Review
An Arsonist's Guide to Writers'
Homes in New England is the sort of book that
causes one to laugh out loud - not with guffaws of
crowd attracting hysteria, but with chuckles that
slip out unawares, causing fellow commuters to turn
with questioning glances.
Meet Sam Pulsifer, one of life's well-meaning
blunderers whose nuggets of wisdom share
similarities with Forrest Gump, except that Sam's a
lot brighter (although it would probably be easier
for him if he wasn't), and where everything Gump
touches turns to gold, everything Sam gets near
turns to ashes.
We first meet Sam at the age of 28; ten years after
he accidentally burned down the
Emily Dickinson House in Amherst, Massachusetts
- not only...
Beyond the Book
Brock Clarke is the
author of three previous books:
The Ordinary White Boy
(2001) and two story
collections:
What We Won't Do
(2002), which won the 2000 Mary
McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction;
and
Carrying The Torch
(2005). His stories and essays
have appeared in many places
including
Virginia Quarterly
Review, OneStory, the
Believer, the
Georgia
Review, and the
Southern
Review. He has received
awards from the Sewanee Writers'
Conference, Bread Loaf Writers'
Conference and others. He lives...
