Watching the Fire-Eater

by Robert Minhinnick

From Copacabana to urban Yorkshire, from New Mexico to a Welsh funfair, from The Netherlands to the Clare coast, Robert Minhinnick's world is a shrinking one. Its cast of characters includes Rio beach beggars, Madison Avenue literati, saloon-bar poolsters and millionaire scrap merchants. These essays cover a variety of third world poverty and the internationalism of alcohol, rugby through the eyes of a vegetarian, nuclear power, sunbathing and a thanksgiving dinner for the demise of Margaret Thatcher. But at the core of this collection is a vivid series of attempts to strip away the exhausted mythologies of the writer's own country and the increasingly-packaged places he visits. Whether in the rainforest or the big match crowd, Minhinnick's language, acid, imagist, compassionate, celebrates the people he meets and, fleetingly, defines their lives.

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1992

About the author

Robert Minhinnick (b. 1952) is a Welsh poet, essayist, novelist and translator.

Reviews

[Asa ♡]

Yay I've finally finished this book!! I had to read it for school and honestly it's been a struggle.
Although some pretty interesting topics are covered, the writing is so heavy and verbose that they fail to make much impression - I often found myself reading whole paragraphs without anything really sinking in at all.
There was some nice imagery sometimes, so I think Minhinnick's poetry might be a little better. Maybe he's just not cut out for the nonfiction essay... There wasn't much narrative excitement which I think is what I struggled most with - most of the book felt like he was explaining a series of events which he didn't have much emotional involvement with at all. That's probably why the best parts were when another person was introduced, like in "In a Class of Our Own" where the anecdotes from members of an evening creative writing class actually made me feel included in the excitement and humour of the story.
My advice, don't read this book (unless the Welsh curriculum forces you to). But maybe look up a picture of Robert Minhinnick, the man himself, and marvel at those wonderful, wonderful eyebrows - Ms Davey would be proud.

[Aimee]

i wanted to die. no offence :)

[Leah Parry]

Went into the book thinking it was going to be incredibly dull, turned out to be more wittily written than I was expecting. Some of it won't be engaging or make sense if you're not Welsh or haven't lived in Wales, but I enjoyed it overall.

[Millie Roach]

Not. My. Cup. Of. Tea

[Wiliam McCabe]

This book got me an A despite my strong negativity towards some aspects of it, some of the language used is genuinely funny and the imagery Minhinnick succeeds to create is staggering at times.

[Bruh Bruh Bruh]

Pretty shit book. Who wouldnt want to eat a perfectly fine and tasty pizza 😔

[Ella Williams]

Collection of essays. Chapter headings were a bit obscure and were a bit confusing.

[Emily Edwards]

Average.

[Lynne]

Read for work, at least it was better than Bill Bryson's nonsense.