London Osama but you haven’t finished it you never will. London’s like me it’s too piss poor and ignorant to know when it’s finished. That morning when I looked down at the sun rising through the docklands I knew it for sure. I am London Osama I am the whole world. Murder me with bombs you poor lonely sod I will only build myself again and stronger. I am too stupid to know better I am a woman built on the wreckage of myself.”

However, this statement comes early in the novel. D0n’t get the impression Incendiary is uplifting. It’s profoundly unsettling, both in its devastating impact on the narrator herself and on English society.

Incendiary appeared in bookstores the day of the terrorist attack on the London Underground. The book won numerous awards and was published in 20 countries.

After reading Incendiary, I was surprised to learn that Chris Cleave is a man. His protagonist is so quintessentially female that it’s difficult to understand anyone who pees standing up could have created her. It’s also notable that Cleave is a columnist for the Guardian (Manchester Guardian to us oldtimers), since journalism, and journalistic ethics, figure so crucially in this first novel.

(From www.malwarwickonbooks.com)(less)

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Sep 24, 2011 Martine Taylor rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Hard to review. Miss being able to give a half star too, I would round this up to a 4.5 (B+/A-). Loved the narrating character's voice, the intense emotions, the thought-provoking subject matter, the fast-paced story line. This book sucked me in. On the other hand, I had trouble with some of the developments in the book, and I wasn't so pleased with the ending. Also, am I the only one out there bugged by the affairs of the mom/wife in Little Bee & the mom/wife in Incendiary? This is from a c...more

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Sep 08, 2011 Rachelfm rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: uk

Chris Cleave creates such memorable, credible characters with absolutely unique voices. The admittedly imperfect mother narrating this work in her singular, working-class, comma-phobic London voice grabs you by the gut. I didn't come up for air while reading this book. A fictional but eerily realistic terror attack rips through London and the life of one small family. The surviving mother writes a year-long letter to Osama bin Laden, addressing her anger, her loss, and her reactions (rational, i...more Chris Cleave creates such memorable, credible characters with absolutely unique voices. The admittedly imperfect mother narrating this work in her singular, working-class, comma-phobic London voice grabs you by the gut. I didn't come up for air while reading this book. A fictional but eerily realistic terror attack rips through London and the life of one small family. The surviving mother writes a year-long letter to Osama bin Laden, addressing her anger, her loss, and her reactions (rational, intoxicated, or otherwise) as she watches her city become a high-surveillance police state and she tries to deal with a bottomless crater in her heart.

There is dark humor and a masterly use of cultural touchstones and daily details that really transport the reader to this average life. The smell of the flat, the shopping for treats for a child, a boy's handmade bedroom are vivid against the explosive backdrop of this tragedy were almost too vivid and too poignant and I found myself unable to actually keep reading if my kids were in the room playing. The description of the sleeping boy smelling of tigers and angels.

One of the things I really appreciated about this book and felt was most eye-opening was how much time Cleave spent exploring the class divide, and how the winners continue to win, even in a terror attack. There was great tension between the reactions of those personally benefitting from the brave new world and those grieving the old one.

Chris Cleave came to our branch library in Seattle for a talk I attended this spring and he talked about how he wanted his novels to be a jumping-off place for discussion about the hard questions in our lives today: freedom vs. security, retribution, and the value of a life. His first novel certainly accomplishes this. Because the book was released simultaneously with the London bombings, the work was too uncomfortably raw and the fiction was eclipsed by reality. Approaching the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I found this struck the right tone for me to really reflect, remember, and develop a new empathy for those who have lost loved ones to terrorism.(less)

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Aug 28, 2011 Marije rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Horrific tale about a woman who loses her husband and child in a terrorist attack, while she is having an orgasm with another man (she sees the attack happen at that exact moment - on television). Mad with grief, guilt, and anger, she writes a letter to Osama bin Laden, willing him to understand how precious and innocent her son was to her. What unfolds is her wandering through traumatized London, where people and government show their darkest sides in their struggle for survival.

This book is sh...more

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Aug 25, 2011 Katie Van Domelen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: goodfiction

I read this because Little Bee made such an impact on me and I needed a plane read I could rely on (there's no downloading another book when you're up there!) at first I started thinking "oh no, this author has a pattern." I sometimes get annoyed when an author churns out the same pattern over and over and when the main British mother in this novel seemed a foil for the British mother in the last book, with the same marital woes and bereavement I was understandably worried. But as the book went...more

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Aug 17, 2011 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: terrorism, london, england, widows

A woman's life is forever changed when her policeman husband and young son are killed in a terrorist attack at a London soccer match. She obviously is not handling the loss well. As her life unravels, she writes a letter to Osama, detailing her grief, and asks him politely and urgently to stop his killing.

"Dear Osama they want you dead or alive so the terror will stop....I don't want 25 million dollars Osama, I just want you to give it a rest. AM I ALONE? I want to be the last mother in the wor...more

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About Chris Cleave

Chris Cleave was born in London and spent his early years in Cameroon. He studied experimental psychology at Balliol College, Oxford. His debut novel, INCENDIARY, won a 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, and is now a feature film. His second novel, LITTLE BEE, is a New York Times #1 bestseller with over 2 million copies in print. GOLD is his thir...more

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Quotes from Incendiary

“I am a woman built upon the wreckage of myself.” — 24 people liked it

“You may think that's funny Osama but you never can squeeze every last bit of pride out of a human being. It's like a tube of toothpaste. You can twist it and you can crush it but there's always a tiny bit left isn't there?” — 7 people liked it

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