What do you think?
Rate this book
On Fire
Recounting his 17 years as a fireman in his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi, the author of Joe explores what it means to be a friend, a husband, a father, a firefighter, a man. As he interweaves scenes as diverse as raising children, battling deadly blazes and making order out of destructive chaos, Brown ponders the realities and choices that have made him the person he is.
182 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
78 people are currently reading
2099 people want to read
About the author
Larry Brown
73 books653 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Larry Brown was an American writer who was born and lived in Oxford, Mississippi. Brown wrote fiction and nonfiction. He graduated from high school in Oxford but did not go to college. Many years later, he took a creative writing class from the Mississippi novelist Ellen Douglas. Brown served in the United States Marine Corps from 1970 to 1972. On his return to Oxford, he worked at a small stove company before joining the city fire department. An avid reader, Brown began writing in his spare time while he worked as a firefighter in Oxford in 1980.
Brown was awarded the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters award for fiction. Brown was the first two-time winner of the Southern Book Award for Fiction, which he won in 1992 for his novel, Joe and again in 1997 for his novel Father and Son. In 1998, he received a Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Award, which granted him $35,000 per year for three years to write. In 2000, the State of Mississippi granted him a Governor's Award For Excellence in the Arts. For one semester, Brown taught as a writer-in-residence in the creative writing program at the University of Mississippi, temporarily taking over the position held by his friend Barry Hannah. He later served as visiting writer at the University of Montana in Missoula. He taught briefly at other colleges throughout the United States.
Brown died of an apparent heart attack at his home in the Yocona community, near Oxford, in November 2004.
Larry Brown was an American writer who was born and lived in Oxford, Mississippi. Brown wrote fiction and nonfiction. He graduated from high school in Oxford but did not go to college. Many years later, he took a creative writing class from the Mississippi novelist Ellen Douglas. Brown served in the United States Marine Corps from 1970 to 1972. On his return to Oxford, he worked at a small stove company before joining the city fire department. An avid reader, Brown began writing in his spare time while he worked as a firefighter in Oxford in 1980.
Brown was awarded the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters award for fiction. Brown was the first two-time winner of the Southern Book Award for Fiction, which he won in 1992 for his novel, Joe and again in 1997 for his novel Father and Son. In 1998, he received a Lila Wallace-Readers Digest Award, which granted him $35,000 per year for three years to write. In 2000, the State of Mississippi granted him a Governor's Award For Excellence in the Arts. For one semester, Brown taught as a writer-in-residence in the creative writing program at the University of Mississippi, temporarily taking over the position held by his friend Barry Hannah. He later served as visiting writer at the University of Montana in Missoula. He taught briefly at other colleges throughout the United States.
Brown died of an apparent heart attack at his home in the Yocona community, near Oxford, in November 2004.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
November 28, 2018
You never know what to expect. You just get out and deal with whatever they have called you to. You are the professional, that is your job. You hold the answers in your heart and mind.
Before he became a full-time writer, Larry Brown spent seventeen years as a firefighter in his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi. This book is a series of essays about his time spent putting out fires, and saving the citizenry. There are the expected edge-of-the-seat stories about dangerous and tricky rescues - lots of life or death stuff here. But, there is so much more: reflections on writing, family, real slice-of-life dramas. I laughed more than I expected to, especially at Brown's tales of his beloved dog's failures at procreation. Animal lovers should be warned: with the exception of one lucky pup (. . . the puppy makes some noise halfway between a bark and a yelp, blows smoke out like he's been enjoying a Marlboro, then takes another breath.), things do not end well for the four-legged creatures in this book.
Not much more to say other than I loved it. Larry was one helluva writer, and this was one of the best books I've read this year.
Rolling on a call has been likened to soldiers going into combat. I never had a feeling any better than I had when driving my big pumper through the streets of Oxford at three or four in the morning, while everybody was sleeping, while the streets were deserted except for an occasional police cruiser, with the lights flashing just yellow caution at the intersections, wheeling that big red truck like all little boys would like to and some will grow up to, like me, and knowing that they were all asleep while we were up, taking care of the city of my birth, watching over them, there and ready to protect them and help them if they needed us. I know that sounds sappy as hell. I don't give a shit if it does.
Before he became a full-time writer, Larry Brown spent seventeen years as a firefighter in his hometown of Oxford, Mississippi. This book is a series of essays about his time spent putting out fires, and saving the citizenry. There are the expected edge-of-the-seat stories about dangerous and tricky rescues - lots of life or death stuff here. But, there is so much more: reflections on writing, family, real slice-of-life dramas. I laughed more than I expected to, especially at Brown's tales of his beloved dog's failures at procreation. Animal lovers should be warned: with the exception of one lucky pup (. . . the puppy makes some noise halfway between a bark and a yelp, blows smoke out like he's been enjoying a Marlboro, then takes another breath.), things do not end well for the four-legged creatures in this book.
Not much more to say other than I loved it. Larry was one helluva writer, and this was one of the best books I've read this year.
Rolling on a call has been likened to soldiers going into combat. I never had a feeling any better than I had when driving my big pumper through the streets of Oxford at three or four in the morning, while everybody was sleeping, while the streets were deserted except for an occasional police cruiser, with the lights flashing just yellow caution at the intersections, wheeling that big red truck like all little boys would like to and some will grow up to, like me, and knowing that they were all asleep while we were up, taking care of the city of my birth, watching over them, there and ready to protect them and help them if they needed us. I know that sounds sappy as hell. I don't give a shit if it does.
July 8, 2017
This reads like wildfire, if you'll forgive. Larry Brown, in about as plainspoken plain English as it gets, hits you with 2- to 5-page vignettes (wait--that's too fancy a word for his writing), or maybe SNAPSHOTS is better, about what life is like for a fireman down in Oxford, Mississippi. And if that sounds familiar, pass Go and collect $200 for recalling that Oxford is William "Read Him and Weep" Faulkner's hometown (not-at-all-plainspoken Will's home gets a shout-out toward the end of the book).
A lot of these shapshots, as you might expect, describe fires. But just as many describe accidents, the gory kind where people get trapped and need the jaws of life to have a chance. May none of. you or me ever be in such a position. (And think of THAT next time you check your binkie -- read cellphone -- while driving 80 mph on the highway.)
Thus, some of the descriptions are a bit queasy. Blood. Lots of blood. And sometimes scary situations where you're a fireman risking your life to save people--in some cases drunk people who don't want to be saved or who are hostile toward firemen (policemen aren't the only group to attract negative attention from some quarters).
Balancing this 182-page blazer is some leavening in the form of family snapshots, including some episodes of Brown hunting with his sons or Brown having to kill a pig and rabbits so as to dress them and eat them. The old writer's conscience creeps in. Briefly, too, the writing life gets a mention. Doing all this while trying to write isn't easy, but hey, at least it provides material.
In some quarters, I guess Larry Brown is a well-known name. Not sure where I saw this recommended, but I'm glad I read it. Sometimes you need a clean read with no-nonsense sentences, a book that can go down in a day or two tops. Yes. Goodreads Yearly Goal of One taken down yet again!
A lot of these shapshots, as you might expect, describe fires. But just as many describe accidents, the gory kind where people get trapped and need the jaws of life to have a chance. May none of. you or me ever be in such a position. (And think of THAT next time you check your binkie -- read cellphone -- while driving 80 mph on the highway.)
Thus, some of the descriptions are a bit queasy. Blood. Lots of blood. And sometimes scary situations where you're a fireman risking your life to save people--in some cases drunk people who don't want to be saved or who are hostile toward firemen (policemen aren't the only group to attract negative attention from some quarters).
Balancing this 182-page blazer is some leavening in the form of family snapshots, including some episodes of Brown hunting with his sons or Brown having to kill a pig and rabbits so as to dress them and eat them. The old writer's conscience creeps in. Briefly, too, the writing life gets a mention. Doing all this while trying to write isn't easy, but hey, at least it provides material.
In some quarters, I guess Larry Brown is a well-known name. Not sure where I saw this recommended, but I'm glad I read it. Sometimes you need a clean read with no-nonsense sentences, a book that can go down in a day or two tops. Yes. Goodreads Yearly Goal of One taken down yet again!
January 10, 2019
I really disliked the disjointed way this memoir was told. He bounces around in time, so sometimes his kids are eight years old and then suddenly they haven’t been born yet. Now the fire department doesn’t have the money for the Hurst Jaws of Life, making rescuing accident victims from crashes nearly impossible and then suddenly presto they magically have the Jaws of Life. Today he’s going into graphic descriptions of killing animals but feeling bad about it, and then going into graphic detail of roasting a pig and feeling great about it until he and his fire buddies realize they did it wrong and they have dispose of a wasted pig.
If this had been told as a story with some chronological sense, it would have been all right. The fire stuff was interesting. None of the other stuff was remotely interesting to me, but this is his memoir about his life.
It’s also a story about firefighting in the country, where the firehouse is often nowhere near the house burning down (which means the firefighters don’t stand a chance of saving the house or anyone overtaken by smoke inhalation.) A snippet of the novel Joe was included at the end, and I was enjoying that because it was an actual story, not random thoughts strung together with no coherency.
If this had been told as a story with some chronological sense, it would have been all right. The fire stuff was interesting. None of the other stuff was remotely interesting to me, but this is his memoir about his life.
It’s also a story about firefighting in the country, where the firehouse is often nowhere near the house burning down (which means the firefighters don’t stand a chance of saving the house or anyone overtaken by smoke inhalation.) A snippet of the novel Joe was included at the end, and I was enjoying that because it was an actual story, not random thoughts strung together with no coherency.
April 21, 2012
I did not know of Larry Brown until I saw the film "Big Bad Love," based on one of his stories. I wasn't crazy about the film but was fascinated by the imagination it emerged from, and gave one of his books a try. For starters, I read his memoir "On Fire," about his years as an Oxford, Mississippi, fireman. I thought it would be about fighting fires, responding to emergencies, and what goes on in the firehouse in between. I expected some reflection on the world of firemen, which I understand to be a social order of its own, like policemen.
There is all of that and considerably more in this wonderful collection of short essays, many of them dashed off during those off hours in the firehouse, often recounting an experience Brown and his compatriots just had, rescuing someone trapped in a smashed car, putting out a fire, or just screwing around. You learn something of the process of firefighting as Brown reconstructs the events of several fires, including one in the top floor of a building at Ole Miss. He explains how they use the Jaws of Life. You learn about the daily routines of checking equipment for readiness, as well as continual training in CPR and different kinds of fires.
But much in the book is unexpected. There are pieces about dogs, hunting, lost kittens, cookouts, practical jokes, watching hawks, petty thefts, driving, drinking beer, and S and V on HBO. Essays that will stay in my memory include his account of a trip to New York to appear on the Today show when one of his books is published and learning while he's there that his wife and son have been hurt in a car accident, then discovering when he finds out they are OK that his dog Sam has died. The mental image of him crying in the airport is vivid and moving.
On a more hilarious note is an account of a long day's drive to a training exercise in the Delta, where they arrive late and drunk. On a more literary note, there's his account of setting up a hose to provide fake rain for a documentary film at William Faulkner's home, just down the road from the firehouse. His reflections on Faulkner sitting in the house and writing novels are full of awe and respect for a giant of letters, a giant who had a cup of coffee every night at a local restaurant where he always left a dime tip for the waitress.
If you've read or you're thinking of reading Brown's fiction, I recommend this book. It's a wonderful introduction to the man and his world, and you get a sense of the raw material that feeds his imagination.
There is all of that and considerably more in this wonderful collection of short essays, many of them dashed off during those off hours in the firehouse, often recounting an experience Brown and his compatriots just had, rescuing someone trapped in a smashed car, putting out a fire, or just screwing around. You learn something of the process of firefighting as Brown reconstructs the events of several fires, including one in the top floor of a building at Ole Miss. He explains how they use the Jaws of Life. You learn about the daily routines of checking equipment for readiness, as well as continual training in CPR and different kinds of fires.
But much in the book is unexpected. There are pieces about dogs, hunting, lost kittens, cookouts, practical jokes, watching hawks, petty thefts, driving, drinking beer, and S and V on HBO. Essays that will stay in my memory include his account of a trip to New York to appear on the Today show when one of his books is published and learning while he's there that his wife and son have been hurt in a car accident, then discovering when he finds out they are OK that his dog Sam has died. The mental image of him crying in the airport is vivid and moving.
On a more hilarious note is an account of a long day's drive to a training exercise in the Delta, where they arrive late and drunk. On a more literary note, there's his account of setting up a hose to provide fake rain for a documentary film at William Faulkner's home, just down the road from the firehouse. His reflections on Faulkner sitting in the house and writing novels are full of awe and respect for a giant of letters, a giant who had a cup of coffee every night at a local restaurant where he always left a dime tip for the waitress.
If you've read or you're thinking of reading Brown's fiction, I recommend this book. It's a wonderful introduction to the man and his world, and you get a sense of the raw material that feeds his imagination.
April 14, 2019
ah you know how it goes, a lifetime of reading books and most of them are alright, or even good. I have no idea how a book could be better than ON FIRE by Larry Brown. No idea whatsoever. Flat out incredible if you ask me.
November 25, 2019
I read so many books that just feel like somebody read some books and then sat down and churned out a reasonable approximation of those other books, maybe with the names and circumstances and occupations changed, so it's nice to pick up a book and suddenly it feels like all of life itself is just blasting through the writer and out onto the page and through your eyeballs into your brain and body and then back out into the world through your skin like you're tapped into this huge overwhelming circuit and it's electrifying and amazing and it almost feels like you might not be able to handle it but somehow you hold on and you do, feeling all these feelings and seeing all these things and living these lives-- I wish there were more books like this
July 17, 2016
I was drinking with Scott Silsbe, a great poet, and we were talking about Larry Brown, who we both love. It was late and the rest of the room was talking about something else but Scottie and I wanted to talk about books. I was drunk. I think Scott was drunk. I said, "My least favorite Larry Brown book is On Fire." I'd read it years ago and liked it but thought it too meandering, too talkie about dogs that don't know how to get laid. What Scottie must have heard, with his beer-buzzed ears, was, "My favorite Larry Brown book is On Fire. That fucker is a straight arrow," because the next time we got together for drinks, he brought me a beautiful hardback copy. I felt obligated to read it and I'm glad I did. What felt like meandering last time felt more like truth with this read-through. This is a book about a man who was a fireman and ended up by miracle and his own hard work a writer. It's about saving lives and accepting that lives cannot be saved. It's about pets and it's about a dog so stupid he can't manage to get laid. Larry Brown is just about the most likeable character on the page, a beer drinking gentleman and roustabout who knows his own flaws but isn't guilting over them endlessly. He's about as untrained as a writer can be so you get sloppy sentences like this, "But one day a day came", and who cares. He makes the truth out of words. Lots of writers with lots of fucking degrees fail at that every fucking day. Thanks, Larry Brown. I love you. Scott Silsbe, I owe you a drink. I love you, too.
March 24, 2020
Larry Brown was a Marine who came back home to Oxford, Mississippi and took up random jobs, all blue collar - he never went to college. He spent many years as a firefighter, and during that time, decided to learn to write. He did this simply by writing, and if you’ve ever read him, you know he did the right thing.
Larry Brown knew the common man, his strengths and his weaknesses. This was a terrific read - a memoir - interesting but not nearly as dark as most of his writing. This guy was a little rough around the edges, so you will hear about real life situations. It’s good.
I read this early during the covid-19 quarantine. It held my attention even with the distractions.
Larry Brown knew the common man, his strengths and his weaknesses. This was a terrific read - a memoir - interesting but not nearly as dark as most of his writing. This guy was a little rough around the edges, so you will hear about real life situations. It’s good.
I read this early during the covid-19 quarantine. It held my attention even with the distractions.
November 5, 2018
Although this firefighter/author labels himself a “hunter” on this book’s jacket, all other summary words promote a book about life and death on the job as a firefighter. That’s quite misleading as half of these pages relate to the unintentional and intentional killing of animals, animals having sex, and other bizarre happenings. This book needs a cover summary redo.
May 15, 2018
Jesus.
I discovered Larry Brown on a whim a few months back and after looking into his life I was amazed at the kind of life he lived. A Mississippi firefighter who just decided to write in his spare time - figuring that writing was like any other skill to learn, the more you try the better you get. Well, his stories are enough to convince me the man had incredible talent. Yet hardly anyone I speak to has read him or even heard of him. He might be an unsung hero to all those aspiring writers who are late in their lives but have stories to tell.
On Fire is his memoir. It's pretty much organized in random snippets about his time as a firefighter, his writing life, his family, and little vignettes about his friends. It is at times hilarious, frightening, depression, insightful, and hopeful. Brown captures the emotional weight of being a firefighter, seeing first hand life and death and the fragility of human life. His prose is simple yet beautiful, filled with incredible lines that make me jealous. I love the fiction of his that I have read and LOVED this book. I felt like I was sitting on his front porch and he was drinking a beer and telling me all this person-to-person. Read this. And then chase your dreams and never give up. God knows Larry sure didn't.
I discovered Larry Brown on a whim a few months back and after looking into his life I was amazed at the kind of life he lived. A Mississippi firefighter who just decided to write in his spare time - figuring that writing was like any other skill to learn, the more you try the better you get. Well, his stories are enough to convince me the man had incredible talent. Yet hardly anyone I speak to has read him or even heard of him. He might be an unsung hero to all those aspiring writers who are late in their lives but have stories to tell.
On Fire is his memoir. It's pretty much organized in random snippets about his time as a firefighter, his writing life, his family, and little vignettes about his friends. It is at times hilarious, frightening, depression, insightful, and hopeful. Brown captures the emotional weight of being a firefighter, seeing first hand life and death and the fragility of human life. His prose is simple yet beautiful, filled with incredible lines that make me jealous. I love the fiction of his that I have read and LOVED this book. I felt like I was sitting on his front porch and he was drinking a beer and telling me all this person-to-person. Read this. And then chase your dreams and never give up. God knows Larry sure didn't.
January 16, 2019
Larry Brown has a natural story-telling gift. Unfortunately, this book, although a very interesting read, was just a series of disjointed anecdotes, no clear chapters, and no flow. It could have been improved by adding titles to the stories and having them organized somehow, chronologically, by subject, however... And I realize that Larry Brown is a good old boy but these stories, other than the heroic firefighting, do not serve as examples of good behavior, featuring ubiquitous drinking, often heavy, including to and from a possibly dangerous fire-burning exercise and cigarette smoking.
May 27, 2020
I was expecting more... You'd think after 16 years as a fireman in the USofA Brown would've had some seriously gold stories but instead these are pretty much all meh... And then you've got the fact that about half of the book is actually about killing animals in horrible ways. I can accept Hemingway torturing animals but this dude ain't Hemingway.
November 24, 2019
The disjointed writing style was too much. I just couldn’t get into it. The fire stuff is pretty interesting but the rest of it was so all over the place that I almost couldn’t follow it. Stream of consciousness writing just doesn’t do it for me.
March 6, 2021
Increíble la capacidad de Larry Brown para escribir un libro sin trama, unas memorias en copos...pero no es nieve, son cenizas. Las cenizas de los incendios y otros casos a los que se enfrenta un bombero que quiere convertirse en escritor.
July 25, 2025
Shoutout to Harrison Scott Key for the personal recommendation
Harrison’s take on the book: “ he’s so plain. So direct. There’s a poetry in his plainness and darkness”.
Harrison’s take on the book: “ he’s so plain. So direct. There’s a poetry in his plainness and darkness”.
August 5, 2018
Larry Brown never disappoints. Great book about his life as a young man and fire fighter in Oxford Mississippi.
April 25, 2011
I love Larry Brown's writing. So simple, yet so affecting and evocative. This collection of autobiographical tales was written as a reflection on the time in his life from the '70s to the early 90s as an Oxford Fire Department member in Mississippi. That alone would be good enough - his stories tell of the unique esprit de corps in the fire station and of the many harrowing emergencies they would attend. But this book is more than just this. Brown writes of what that life was like as a colleague among the truest of friends, as a professional - sure of his abilities and confident in his training and equipment, as a man coping with moments of life, death and devastation on a routine basis, and as a husband and father living a blue collar existence in a simple home doing simple things.
It is these latter recollections which penetrated the most - you feel the soul of the man as he tells of half-hearted hunting expeditions with his sons, planting trees with his buddies in a snowy January landscape, or the heartbreaking episode of the disappearing kittens and the stuggle to settle with himself the ethics of raising rabbits for profit.
Intermittently he makes reference to his private passion - writing - and his efforts to fit that parallel vocation in with his home and work lives. These tiny insights are fascinating, and truly give an indication of what kind of a man he was.
Highly recommended.
It is these latter recollections which penetrated the most - you feel the soul of the man as he tells of half-hearted hunting expeditions with his sons, planting trees with his buddies in a snowy January landscape, or the heartbreaking episode of the disappearing kittens and the stuggle to settle with himself the ethics of raising rabbits for profit.
Intermittently he makes reference to his private passion - writing - and his efforts to fit that parallel vocation in with his home and work lives. These tiny insights are fascinating, and truly give an indication of what kind of a man he was.
Highly recommended.
May 6, 2013
Having read several of Brown's books, I am a big fan. His astute ear for dialog alone makes his writing altogether enjoyable. Mix this talent with his clever turn of phrase and his powerful ability to create compelling scenes---what you get is a graceful, engrossing, sometimes disturbing work. The kind of writing that, once found, you avidly search for as your next read.
In fact, I've read many not-so-great books in an effort to find the quality of writing Brown offers.
Unfortunately, I didn't find this book as riveting as his other works. Perhaps this being his debut novel, we can charitably say that he was still finding his voice. Make no mistake, this is not 'bad' writing. It simply is not the quality I expected.
In fact, I've read many not-so-great books in an effort to find the quality of writing Brown offers.
Unfortunately, I didn't find this book as riveting as his other works. Perhaps this being his debut novel, we can charitably say that he was still finding his voice. Make no mistake, this is not 'bad' writing. It simply is not the quality I expected.
September 26, 2017
Rambling stories about life as a firefighter in Oxford Mississippi. These vignettes were written in Brown's spare time when he wasn't on call. That is why so much of the book is undeveloped. His fellow fireman are fuzzy, undefined characters. His stories of his dogs and his drinking binges don't really fit with the rest of the book.
The best parts of On Fire are his dramatic accounts of car accident rescues, where you see the tremendous pressure first responders are under to save lives and clear the roads as quickly as possible.
If Brown had fleshed out these stories, the book would be more memorable and less disjointed. Ultimately, its a disappointing effort in nonfiction by a good novelist.
The best parts of On Fire are his dramatic accounts of car accident rescues, where you see the tremendous pressure first responders are under to save lives and clear the roads as quickly as possible.
If Brown had fleshed out these stories, the book would be more memorable and less disjointed. Ultimately, its a disappointing effort in nonfiction by a good novelist.
February 2, 2018
Two stars is generous. Larry Brown has issued “On Fire - a personal account of life and death choices.” To this reader, this “fireman’s diary” falls far short of print worthy. From Brown’s elementary voice to the boastful fanfare of the world of firefighting, this 181-page narrative was mostly disappointing. His depiction of firefighters as beer swilling buffoons whose main interest is watching sex and violence on television stands in odd contrast to his sense of self importance as a life saver. Fortunately today’s fire service largely enjoys a higher level of education and professionalism than that described in the book. It is puzzling that Brown received high profile blurbs from the likes of John Grisham and New York Times Book Review.
September 12, 2022
unselfconscious, uninhibited, artfully artless, challenging, highly personal, frank
On Fire comes across as a casually written book. The author, Larry Brown, uses colloquial language structure and vocabulary typical of the rural region in the American South in which the book is set. However, for those who stop to look for them, clues suggest that this book is carefully planned. First, Brown has not arranged his string of vignettes in any discernible order, certainly not a chronological order, so the sequence is either totally random or highly intentional - the choice is black and white. In that sense, it's not a traditional memoire and there is no identifiable plot. The apparent randomness of story order falls away when the reader sees how stories told earlier in the book, even though they take place later chronologically, help the reader understand the stories that are told later even though they take place earlier chronologically. Keep this in mind in particular when the stories involve drinking or using guns.
Second, what he leaves out of the book is as important as what he includes in it. For example, most of the stories center on incidents that happened while he was a member of the local fire department. Because some of the settings are social, his wife and children get mentioned. However, whether he is talking about his family or his buddies, Brown is very careful not to reveal anything embarrassing to anyone else.
So what do you come away with? A frank, unvarnished peak into what it's like to be a white, working-class male in the rural South. You see the simple truth of the contradictions that are taken for granted even by someone who routinely extricates badly injured people from auto wrecks (such as drinking while driving) and extinguishes the fires that mark turning points in the lives of his neighbors. Some of the things that are taken for granted are at the center of today's cultural and political divide in America.
If you read blankly, you may learn a little but you will be bothered by little things like the fact that the vignettes are not in chronological order. But if you read thoughtfully, you will see that this is a well crafted work.
Finally, and importantly, if you are not from the rural South and you care at all about understanding the nuance behind the way other people view the world, read this book. Brown is not asking you to agree with him, but he is asking you to see him.
On Fire comes across as a casually written book. The author, Larry Brown, uses colloquial language structure and vocabulary typical of the rural region in the American South in which the book is set. However, for those who stop to look for them, clues suggest that this book is carefully planned. First, Brown has not arranged his string of vignettes in any discernible order, certainly not a chronological order, so the sequence is either totally random or highly intentional - the choice is black and white. In that sense, it's not a traditional memoire and there is no identifiable plot. The apparent randomness of story order falls away when the reader sees how stories told earlier in the book, even though they take place later chronologically, help the reader understand the stories that are told later even though they take place earlier chronologically. Keep this in mind in particular when the stories involve drinking or using guns.
Second, what he leaves out of the book is as important as what he includes in it. For example, most of the stories center on incidents that happened while he was a member of the local fire department. Because some of the settings are social, his wife and children get mentioned. However, whether he is talking about his family or his buddies, Brown is very careful not to reveal anything embarrassing to anyone else.
So what do you come away with? A frank, unvarnished peak into what it's like to be a white, working-class male in the rural South. You see the simple truth of the contradictions that are taken for granted even by someone who routinely extricates badly injured people from auto wrecks (such as drinking while driving) and extinguishes the fires that mark turning points in the lives of his neighbors. Some of the things that are taken for granted are at the center of today's cultural and political divide in America.
If you read blankly, you may learn a little but you will be bothered by little things like the fact that the vignettes are not in chronological order. But if you read thoughtfully, you will see that this is a well crafted work.
Finally, and importantly, if you are not from the rural South and you care at all about understanding the nuance behind the way other people view the world, read this book. Brown is not asking you to agree with him, but he is asking you to see him.
April 12, 2021
I think that what I liked best about "On Fire" may be the exact thing others dislike about it. The book is not solely focused on Brown's experiences as a firefighter. If you're only looking for anecdotes about firefighting, you might turn elsewhere. Because although there are plenty of stories here about how to fight house fires, apartment fires, how to extract victims from car wrecks, life at the firehouse, etc., there are also plenty of anecdotes from Brown's life: his dog, hunting, raising rabbits, his writing career. Initially, I struggled to find a thread, yet I kept reading because it's instantly apparent what a great writer Brown was. I trusted he was going to link everything together, which I think he did, although he's too good to spell it out for the reader. This book is really about mortality and how we choose to live our lives. All the stories about dogs and cats, the deer Brown shot, the rabbits he killed to make extra money, the pig he helped kill for a pig roast, everything died. He also told a very moving story about attending a firefighter's funeral. In the back of his mind on every fire call was that it might kill him. The central tension of the book is whether to keep working as a firefighter, to enjoy the fellowship and suffer the risks, or to retire and try to make it as a writer--a safer but more solitary profession. There's so much to love about this book. The reader can hear Brown's self-deprecating voice throughout and can practically picture him holding a beer in one hand and a Marlboro in the other. Ron Rash, who wrote the intro, got it exactly right when he alluded to Hemingway's iceberg theory, because Brown's sentences are straightforward, but there's a lot of thought-provoking material below the surface.
September 20, 2021
On Fire: A Personal Account of Life and Death and Choices by Larry Brown (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill 1993) (Biography) (3573).
I love Larry Brown’s writing. I prefer his book length work to his short stories. This is something different: it’s a biography.
Brown was a firefighter in Oxford, Mississippi for many years; he taught himself the craft of writing in his spare time. After literally years of practice, his hobby paid off, and he began to be published. He then quit his job at the Oxford Fire Department to write full time, and his many readers are thankful that he made that choice.
On Fire is a collection of stories of life in and out of the fire station. He writes movingly of the bond of brotherhood among his coworkers and of the sheer terror that firefighters can face without a moment’s notice. These stories are gripping and will surely elevate any reader’s pulse.
Scattered among the firefighting stories are short vignettes of a few pages or less that have nothing to do with firefighting. These riffs represent Brown’s thoughts and daydreams during stolen moments of contemplation and reflection as he practiced the craft of writing and, more importantly, the craft of storytelling.
These little detours are the best part of On Fire. His riffs were sparked by deer hunting, fire tragedy, dogs, rabbit farming, and pig roasts, and each of the tales rang true.
Larry Brown is a fine Southern voice who knows whereof he writes, and he writes whereof he knows.
My rating: 7.5/10, finished 9/19/21 (3573).
November 22, 2017
I rated this four stars from the perspective of myself and people like me who are into learning constantly about first responders and various kinds of incidents people in emergency management and public safety careers face. However, there were other interesting aspects of this book that others may find worthwhile reading. This is a sort of autobiography of the author, who had a career in fire service in Oxford, Mississippi, and is now a writer. What one sees emerging is also a parallel picture of what the "good life" was about for white country "boys" such as riding around in old pickups drinking beer (and sometimes whiskey) while driving. The hunting, fishing, sawing logs, laying brick patios, hauling firewood kind of life, and more. The author could "man up" as a firefighter, but learned he wasn't up to the killing and dressing of deer or pigs or rabbits, which sort of made him an "odd man out" among his own. There's swearing and also some humor behind all the drama. And things that just appear so completely odd, like standing around the scene of a fire now under control and smoking a cigarette!
November 18, 2020
Este es mi primer acercamiento a Larry Brown y aunque este libro no va a pasar a la historia, queda claro que detrás del mismo hay un escritor de altura.
Es difícil no empatizar con Larry Brown que después de veinte años trabajando como bombero en Oxford (Mississippi), decidió dejar el trabajo para dedicarse a escribir de manera profesional.
Sobre el Fuego es una novela autobiográfica en la que combina la narración de anécdotas en el cuerpo de bomberos con vivencias personales. Ambas temáticas se suceden sin un sentido aparente, son breves retazos en ocasiones un simple párrafo, en otras a lo sumo cuatro o cinco páginas. Muchas de ellas son triviales y no aportan nada, otras absurdas, también abundan los tecnicismos de la operativa de los bomberos que al principio llaman la atención pero luego aburren.
Pero no sé cómo lo consigue pero solo quieres leer y leer, porque Larry Brown es un tipo duro pero entrañable, hecho a sí mismo y profesional, que vacía su alma en cada página que escribe. Y que cuando se pone escribe como los mejores. Su vecino de William Faulkner estaría orgulloso de él.
Sin duda leeré más libros suyos.
Es difícil no empatizar con Larry Brown que después de veinte años trabajando como bombero en Oxford (Mississippi), decidió dejar el trabajo para dedicarse a escribir de manera profesional.
Sobre el Fuego es una novela autobiográfica en la que combina la narración de anécdotas en el cuerpo de bomberos con vivencias personales. Ambas temáticas se suceden sin un sentido aparente, son breves retazos en ocasiones un simple párrafo, en otras a lo sumo cuatro o cinco páginas. Muchas de ellas son triviales y no aportan nada, otras absurdas, también abundan los tecnicismos de la operativa de los bomberos que al principio llaman la atención pero luego aburren.
Pero no sé cómo lo consigue pero solo quieres leer y leer, porque Larry Brown es un tipo duro pero entrañable, hecho a sí mismo y profesional, que vacía su alma en cada página que escribe. Y que cuando se pone escribe como los mejores. Su vecino de William Faulkner estaría orgulloso de él.
Sin duda leeré más libros suyos.
November 29, 2025
Bevor er sein Hobby zum Beruf machte, war Larry Brown Feuerwehrmann in seiner Heimatstadt Oxford, Mississippi. In diesem Buch blickt er zurück auf 17 bewegte Jahre, in denen er nicht nur gegen Feuer kämpfte, sondern auch Ehemann und Familienvater war.
Meine Meinung
Am Anfang macht Larry Brown den Eindruck eines großen Jungen auf mich, der seinen Traum lebt. Er liebt seinen Beruf, für ihn scheint alles ein großes Abenteuer zu sein. Diesen Eindruck werde ich auch dann nicht mehr los. Die Arbeit eines Feuerwehrmanns ist natürlich mehr, als nur in voller Ausrüstung in ein Haus zu stürmen und den Helden zu spielen. Aber wenn er davon berichtet wie der Ehemann einer Frau, die sie gestern mit ihren beiden Kindern nur noch tot aus den Flammen bergen konnten, in der Wache steht und die Mannschaft um ihn herum Karten spielt, frage ich mich ob er wirklich so abgestumpft ist oder ob diese Interesselosigkeit ein natürlicher Schutzmechanismus ist.
Auf mich wirkt alles, was nicht zum Leben des Feuerwehrmanns gehört, sehr oberflächlich erzählt. Larry Brown kann mir nicht die Begeisterung vermitteln, die er offensichtlich gespürt haben muss um seinen Beruf so lange auszuüben.
Meine Meinung
Am Anfang macht Larry Brown den Eindruck eines großen Jungen auf mich, der seinen Traum lebt. Er liebt seinen Beruf, für ihn scheint alles ein großes Abenteuer zu sein. Diesen Eindruck werde ich auch dann nicht mehr los. Die Arbeit eines Feuerwehrmanns ist natürlich mehr, als nur in voller Ausrüstung in ein Haus zu stürmen und den Helden zu spielen. Aber wenn er davon berichtet wie der Ehemann einer Frau, die sie gestern mit ihren beiden Kindern nur noch tot aus den Flammen bergen konnten, in der Wache steht und die Mannschaft um ihn herum Karten spielt, frage ich mich ob er wirklich so abgestumpft ist oder ob diese Interesselosigkeit ein natürlicher Schutzmechanismus ist.
Auf mich wirkt alles, was nicht zum Leben des Feuerwehrmanns gehört, sehr oberflächlich erzählt. Larry Brown kann mir nicht die Begeisterung vermitteln, die er offensichtlich gespürt haben muss um seinen Beruf so lange auszuüben.
August 8, 2018
Larry Brown never attended college. He joined the marines in the early 1970s and shortly after his return to his hometown, Oxford, Mississippi, became a firefighter. This was the primary job he held for 17 years. At some point, having long been an avid reader, he began writing. It took him nearly ten years of practice and numerous rejections before his first book Dirty Work was published. Shortly afterwards, he retired as a firefighter and committed himself to writing full-time.
On Fire is about the years that Brown spent as a firefighter, working alongside other men, who often placed themselves in great danger to save lives. The book describes the local culture of Northern Mississippi: families and friends, the land, animals (both tame and wild), and the simple joys Brown found living in his community.
This is the second book I've read by Larry Brown. The first being his novel, Dirty Work. His writing is completely steeped in the everyday lives and expectations of the blue collar class. In this way, he seems to be writing from among his subjects, rather than about them. He writes without ironic detachment or cynicism. Does this have something to do with his being self-taught and never having attended college? In this why his writing seems to flow so naturally and appears to be almost completely devoid of artifice? In any case, reading On Fire was certainly an enjoyable experience.
On Fire is about the years that Brown spent as a firefighter, working alongside other men, who often placed themselves in great danger to save lives. The book describes the local culture of Northern Mississippi: families and friends, the land, animals (both tame and wild), and the simple joys Brown found living in his community.
This is the second book I've read by Larry Brown. The first being his novel, Dirty Work. His writing is completely steeped in the everyday lives and expectations of the blue collar class. In this way, he seems to be writing from among his subjects, rather than about them. He writes without ironic detachment or cynicism. Does this have something to do with his being self-taught and never having attended college? In this why his writing seems to flow so naturally and appears to be almost completely devoid of artifice? In any case, reading On Fire was certainly an enjoyable experience.
August 24, 2022
Larry Brown was a firefighter in Oxford, Mississippi for 15 years or so. During that time he had to face big challenges - raging fires, fatal motor vehicle accidents, everything you can imagine a firefighter has to face. He describes many of these encounters in detail, sharing with the world that bravery comes not from lack of fear but overpowering it with a sense of duty and desire to save people. His stories will leave you breathless, feeling as if you'd relived his tensest and most painful moments alongside him. That part of the book is fantastic. Brown also shares off-duty stories, and those haven't aged well. Nitpicking about his family, bragging about drunk driving, and trying to get out of work all detract from the emotional connection we make with him when learning about his time on the job. Added to that is the lack of any sense of order about how he's telling his stories; these are really just stream of consciousness thoughts written down on paper.
October 16, 2019
I had never heard of Larry Brown despite living and attending college in Oxford, Mississippi. I heard the author Michael Farris Smith talk about his influence on his work in a podcast, so I decided to put him on my reading list.
I am so glad I did because I enjoyed a lot of this memoir (some parts more than others, but I'll get to that). Many of his ebooks are on Hoopla, which I use through our local library. I started with his memoir since I was not sure which fiction to delve into first. Personally, I like to read up on the author before I read any book, just so I know it is a quality read.
His memoir is mainly set inside the firehouse where Brown worked as a firefighter for years. When he is not in the firehouse, he is on-site at a gruesome car wreck or putting out a house fire. Brown never went to college and never received a formal writing education, he merely enjoyed to read and began writing in his spare time at work. Maybe he yearned to fill a void in literature where he felt the brute reality of working-class people was underrepresented, but that is what he started writing. He writes about race relations in the South, veterans returning home and other misfits in a caring way. I am learning that he writes about himself and others in his life in a similar fashion.
Many may be turned away by the way he casually mentions something horrific, Brown is refreshing with his lack of pretentions. He is striving to tell a story and to tell it well. Maybe gathered with his group of firemen buddies, he practiced his style verbally to hold attention because even when his writing is about the mundane, he manages to hold the reader's attention and derive meaning from it.
What I did not like about the memoir: drinking and driving; his characterization of women, or the lack thereof that so many male authors of a certain age are guilty of; and, in a few instances, the brush off of violence.
At one point, he raises rabbits for meat and income but he becomes depressed at killing such innocent and harmful creatures, so he sets them free. I respect his decision and I commend him on his reflective nature but often he shows less reflection for human mangled in a wreck.
Overall, it is a worthwhile read as Brown exposes the nitty-gritty side of firefighting; not a lot of pay and those in the firehouse rarely feel like heroes. Don't look for any cats being rescued in between the pages, but you will find some stellar story-telling.
I am so glad I did because I enjoyed a lot of this memoir (some parts more than others, but I'll get to that). Many of his ebooks are on Hoopla, which I use through our local library. I started with his memoir since I was not sure which fiction to delve into first. Personally, I like to read up on the author before I read any book, just so I know it is a quality read.
His memoir is mainly set inside the firehouse where Brown worked as a firefighter for years. When he is not in the firehouse, he is on-site at a gruesome car wreck or putting out a house fire. Brown never went to college and never received a formal writing education, he merely enjoyed to read and began writing in his spare time at work. Maybe he yearned to fill a void in literature where he felt the brute reality of working-class people was underrepresented, but that is what he started writing. He writes about race relations in the South, veterans returning home and other misfits in a caring way. I am learning that he writes about himself and others in his life in a similar fashion.
Many may be turned away by the way he casually mentions something horrific, Brown is refreshing with his lack of pretentions. He is striving to tell a story and to tell it well. Maybe gathered with his group of firemen buddies, he practiced his style verbally to hold attention because even when his writing is about the mundane, he manages to hold the reader's attention and derive meaning from it.
What I did not like about the memoir: drinking and driving; his characterization of women, or the lack thereof that so many male authors of a certain age are guilty of; and, in a few instances, the brush off of violence.
At one point, he raises rabbits for meat and income but he becomes depressed at killing such innocent and harmful creatures, so he sets them free. I respect his decision and I commend him on his reflective nature but often he shows less reflection for human mangled in a wreck.
Overall, it is a worthwhile read as Brown exposes the nitty-gritty side of firefighting; not a lot of pay and those in the firehouse rarely feel like heroes. Don't look for any cats being rescued in between the pages, but you will find some stellar story-telling.
October 11, 2017
On Fire is Larry Brown's memoir of being a firefighter in Oxford, MS. It also touches on his efforts to become a writer. Both from Oxford, Brown is often compared to Faulkner, but Brown's writing style reminds me of Hemingway. He uses a simple vocabulary and clear descriptions but knows how to naturally intensify prose with sentence variations, including lists and run-on sentences. If you're not squeamish about graphic details of human injuries (and deaths) and can tolerate depictions of pet and livestock deaths, you might find this book enthralling. I read it aloud to Christi while on vacation in Oxford, and she didn't care for the content. But I found it fascinating, intense, and even moving.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews