When Ash and Bits where young children their sister Alena was kidnapped. Since then the kidnapping has torn their family apart and brought them to different methods of dealing with the grief, guilt and pain of loosing their sister, and daughter. Bits runs to men whenever she is sad, Ash scurries to religion, living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel in hopes that it will fill his gap and their mother's outlet is blame. She blames herself, and guilts her other children because they do not perform the way that she would like them to, they just can't fill that void that her youngest daughter, her favourite daughter left. For years, even decades the pain has formed wedges between them all, pushing and pulling them further and further apart. Will a sudden protectiveness arise within them when they feel someone on the outside is threatening their family?

Who by Fire is a tightly knit net of interactions and paths that cross and intersect and dodge each other. The book had its clenching grip on me the whole way through, I could relate to pieces of each of the characters. I do recommend it, I enjoyed it and it took me through the emotions a long with it. I felt the writing was precise and while not stunningly beautiful, it was practical and felt just right for the book. I was never distracted by cliche or bored by descriptions, so yes the writing was very good.

This is certainly a book for most people, but it would especially strike a chord for those who have suffered loss and learned, or have yet to learn how to cope with the loss endured. As dark as this book could have been, it wasn't, somehow through the whole reading I felt an underlying stream of hope and perseverance. Who by Fire is not flavoured by sad and depressed draining feelings, but of a changing life and the acts that futures are made of. Read it and you'll be glad that you did. ( )

There was something about Who By Fire that almost took my breath away. I mean, this novel is really, really fantastic. It’s one of those books that starts off kind of quiet - I wasn’t sure what to think at first. But before I knew it, I was totally invested and unable to put the book down… the force of it sort of snuck up on me, I wasn’t expecting to fall so in love with the story in these pages.
Let’s talk specifics…what exactly about Who By Fire did I love? Well, first of all, I loved how Spechler dove right in with the characters and their lives - the book started after Alena had already been missing for something like ten years, and the characters were firmly entrenched in their adult lives (well, Bits and Ash were in their early twenties). The reader is given very little information about the circumstances surrounding Alena’s disappearance, save for one memory of Ash’s - the book is much more about what’s happened to the family members since her kidnapping than the event itself. I love the directions that Spechler took the plot - a LOT happened that I wasn’t expecting. Not that I was expecting something else, exactly, more like I had no idea what to expect, so I was shocked and intrigued by every direction the story took.
I also loved the characters. I loved how hugely flawed they were - they were, all three of them, completely and utterly self-absorbed, all wallowing in their individual coping mechanisms for dealing with the disappearances of both Alena and their father (husband, in Ellie’s case). None of the three of them considered what the other two might be going through, in fact they were completely unable to see anything but their own pain - and in Ash’s case, his own guilt. Yet it was through these major flaws that I saw the characters come to life - none of the three of them had even tried to really deal with what had happened, so to me the way they all acted and lived their lived was totally realistic and believable to me. Interestingly enough, my favorite character was Bits, arguably the MOST screwed-up of all of them, because I found her to be the most genuine character of all. I just felt for her, and out of all of the characters, I was pulling for her the hardest.
The ONE thing that I didn’t love about the book was the ending. I didn’t hate the ending, I just didn’t really believe it. A little too nicely wrapped up, at least in comparison to the rest of the book. But I won’t let that ruin it for me.
Fantastic, wonderful book. I can’t say enough great things about Who By Fire, so I’ll just stop now. But really - it’s great. Read it, you won’t be sorry. ( )

This book is very powerful and captivating. The journey with Ash and Bits is incredible and brave. I read the book in three sections. There are no dull moments in the book, there are no slow spots. The characters are flawed and likable. We can recognize the root of their issues. This made me cheer for them throughout the whole novel.

It is broken up into three different perspectives. From each character there is a nice flow to the story as it changes from each point of view/perspective quite often. For me this kept the story fresh and easy to absorb. It was a brilliant way to write a deep and powerful story without bogging one down in the depth of the heartache within the story. And just when you think you have it figured out, there are just enough curves and bends in the story to finish out the novel with a little twist.

Read it! Read it! The book will not disappoint. It is a beautiful, soulful story that unfolds perfectly and timely without dragging. It is a story about family, about forgiveness, guilt, blame, and moving on.

The book is deeply touching and it lingers in the mind long after the last page is turned. Who among us can rescue another if we still have yet to rescue our ourselves? For me I kept thinking about that quote about plucking the straw from our neighbors eye while ignoring the rafter in our own eye. ( )

When Ash and Bits Kellerman were kids, their 6-year-old baby sister Alena was kidnapped and never found. Since then, their family has been locked in a struggle to cope (after all, as Bits tells us, “Alena was the irreplaceable one.”), to fight the urge to blame each other, and to deal with the ways in which each of them feels responsible for what happened. In Who By Fire, author Diana Spechler explores the complicated relationships between Bits, Ash, and their mother Ellie and examines their very different responses to the tragedy of losing Alena.

Who By Fire is all about mistakes: what constitutes a mistake, who is to blame, and how (or if) we recover from them. Spechler allows us to see each of the three main characters struggling to answer these questions.

Spechler’s writing is crisp and compelling, and this book was very hard to put down. The changing points-of-view and the well-paced story make Who By Fire engrossing, compulsively readable, and thoroughly enjoyable. Spechler gives added layers of complexity by allowing us to wonder about the real significance of the characters’ names and relationships, as they all learn a valuable lesson.

Who By Fire is a great read because of both its compelling and relevant storyline and Spechler’s strong grasp on plot, structure, and characterization, and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys fiction that is about more than just a good story.

Read my full review at The Book Lady's Blog. ( )

After years of self-inflicted guilt over the disappearance of his little sister Alena, Ash (Asher) Kellerman finds that the disciplined study and strictly-defined lifestyle rules of Orthodox Judaism just might give him some answers, and makes the choice to immerse himself in a Jerusalem yeshiva. This decision doesn't go over well with the mother and older sister he left behind, and they're both open to some pretty extreme measures to try to bring him home, although for different reasons; his sister Bits (Beatrice) fights Ash's withdrawal from modern life, while his mother Ellie believes he's been brainwashed into joining a cult.

Ash isn't the only member of his family scarred by Alena's kidnapping and presumed death, of course. His father left the family, married again, and moved to Colorado, while his mother has essentially refused to move on with her life at all. Bits has been acting out since her pre-teen years, making very few personal connections other than sexual ones. The Kellerman family has been damaged for years. The events in Who by Fire represent the long-building climax, and potentially a resolution, of a family tragedy.

READ MORE: http://www.3rsblog.com/2008/12/book-t... ( )