First Spring Grass Fire

Lovely book about growing up different without having the words for why you’re not like others. This is a short book that you could blaze through in a few hours. I liked that the writer didn’t designate whether it’s a memoir, novel, linked short-stories, fictionalized memoir, etc. The writer Rae Spoon just sidestepped that whole mess, although the main character has helpfully been named Rae. Each chapter/story could be self-contained, and the narrative kind of builds on itself, so that in one chapter you might learn that the main character takes Ritalin recreationally during Bible class, and then in the next chapter you go back and find out how that began. I don’t really want to give away anything that happens but the book show more involves, among other things: religious Christians, queer things, schizophrenia, family dynamics, and Canada.

The book is called First Spring Grass Fire after this line in it: “I would look into the clouds for messages that confirmed my doubts and find nothing—just a huge, God-filled sky over the dry grass on Nose Hill, brown after the snow melted and waiting for a lit cigarette to set the first spring grass fire.” The title kept reminding me, though, of Spring Fire by Vin Packer (aka Marijane Meaker aka M.E. Kerr), which is supposed to be the very first example of lesbian pulp fiction, and I wondered if that was intentional or just a happy coincidence.

Book design: It’s a very pretty book, and nicely laid out. I found the font for the author’s name and the chapter titles a little finnicky and hard to read, but that’s such a minor complaint.

Theme song: Padraic My Prince by Bright Eyes

What other book is this like: Hmm. . . Eh, maybe if Rapture Practice by Aaron Hartzler and Brooklyn Burning by Steve Brezenoff had a book baby?

Where did I get this book from: Bureau of General Services-Queer Division, a very nice bookstore in NYC. Perhaps you too can buy it from an actual bookstore too, rather than stupid amazon.com. show less

For a slim book under 150 pages, transgender musician and now writer Rae Spoon’s first book First Spring Grass Fire sure packs a wicked punch. First Spring Grass Fire follows the adventures of Rae, a gender-non-normative kid growing up in Calgary in the 80s and 90s. This collection of short stories that straddle the line between fiction and non-fiction is deceptively simple. The language, tone, and structure of the book are all casual and familiar. Reminiscent of Ivan E. Coyote’s colloquial storytelling/writing style, Spoon’s stories feel like they’d be right at home being read aloud while sitting around the kitchen table after supper. The first story, for example, is simply titled “Billy Graham” and starts with a sentence show more that could as easily be found coming out of someone’s mouth in conversation as in a published short story: “The first stadium concert I ever went to was a Billy Graham rally at the Saddledome when I was nine.” For those not familiar with Calgary, Rae explains what the “Saddledome” is (“a hockey arena shaped like a saddle”) and how you have to take the C-Train to get there from the suburbs...

See the rest of my review here: http://caseythecanadianlesbrarian.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/unrepentant-brave-and... show less

Well known indie-artist Rae Spoon offers a touching story about coming-of-age as a queer youth in a rural, religious family in Alberta. Recommended.

Good, but not a new favorite. I might not be the exact target audience.