Incendiary
by Chris Cleave
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Distraught over the deaths of her husband and son in a suicide bombing at a London soccer match, a woman writes a letter to Osama bin Laden to persuade him to abandon his terror campaign.Tags
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VenusofUrbino Both books are good basis for "literature of terrorism."
50
whymaggiemay Both books have as their protagonist a mother who is unlikeable, yet very sympathetic.
LDVoorberg Both are graphic stories about (in part) how people deal with trauma. Narrative style is also similar.
Member Reviews
Incendiary by Chris Cleave is written as a letter to Osama bin Laden. It is written in the words of a working class woman whose husband and four year old son perished in a terrorist bombing of a sports stadium. The young woman is experiencing all the grief and trauma that one would expect from such an event but she is also consumed by guilt as she was with another man when her “boys” were killed. Incendiary didn’t garner the best of reviews from the critics when it was first published due to it’s extraordinary timing. The book was released on July 7th, 2005, the same day four suicide bomb attacks took place in London. This timing caused most of the advertising and promotion of the book to be halted.
Personally I found this an show more absorbing story of the aftermath of tragedy, both on the part of the main character as well as how it was handled by the British Authorities. Indiscriminate reprisals against Muslims, curfew being put in place, barrage balloons floating over the city all helped to create a background that had a very real feeling. As for the main character, I felt very sorry for her, but I had nothing in common with her and I disagreed with many of her decisions. I soon realized that she was going insane from the guilt and grief and that bad things were yet to come in her story.
In Incendiary, the author shows his unique vision and I thought the novel was quite powerful, provocative and intelligent. I literally couldn’t put the book down. It’s definitely not a book to enjoy, but one that makes you think, stirs up your emotions and leaves you a little uneasy. This was my first book by Chris Cleave but I will definitely be reading more from this author. show less
Personally I found this an show more absorbing story of the aftermath of tragedy, both on the part of the main character as well as how it was handled by the British Authorities. Indiscriminate reprisals against Muslims, curfew being put in place, barrage balloons floating over the city all helped to create a background that had a very real feeling. As for the main character, I felt very sorry for her, but I had nothing in common with her and I disagreed with many of her decisions. I soon realized that she was going insane from the guilt and grief and that bad things were yet to come in her story.
In Incendiary, the author shows his unique vision and I thought the novel was quite powerful, provocative and intelligent. I literally couldn’t put the book down. It’s definitely not a book to enjoy, but one that makes you think, stirs up your emotions and leaves you a little uneasy. This was my first book by Chris Cleave but I will definitely be reading more from this author. show less
Chris Cleave writes great thrillers. This one is more than just that. Incendiary is gut wrenching, unbelievable but yet feels like today, something like this could easily happen. A grieving widow writes letters to Osama bin Laden after losing her husband and son to a terrorist explosion at a soccer game in London. It is raw, painful, incredibly sad and yet there is humor, ( or irony perhaps,) and a narrative that is hyper realistic.
I couldn’t put it down.
I couldn’t put it down.
"That is the nature of this madness. It fills the sky with barrage balloons and people's eyes with hate."
Incendiary is, at least nominally an epistolary novel. An unnamed working-class woman living in London is writing a letter to Osama bin Laden after her husband and young son, along with a thousand other people, are killed in a "9-11"-type terrorist attack at a Premiership football match. The letter writer watched the mayhem unfold live on the television whilst a neighbour, a man that she barely knew, was busy having sex with her. Not surprisingly, the woman is deeply affected by the deaths, not only does she feel sorrow she also feels guilty and is looking for some sort of catharsis.
The book is divided into four parts, one for each show more of the four seasons. It turns out she only began writing to Osama in 'Winter', but she tells her story chronologically, beginning in 'Spring'.
This book takes reader on a wild journey of satire. The narrator is far from a perfect wife and mother. She is tidy, but gets nervous when her bomb-disposal husband is called out on a shout and she leaves her four year old son home alone whilst she goes out seeking comfort in the arms of other men.
I loved the first half of this book. I found the woman's emotions raw and touching. Cleave wonderfully evokes not only the horror of the actual event but the knee-jerk responses that the authorities make on civil liberties after the event to supposedly deter further attacks.
Unfortunately this strong start is let down by the second half when it suddenly becomes more about class; a tale of manipulative toffs exploiting an uncultured innocent. I found yuppie Jasper and his equally posh girlfriend Petra, both of them journalists for the Sunday Telegraph, so poorly drawn that they never rose to become anything other than cliches. Worst of all Osama, the person that is supposedly being addressed in the letter, largely disappears for long stretches. Consequently the book becomes less about terrorism and the toll it takes on individuals and more about class conflict in modern Britain.
For a novel about terrorism there is very little suspense. Cleave shows a nice touch when a nurse is suspended from her job because she is a Muslim and therefore might pose a security risk but he doesn't follow it through. Likewise when the narrator learns that the authorities knew about 'May Day' attack beforehand but chose let it happen anyway Cleave seems to have no idea how to exploit it fully. In the age of the internet and video streaming the idea that people would take such explosive information to the papers where it can easily be suppressed is frankly ridiculous.
That said and done some of the writing is really good, I found the woman's voice mesmerizing and I continually turned the page to see what would happen next. However I do think that this is a book of two halves, Cleave either got his thinking muddled or simply ran out of ideas perhaps. This was a great opportunity missed IMHO. show less
Incendiary is, at least nominally an epistolary novel. An unnamed working-class woman living in London is writing a letter to Osama bin Laden after her husband and young son, along with a thousand other people, are killed in a "9-11"-type terrorist attack at a Premiership football match. The letter writer watched the mayhem unfold live on the television whilst a neighbour, a man that she barely knew, was busy having sex with her. Not surprisingly, the woman is deeply affected by the deaths, not only does she feel sorrow she also feels guilty and is looking for some sort of catharsis.
The book is divided into four parts, one for each show more of the four seasons. It turns out she only began writing to Osama in 'Winter', but she tells her story chronologically, beginning in 'Spring'.
This book takes reader on a wild journey of satire. The narrator is far from a perfect wife and mother. She is tidy, but gets nervous when her bomb-disposal husband is called out on a shout and she leaves her four year old son home alone whilst she goes out seeking comfort in the arms of other men.
I loved the first half of this book. I found the woman's emotions raw and touching. Cleave wonderfully evokes not only the horror of the actual event but the knee-jerk responses that the authorities make on civil liberties after the event to supposedly deter further attacks.
Unfortunately this strong start is let down by the second half when it suddenly becomes more about class; a tale of manipulative toffs exploiting an uncultured innocent. I found yuppie Jasper and his equally posh girlfriend Petra, both of them journalists for the Sunday Telegraph, so poorly drawn that they never rose to become anything other than cliches. Worst of all Osama, the person that is supposedly being addressed in the letter, largely disappears for long stretches. Consequently the book becomes less about terrorism and the toll it takes on individuals and more about class conflict in modern Britain.
For a novel about terrorism there is very little suspense. Cleave shows a nice touch when a nurse is suspended from her job because she is a Muslim and therefore might pose a security risk but he doesn't follow it through. Likewise when the narrator learns that the authorities knew about 'May Day' attack beforehand but chose let it happen anyway Cleave seems to have no idea how to exploit it fully. In the age of the internet and video streaming the idea that people would take such explosive information to the papers where it can easily be suppressed is frankly ridiculous.
That said and done some of the writing is really good, I found the woman's voice mesmerizing and I continually turned the page to see what would happen next. However I do think that this is a book of two halves, Cleave either got his thinking muddled or simply ran out of ideas perhaps. This was a great opportunity missed IMHO. show less
Epistolary books aren't generally my taste, but this one surprised me. As with most books that take me aback, I read this at the suggestion of friends...it was nominated by popular vote in a book club in which I participate. First off, the narrator of the audiobook version adds an amazing amount of depth to the book, even to the point of leading me to pick up on some British humor that I might otherwise not have grasped. The book is a relatively quick read, weighing in at just over 300 pages in paperback, or 8 hours in audio.
And it is funny!
In fact, Cleave is amazingly adept at stepping between dry, witty humor and poignant explorations of loss that leaves the reader wanting to cry. The narrator, during a sexual romp with her lover, show more loses her husband and son to an al Queda terrorist attack on London. This book is her letter to Osama bin Laden following that attack. As you can see, the premise is humorous from the beginning, and it only gets funnier...and more heartbreaking.
On the surface, this is a gripping story about a woman who has lost everything to a senseless act of terror, and, while traveling a grief-stricken journey to determine who to blame, slowly loses her grip on her sanity. At a deeper level, there is cultural critique here: not just on the barbarity of terrorists, but on the barbarity of the civilized world's response. As Cleave's protagonist loses her sanity to grief, the world around her (read: us) loses its sanity to fear. The image of a dark, near-future London with balloons hanging over the city bearing painted images of the dead haunts the reader for some time.
The fascinating development of characters runs even deeper, however. The protagonist's lover's girlfriend is nearly a mirror image of our distraught narrator, and the juxtaposition of a woman who loses while holding onto her core values against another version of herself who wins through self-serving, opportunistic means is amazingly well done. This, I think, is what stayed with me the longest from this book.
Incendiary is a quick read that will take you through an emotional journey that is well worth your time. The mirror that this novel holds to a post-September 11 world is provocative, and the conspiracy theorist twist at the end...well, let's just say that it is all too believable. show less
And it is funny!
In fact, Cleave is amazingly adept at stepping between dry, witty humor and poignant explorations of loss that leaves the reader wanting to cry. The narrator, during a sexual romp with her lover, show more loses her husband and son to an al Queda terrorist attack on London. This book is her letter to Osama bin Laden following that attack. As you can see, the premise is humorous from the beginning, and it only gets funnier...and more heartbreaking.
On the surface, this is a gripping story about a woman who has lost everything to a senseless act of terror, and, while traveling a grief-stricken journey to determine who to blame, slowly loses her grip on her sanity. At a deeper level, there is cultural critique here: not just on the barbarity of terrorists, but on the barbarity of the civilized world's response. As Cleave's protagonist loses her sanity to grief, the world around her (read: us) loses its sanity to fear. The image of a dark, near-future London with balloons hanging over the city bearing painted images of the dead haunts the reader for some time.
The fascinating development of characters runs even deeper, however. The protagonist's lover's girlfriend is nearly a mirror image of our distraught narrator, and the juxtaposition of a woman who loses while holding onto her core values against another version of herself who wins through self-serving, opportunistic means is amazingly well done. This, I think, is what stayed with me the longest from this book.
Incendiary is a quick read that will take you through an emotional journey that is well worth your time. The mirror that this novel holds to a post-September 11 world is provocative, and the conspiracy theorist twist at the end...well, let's just say that it is all too believable. show less
As other reviewers have said or implied, this book is heavy, intense, and disturbing. It's also funny, poignant, and moving. It's a letter to Osama bi Laden from a woman who loses her son and husband in a terrorist attack at a "footie" game in London. Before the tragedy, you get a feel for the protagonist's anxiety - possibly OCD. She counts and organizes to manage her fears. She also drinks and cheats on her husband, less than laudable but entirely realistic.
More than once as I read the book, I found myself thinking "can one more terrible thing happen?" and the answer was "yep," but I couldn't put it down. For a relatively short novel, Cleave effectively creates characters who are multidimensional. They are neither all-good nor show more all-bad. Most of them balance out at more unlikeable than not, but I think that's part of Cleave's success: he presents human beings who are acting out their irreconcilable desire for meaning & connection on one hand and for survival and comfort on the other. He allows this devastated mother to feel compassion for Osama, although it lasts only briefly (and how true that feels). Cleave also presents the face of poverty without sugar coating but also without melodrama. After finishing this read, try to walk by a homeless person sleeping in a doorway under a sheet of bubble wrap without feeling some compassionate curiosity about how s/he landed there. Impossible.
I don't know if this book will land on my "favorites" list. If it does, it may be mostly because Mr. Rabbit stays with me as such a wonderful, terrible symbol of all that we hope for and how damaged we can become along the way. show less
More than once as I read the book, I found myself thinking "can one more terrible thing happen?" and the answer was "yep," but I couldn't put it down. For a relatively short novel, Cleave effectively creates characters who are multidimensional. They are neither all-good nor show more all-bad. Most of them balance out at more unlikeable than not, but I think that's part of Cleave's success: he presents human beings who are acting out their irreconcilable desire for meaning & connection on one hand and for survival and comfort on the other. He allows this devastated mother to feel compassion for Osama, although it lasts only briefly (and how true that feels). Cleave also presents the face of poverty without sugar coating but also without melodrama. After finishing this read, try to walk by a homeless person sleeping in a doorway under a sheet of bubble wrap without feeling some compassionate curiosity about how s/he landed there. Impossible.
I don't know if this book will land on my "favorites" list. If it does, it may be mostly because Mr. Rabbit stays with me as such a wonderful, terrible symbol of all that we hope for and how damaged we can become along the way. show less
An unnamed tough, working class woman decides to give Osama bin Laden a piece of her mind. He, after all, is ultimately responsible for the terror attack in which her husband and son die.
I thought her writing style - this is a woman who has previously probably never written more than a shopping list - would grate. But its immediacy, its raw emotion, its portrayal of a mind unravelling before the horror of her circumstances drew me in and involved me to the end. Recommended.
I thought her writing style - this is a woman who has previously probably never written more than a shopping list - would grate. But its immediacy, its raw emotion, its portrayal of a mind unravelling before the horror of her circumstances drew me in and involved me to the end. Recommended.
It is well-nigh impossible to consider English author’s Chris Cleave’s debut novel Incendiary without remarking on its fateful timing. The novel’s England release coincided with the recent London bombings, and Cleave’s scenario has eerie parallels to the sad reality. Such a bizarre confluence can only result in controversy, and may overshadow much of Cleave’s accomplishment.
While they will undoubtedly receive the most attention, the terrorist aspects of Incendiary are undoubtedly its weakest element. Much as in Jonathan Safran Foer’s recent, similarly themed Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Cleave’s novel is far more successful as a character study; his nameless narrator is one of the strongest, most convincing show more personalities to grace the pages of literature in years.
Incendiary takes the form of a lengthy letter, beginning “Dear Osama they want you dead or alive so the terror will stop.Â? Devastated by the deaths of her husband and son after a horrendous bombing, the narrator decides to write to Osama bin Laden, âÂÂso you can look into my empty life and see what a human boy really is from the shape of the hole he leaves behind.âÂ?
Filtering LondonâÂÂs response to the attacks through her eyes, Cleave presents a sadly all-too-believable account of quickly institutionalized racism in a panicked public. As they rationalize their actions with statements such as âÂÂIâÂÂm sure 99% of the Muslims are fine but if you canâÂÂt trust some of them you canâÂÂt trust any of them can you,âÂ? Incendiary becomes not a study of terrorism, but a literary indictment of the lunacy that inevitably results from fear and misunderstanding.
CleaveâÂÂs ultimate success, however, comes not from his plot, but from his bravura performance in capturing the voice of a woman facing indescribable pain, combining stylized turns of phrase, an absence of commas, and anomalous grammar to achieve something truly noteworthy. She is fully realized, an honest, imperfect woman with great reserves of passion, as well as a bottomless fount of cynicism.
She also wields a black wit that helps Incendiary rise above its admittedly clumsy setup. When London closes down its bridges, she writes, âÂÂI never did work out how that was meant to help. Maybe they thought it would demoralise your Clapham cell Osama if they had to go via the M25 to bomb Chelsea.âÂ?
Despite this success, as well as portraying the bloody chaos of a terrorist attack to an unnerving degree, Cleave badly falters with the shenanigans he foists upon his heroine. A creepy psychosexual relationship she enters into with her upscale neighbours never congeals into anything remotely believable. Her participation in a scheme to reveal government secrets stretches credulity to the snapping point. CleaveâÂÂs ending hinges on a terribly contrived setup that almost destroys the goodwill he has built up.
Such lapses aside, Incendiary deserves to be recognized not only for its prescience, but for the emergence of an author with incredible promise. Cleave has achieved something magical, creating a character who lives on long after the last page has been read. If Cleave occasionally stumbles, she remains fiercely constant, and her story deserves to be read. show less
While they will undoubtedly receive the most attention, the terrorist aspects of Incendiary are undoubtedly its weakest element. Much as in Jonathan Safran Foer’s recent, similarly themed Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Cleave’s novel is far more successful as a character study; his nameless narrator is one of the strongest, most convincing show more personalities to grace the pages of literature in years.
Incendiary takes the form of a lengthy letter, beginning “Dear Osama they want you dead or alive so the terror will stop.Â? Devastated by the deaths of her husband and son after a horrendous bombing, the narrator decides to write to Osama bin Laden, âÂÂso you can look into my empty life and see what a human boy really is from the shape of the hole he leaves behind.âÂ?
Filtering LondonâÂÂs response to the attacks through her eyes, Cleave presents a sadly all-too-believable account of quickly institutionalized racism in a panicked public. As they rationalize their actions with statements such as âÂÂIâÂÂm sure 99% of the Muslims are fine but if you canâÂÂt trust some of them you canâÂÂt trust any of them can you,âÂ? Incendiary becomes not a study of terrorism, but a literary indictment of the lunacy that inevitably results from fear and misunderstanding.
CleaveâÂÂs ultimate success, however, comes not from his plot, but from his bravura performance in capturing the voice of a woman facing indescribable pain, combining stylized turns of phrase, an absence of commas, and anomalous grammar to achieve something truly noteworthy. She is fully realized, an honest, imperfect woman with great reserves of passion, as well as a bottomless fount of cynicism.
She also wields a black wit that helps Incendiary rise above its admittedly clumsy setup. When London closes down its bridges, she writes, âÂÂI never did work out how that was meant to help. Maybe they thought it would demoralise your Clapham cell Osama if they had to go via the M25 to bomb Chelsea.âÂ?
Despite this success, as well as portraying the bloody chaos of a terrorist attack to an unnerving degree, Cleave badly falters with the shenanigans he foists upon his heroine. A creepy psychosexual relationship she enters into with her upscale neighbours never congeals into anything remotely believable. Her participation in a scheme to reveal government secrets stretches credulity to the snapping point. CleaveâÂÂs ending hinges on a terribly contrived setup that almost destroys the goodwill he has built up.
Such lapses aside, Incendiary deserves to be recognized not only for its prescience, but for the emergence of an author with incredible promise. Cleave has achieved something magical, creating a character who lives on long after the last page has been read. If Cleave occasionally stumbles, she remains fiercely constant, and her story deserves to be read. show less
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Chris Cleave's first novel, Incendiary , the powerful story of a suicide bomb attack at a London soccer stadium, hit British bookstores the same day terrorist bombs splintered the city's morning rush hour, killing more than 50 people.
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Author Information
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Chris Cleave is a columnist for The Guardian newspaper in London. His first novel, Incendiary, won the 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, won the United States Book-of-the-Month Club's First Fiction Award, and won the Prix Special du Jury at the French Prix des Lecteurs 2007. His second novel, show more Little Bee, was shortlisted for the prestigious Costa Award for Best Novel. His third novel, Gold, was published in 2012. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- Poikani ääni
- Original title
- Incendiary
- Original publication date
- 2005
- People/Characters*
- Terence Butcher; Jasper Black; Petra Sutherland; Meneer Konijn
- Important places*
- Londen
- Related movies
- Blown Apart (2008/I | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- ... a most terrible fire broke out, which... not only wasted the adjacent parts, but also places very remote, with incredible noise and fury. - inscription on the Monument to the Great Fire of London, north side
- Dedication
- For Louis and Clemence
- First words
- Dear Osama, they want you dead or alive so the terror will stop. Well I wouldn't know about that I mean rock 'n' roll didn't stop when Elvis died on the khazi it just got worse. Next thing you know there was Sonny & Cher an... (show all)d Dexys Midnight Runners. I'll come to them later. My point is it's easier to start these things than to finish them. I suppose you thought of that did you?
- Quotations
- London is a city built on the wreckage of itself Osama. It's had more comebacks than The Evil Dead. It's been flattened by storms and flooded out and rotted with plague. Londoners just took a deep breath and put the... (show all) kettle on. Then the whole thing burned down. Every last stick of it. I remember my mum took me to see the Monument to the Great Fire. London burned WITH INCREDIBLE NOISE AND FURY is what the monument has written on it. People thought it was the end of the world. But Londoners got up the next day and the world hadn't ended so they rebuilt the city in 3 years stronger and taller. Even Hitler couldn't finish us though he set the whole of the East End on fire.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Listen to that noise Osama it is time for you to stop blowing the world apart. Come to me Osama. Come to me and we will blow the world back together WITH INCREDIBLE NOISE AND FURY.
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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