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    The Firebug of Balrog County
    Unavailable
    The Firebug of Balrog County
    Unavailable
    The Firebug of Balrog County
    Ebook267 pages3 hours

    The Firebug of Balrog County

    By David Oppegaard

    2/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    A firebug has woken inside my heart. Dark times have fallen on remote Balrog County, and Mack Druneswald, a high school senior with a love of arson, is doing his best to deal. While his family is haunted by his mother’s recent death, Mack spends his nights roaming the countryside, looking for something new to burn. When he encounters Katrina, a college girl with her own baggage, Mack sets out on a path of pyromania the likes of which sleepy Balrog County has never seen before. A darkly comic tour-de-force, The Firebug of Balrog County is about legend, small towns, and the fire that binds.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherFlux
    Release dateSep 8, 2015
    ISBN9780738746548
    Unavailable
    The Firebug of Balrog County
    Author

    David Oppegaard

    David Oppegaard was born in St. Paul, Minnesota. He holds a B.A. in English Literature from St. Olaf College and an M.F.A. in Writing from Hamline University.  A 2005 Iowa Fiction Award finalist, David has worked as an optician, a standardized test scorer, a farm hand, an editorial assistant, a trash picker for St. Paul public housing, a library circulation assistant, and as a child minder on a British cruise ship. He is the author of the novel The Suicide Collectors.

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    Reviews for The Firebug of Balrog County

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    • 2/5
      Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: A depressing tale of a troubled teenager with an addiction to arson.Opening Sentence: A firebug has woken inside my heart.The Review:This review is starting backwards but unfortunately I have to begin with my severe disappointment in the ending of The Firebug of Balrog County. The drama and excitement built up as the story progressed but then, just like the fires in the story went out, the spark died in the story. The events are told from Mack’s perspective and right at the end there is a horrible revelation from his father (no spoilers), after which it felt like Mack completely gave up and the story ended abruptly.They could not, or would not, account for the chaotic randomness of chance in the selection process – to acknowledge that Giles’ boathouse was burned to cinders not because he was Teddy Giles, big time hero, but simply because it was there, unprotected and tempting, would have been the same thing as acknowledging the fact that the universe didn’t give a goddamn who you were and could turn on you in a second, which was absolutely true and terrifying and best not considered too closely, lest one go insane staring into the abyss of time and space etcetera etcetera.Now that we’ve got that out of the way, the story itself wasn’t too bad. Mack is clearly dealing with unresolved issues from his mother’s death and lighting fires is the outlet for his grief/anger. It doesn’t justify the vandalism, but in his twisted mind it sort of makes sense. The author portrays Mack’s views in a way that made me understand why he’s doing what he did. I could feel Mack’s guilt, his frustration with the town’s people, losing himself in his broken family and I genuinely felt sorry for him.Our entire school only had three hundred and ninety students – I’d seen all these fools for so long it was like hanging out with turnips that could walk and talk and enjoyed calling me Drunesdick.I also enjoyed the letters between the mayor and the firebug, and it was weird that behind the masks these letters were in fact between a grandfather and his grandson. Mack’s responses to the mayor’s plea to find the arsonist highlighted his wacky sense of humour. I don’t know how he then faced him in the light of day.I liked writing stories but I always had a hard time coming up with an idea that didn’t seem derivative. Part of the problem with reading a lot of books was finding out how lame and unoriginal you were in comparison to every other writer who’d ever lived.Overall, this wasn’t a bad read but I think the story lost its purpose along the way. Mack’s addiction to lighting fires eventually bites him in the back as we knew it would but I wish the story had emphasized an improvement in his mental state rather than complete doom…Notable Scene:And, while I feel no special need to defend myself, or explain my actions, I do feel compelled to respond to Mayor Hedley’s recent “The Mayor’s Corner” piece. In said piece he shamed me (for I am the firebug) and urged me, “to look deep inside (my) soul, which may need to be washed out with soap”.My reply, in turn, would be to ask our beloved mayor if he truly believes it’s possible to know the soul of any man. Because I have my doubts, people. A man’s entire being is an impenetrable mask (and don’t even get me started on women) with as many layers as an enormous onion.FTC Advisory: Flux Publishing provided me with a copy of The Firebug of Balrog County. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.