Notes on Surviving the Fire

This was a random selection from the library’s new books shelf that really fired me up. The very first page has Sarah telling us about field dressing a deer she’s hunted and killed. I had no idea what “field dressing” was before this. It’s a disturbing description to read but this is a story about sexual assault and rape and it is not going to get any less unsettling. The voice of the narrator here is very strong and individual and I loved it.

The story is set at UCST, a California university that I initially wasn’t sure whether it was fictional or not. It became clear we were at the University of California at Santa Teresa. Santa Teresa is fictional, at least as a city this big, but I realised that Santa Teresa is also the home of Kinsey Millhone by Sue Grafton. Grafton used it as a stand-in for Santa Barbara where she lived, and I think the details given here match up to Murphy using the same substitution. Either way it looks like homage to Grafton and that sits very nicely with me. I also liked the name of the main character being Sarah Common. There’s enough everymen in literature and an everywoman is welcome.

The little details like this were in addition to a great narrative though. It’s one of those books that won’t be to everyone’s taste - and that’s always fine. But I wouldn’t want anyone to shy away from it because of the subject matter. There are some weird turns in the plot, but nothing weirder than in a lot of mystery books and probably less than in real life. For me the Sarah’s style of narration made the book hard to put down and I found myself willing her on and really enjoyed the book. It’s a strong debut and I wonder what on earth the author could come up with to follow it, but I’m glad to have read this.