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There are currently 17 member reviews
for Ashes of Fiery Weather
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Cam G. (Murrells Inlet, SC)
A Fond Memory
Several years before 9/11, my husband and I moved to a small town in NJ. We became good friends with a couple originally from Brooklyn who maintained close ties with their old friends, some of whom were from the NYFD. My favorite memory is a New Years Eve party at our friends' house. Promptly at midnight we all gathered outside and marched behind the two firemen with bagpipes playing "Auld Lang Syne"!
Kathleen Donahue has written a wonderful book honoring the bravery and resilience of the NYFD. The only issue that I had was the jumping from one time frame to another...otherwise, I truly enjoyed the book.
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Renee K. (Salem, UT)
Ashes of Fiery Weather by Kathleen Donohoe
Thank you for the opportunity to review this book. My grandfather and father were proud volunteer firemen and my son has followed in their footsteps so the subject matter was appealing. I enjoy novels of historical fiction, and anticipated that I would enjoy this one as well. So with excitement and great enthusiasm, I began to read this book as soon as it arrived in the mail. Sad to say, I soon lost interest.
The characters seemed shallow and undeveloped but I kept reading, hoping that I would understand the author's purpose in the multiple details of each one. It seemed the characters were all very self-centered and dysfunctional for the most part. The history I sought was not there. Those sections that took me back to the past were short in comparison with those of later years, and it felt like the dates were just sprinkled throughout the book, so the reader might know what the time frame was, beause the characters could have been living in any year in time.
Overall, the book was depressing and disappointing for me. The best part of the book was when Katie eventually appeared on the scene, although many readers might not have kept reading the book and missed her.
Our book club was established in 2002 and throughout the years we have read hundreds of books from various genres, mysteries, romances, classics, historical, biographical, Newberry Award winners etc., but this is not one I would recommend to the group.
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Betty T. (Warner Robins, GA)
Disappointing Read
The book appealed to me as it is the stories of seven women from fire-fighting families. However, even though the women were linked through generations of the same family the stories were too fragmented for me. The reader has to constantly jump back and forth through various time periods – all within the same chapter and no indication of what year you have been taken to. The families are Irish and still have family in Ireland. At times I had difficulty grasping who was in Ireland and who was in the US. The story (or stories) just jumped around too much for me. I could not make an emotional connection to the characters because of this. I also feel much of the story was rushed in order to give me some background for something coming up. Sadly, I got nothing from this book.
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Kathy B. (St. Louis Park, MN)
Ashes of Fiery Weather
I learned about the lives of Ireland's firemen. Their families had lives were filled with worry about their loved ones. However, I had a hard time keeping the character's straight. I also thought the book described fire after fire. I found this quite boring.
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Carolyn S. (Decatur, GA)
Ashes of Fiery Weather
This novel is a book about how the Irish dominated the fire service in New York City over generations from women whose husbands served. While interesting, the story skips about to different time periods too much and it is often hard to know exactly where you are. I think the book could have been edited and arranged more coherently.
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Jill F. (Blackwood, NJ)
Could have been better
This is a good book with a lot of intertwining characters. I give it a 3 because none of those characters struck a particular chord with me and I didn't get emotionally involved. It might have been better if a few of the auxiliary figures had been left out and the main characters more developed. I don't regret reading it, if anything I came away without a strong impression one way or the other. I feel bad as I say this because I can only imagine the blood, sweat and tears that an author puts in to a book. I come from a family of firefighters so I know what kind of characters they truly are, that was missing from this. If the premise was to show how strong the women of the family are I get it but I would have like to have gotten to know them better
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Pam L. (Melbourne Beach, FL)
Ashes of Fiery Weather
I am on page 120 and am still having a hard time finding this novel engaging. It is a hard read due to the confusion and disappointment I keep feeling. I am yet to keep the characters or the story straight. I am looking for something to grab my attention. The parts about the nuns, the convent and the fire houses do and then I'm lost again. The novel will start to go smoothly and begin a good story and then the telling would switch timelines or characters and the momentum would flounder as I the reader did also. The section about Maggie O'Reilly was the best yet it also feel short. Obviously Kathleen Donahoe put a lot of time, effort and heart into her novel, yet I was glad to be done with this novel. My obligation met.
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