Fire Conditions by Thomas Malin
Published: October 20, 2024
By: Wisconsin Writers Association Press
Length: 267 pages
Genre: coming-of-age, historical
A Story of the Tenacity of Youth and Brotherly Love
Fire Conditions by Thomas Malin is an intriguing coming-of-age story about Mike, who is thirteen, and dealing with the struggles of his parents’ rocky marriage, his brother’s psychological cries for help, and his displacement as he is shipped off to his maternal grandmother’s for the summer. Thrust into this new and foreign environment, he learns how to cope on his own, makes new friends, and has adventurous feelings for the local preacher’s daughter—until one neglectful moment leads to his little brother’s kidnapping.
Malin successfully weaves a tale of love, loss, and friendship in this novel set against the backdrop of Adams, a rural Wisconsin city, and its conjoined village, Friendship, in the late 1950s.
The story is told from the perspective of a thirteen-year-old Mike Calloway, who has a lot of responsibility dropped on him by his neglectful mother and absent father. Despite this responsibility and hanging out with adults a lot, he retains some innocence. Throughout the story, there are things that Malin just trusts the reader to pick up on because the adults are speaking in their “censor for young ears” code. This makes the novel interesting and somewhat refreshing. It is also fun to watch Mike learn about things on his own through inference and experience, such as when he finds out that Beau probably deals the marijuana that he grows in the back forty of Great-Uncle Mike’s farm.
Through his independent study, we watch Mike’s character grow into a more responsible person. Still, he is concerned the whole time for Jimmy’s safety—before the kidnapping due to his fire-setting tendencies, and during/after the kidnapping because he takes the blame for it upon himself. This concern shows a maturity on Mike’s part, and the way he interacts with his friends of different backgrounds also pushes the reader to understand he is a compassionate individual. However, Malin also shows the vulnerable side of Mike when his father comes to collect them and all Mike seems to want is his mother.
I questioned the motivation behind the kidnapping and the neat ending to the story. While the ending was mostly satisfactory, I wondered why Mike’s grandfather would take his own life. Everything that built up to that moment did not point to such a cheap ending.
Then again, Grandpa Calloway was prone to drinking and full of hot air, yes. That he might decide to take matters into his own hands and raise the boys how he saw fit so as not to bring shame to the family may be believable. However, these things, and even Calloway’s sudden decision to end things because his plans were unraveling around him, all point back to a strong Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
The other thing that was a puzzle for me was Jasper’s death near the beginning of the story. His home and barn were all burnt down, and he had “suspicious wounds” on his body. At first, I thought it would be a murder mystery, but then it was revealed that he had killed himself. There was no clear reason why this might be other than a comment by one of the ladies about women throwing themselves at Jasper all to no avail. This made me wonder if Jasper was somehow queer, which made me then still wonder if he was murdered and the murder covered up, or if he was depressed or ashamed and killed himself.
Overall, Fire Conditions was a good, adventurous read, and I thought it was well-paced. Malin did a fantastic job with the settings, both physical, psychological, and political, and seemed to have an intimacy with the land. The characters were believable, likable, and their various interactions made the story that much more enjoyable.
Rating: 4/5 stars
Reviewer Bio:
Gloria Johntel is an aspiring author and Wisconsin native. She loves to read stories set in her home-state. Her favorite genres include everything but horror and sci-fi, unless it involves vampires. Currently, she is a stay-at-home mom to her sweet baby girl, Aurelia, though she still finds the time to read every day (even if it’s reading a color primer to the baby).
