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Bone Fire Audiobook
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(3.03) - 301 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Award-winning author Mark Spragg writes about the American West with unmatched skill and vision. In Bone Fire, Spragg weaves the tale of Ishawooa, Wyoming, a city marred by the realities of modern life. Sheriff Crane Carlson is having enough trouble with his pot-addled and alcoholic wife when he finds a teen murdered in a meth lab. Violence seems to be exploding all over the small town, but even as the situation spirals out of control, Carlson finds moments of compassion and beauty.
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""Bone Fire" by Mark Spragg is a tale about preparing for death. There is a feeling of hopelessness that evolves throughout the book with some disconnections not only between the reader and the piece but also between the characters which leads me to believe as an audience he wanted us to feel that disconnection and experience it. This sometimes made the work confusing to read. However, inspite of the thick writing, there is a great deal of interpretive language and complex plot structures that more than make up for the idea of disconnection. The bones inside the piece leave much up to the reader to decide how they play a role inside the novel. My own take is that the skeletons mixed with real bones and also clay bones are part of the characters themselves all mixing and matching together and moving in and out of each other much like the human skeletal structure. This would be a wonderful novel to read if you are looking to engage your mind."
— Summer (4 out of 5 stars)
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“A starkly beautiful portrait of the modern West. Spragg is an author with a keen eye for both the poetic splendors and ugly realities of this much-romanticized country.”
— Globe and Mail -
“Teeming with loss, redemption and personal crisis [with] as compelling a sense of time and place as any in contemporary fiction.”
— Denver Post -
“A wonder to experience…The bone fire in question can be seen as a metaphor for the grief that burns in one’s soul. That fire has the power to cause great pain but also, one is led to hope here, to heal.”
— Seattle Times -
“A serious pleasure…Spragg’s Wyoming is quiet and beautiful and very real. He is a master at balancing minimalism with eloquent depth to paint a striking portrait of place.”
— Oregonian -
“Essential reading for anyone interested in the literature of the West.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“A tribute to the human state and an outstanding work…Not one word is out of place, and each and every character is well drawn and intensely believable….This ‘bone fire’ is in fact the burning we call life, symbolizing our shared pain as human beings.”
— Library Journal (starred review)
Awards
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Selected for the March 2010 Indie Next List
Bone Fire Listener Reviews
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" This is an excellent book. Great use of language; honest characters who, although flawed, fight through their demons to act with charity and compassion. "
— Terry, 2/11/2014 -
" I love Mark Spragg's writing and it was a wonderful book. But not as much plot as An Unfinished Life. Still a good read though. "
— Beth, 2/10/2014 -
" It starts off with the sheriff finding a 20 year old shot to death in a meth lab in a small Wyoming town. The Sheriff is dealing with a medical disease his father died of, his wife drinks too much, her daughter makes bone sculptures & is taking care of her aging Grandfather after she dropped out of college. The Gpa's lesbian sister comes to live with Gpa after her partner dies, and it goes on. Good stories about all the characters. "
— Dixie, 2/5/2014 -
" I did not read the first book in this series so I had some difficulty, at first, connecting the relationships between the characters. Once I figured that out - whose relationship effected whose -the reading their relationships became more meaningful. However, the dialogues were a bit flat. Especially the character's stream of consciousness dialogues, and preceived the female characters to be shallow in their communications with their males - other than the brother and sister characters...to me there characters were role reversed. "
— Missy, 2/1/2014 -
" Since I really liked the Unfinished Life, I was a bit disappointed w/ Bone Fire. It was just too sad, too much tragedy and some times that OK but this was kind of a downer "
— Mary, 1/25/2014 -
" Great sequel to An Unfinished Life. Love the characters, love the setting, love the story, love the language. The relationship between McEban and Kenneth was so precious. When it said that he curled up in bed with him, and talked at other times about him coming to bed to stay with Paul when he was Kenneth's age, I thought oh christ do not tell me this has to go to perv land and heart break. Well it did not. It was a lovely poignant perfect kind of affection that was not adulterated. Life in the book has enough sadnesses without having to go down every wretched horrid sadness there is just because it may be trendy to do so. Bravo to Spragg for showing us what love can look like in all its messy, glorious manifestations. "
— Chile, 12/28/2013 -
" About 2/3 of the way through and I'm not so sure. Can't really figure out what the plot is, and I think that's kinda bad. LOL "
— Alissa, 12/19/2013 -
" An amazing book. Goes on my shelf of 10 Favorite Books. "
— Ozzie, 12/16/2013 -
" Dry season in Wyoming. Take home a dancing skull. "
— Rick, 12/16/2013 -
" After 50 pages the book didn't seem to be going anywhere interesting so I decided to drop out of the journey. "
— Chris, 12/13/2013 -
" What exactly was this book supposed to impart? It definitely got by me! It was nothing if not depressing and who, these days, needs more of that?!!! "
— Judy, 11/18/2013 -
" Excellent read cover to cover...engaging story set in small town Wyoming...filled with flawed characters who you can relate to...will now get to "This Unfinished Life" which is the first book in the series... "
— Howard, 11/10/2013 -
" I read it because it takes place in Wyoming, and, as it turned out, I liked it a lot. Love, friendship, families (by blood and by circumstance), art, life. The works! "
— Barbara, 11/8/2013 -
" As tragic and stark as Annie Proulx's wyoming stories. "
— Don, 9/5/2013 -
" Sequel to "An Unfinished Life." Be sure to read these in order... many references to the first book, and difficult to identify characters otherwise. Great writing though. "
— Kathleen, 8/26/2013 -
" Looking forward to this because I liked "An Unfinished Life" "
— Linda, 7/31/2013 -
" While not as good as An Unfinished Life, this shares much of the beautiful writing and some unforgettable characters. It is a bit bleak, but absolutely love the strong feelings of land and people this novel evokes. And I loved the relationship between Kenneth and McEban. "
— Martha, 2/21/2013 -
" Book on tape. Perhaps I should have read An Unfinished Life first. Seemed like I came in in the middle of a story. "
— Judi, 12/10/2012 -
" would go 2.5 but you can't. it was ok but spent too much time describing surroundings when not needed. "
— Jason, 12/1/2012 -
" Interesting parallels on the live and characters and how the story ends. "
— Sue, 8/24/2012 -
" very good modern western, Steve might like this one. "
— Caty, 7/7/2012 -
" Beautifully written and incredibly drawn characters. "
— Jamie, 3/30/2012 -
" A definite SPRAGG! I don't think Lulu will want to read this one!! Why do I torture myself?? "
— Barbara, 12/21/2011 -
" I've really enjoyed Mark Spragg's novels, although I'm reading them in the wrong order. Doesn't matter. Still wonderful. "
— Pat, 12/20/2011 -
" I did not like this book at all and could not get into the characters. Too much foul language. I won't read anything from Mark Spragg again. "
— Shaun, 9/22/2011 -
" I usually hate putting books down, but I made an exception with this one. I was on page 100 and I cared nothing for the characters or what was going to happen to them. I thought that it would probably be the same if I had read to the end of the book. "
— Linda, 6/29/2011 -
" I love all books by Mark Spragg! "
— Samantha, 5/13/2011 -
" A lyric novel about ranchers, neighbors and family set in Isawooa, Wyoming. It captures the tone of the melding of Indians and Cowboys grown old with the land. I enjoyed the simple writing and strongly defined characters both men and women. "
— George, 3/7/2011 -
" very good modern western, Steve might like this one. "
— Caty, 2/6/2011 -
" This continuation of An Unfinished Life contains the same compelling characters. However, I listened to it, and I think it would have been better in book form. "
— Barbara, 1/12/2011 -
" This book follows the stories of 4 people who are all related in some way. Their individual stories describe different loves: grandfather & grandaugter, husband & wife, son & father, and brother & sister. Beautifully written. "
— Marley, 1/8/2011 -
" After 50 pages the book didn't seem to be going anywhere interesting so I decided to drop out of the journey. "
— Chris, 12/17/2010 -
" Sequel to "An Unfinished Life." Be sure to read these in order... many references to the first book, and difficult to identify characters otherwise. Great writing though. "
— Kathleen, 11/29/2010 -
" Not nearly the novel of Where Rivers Change Directions "
— Elizabeth, 9/21/2010 -
" Dry season in Wyoming. Take home a dancing skull. "
— Rick, 8/9/2010 -
" What exactly was this book supposed to impart? It definitely got by me! It was nothing if not depressing and who, these days, needs more of that?!!! "
— Judy, 6/20/2010
About Mark Spragg
Mark Spragg is the author of Where Rivers Change Direction, a memoir that won the Mountains & Plains Booksellers Award, and the novels The Fruit of Stone and An Unfinished Life, which was chosen by the Rocky Mountain News as the Best Book of 2004. All three were top-ten Book Sense selections. He lives with his wife in Wyoming.
About David Aaron Baker
David Aaron Baker is a voice and film actor. He is an award-winning narrator of dozens of audiobooks, including the Odd Thomas series by Dean Koontz, Paradise Dogs by Man Martin, and The Bartender’s Tale by Ivan Doig. He has earned several AudioFile Earphones Awards and been a three-time finalist for the prestigious Audie Award for Best Narration.