Description
A Fire So Wild is a unique and highly readable debut novel about a major environmental disaster that strikes Berkeley, California. The author illustrates the fact that such incidents are, for some, a temporary inconvenience. For others, they are negatively life changing. Much depends on one’s social status and economic resources. Sarah Ruiz-Grossman is one of the few authors with the courage to examine the covertly divisive issues of status in our society.
To realistically portray these times, Ruiz-Grossman allows us to examine what life is like for the comfortably wealthy, the middle class, and the close to destitute poor. Her strength is in getting the reader to identify with individuals we may hardly ever think about. And so, a reader who would not classify herself as empathetic may suddenly wind up caring about – for example, a nearly homeless couple living in a broken-down van on a side road; a van they cannot afford to fill the tank with gasoline. To her credit, the writer also portrays the often-unique ways in which young people react to today’s events.
Kudos to Ruiz-Grossman for this literary achievement. I look forward to reading more engagingly thought provoking works from her.
