Online - September 04, 2007

Bonfire of the Humanities

“An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England,” by Brock Clarke

In high school, you swore revenge on Mark Twain when you had to write a four-page report on Huckleberry Finn.

Luckily, you lacked follow through, unlike Sam Pulsifer, the protagonist in Brock Clarke’s new novel, An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England.

At 18, Sam accidentally burns down the historic Emily Dickinson house in Amherst, Massachusetts, killing two people in the process. After a ten-year prison sentence, he reenters society determined to make up for lost time with an education, career, and wife.

But his past secrets threaten to ruin it all when more writers’ homes are torched, and Sam is the prime suspect. While searching for the real arsonist, he tours New England’s famous landmarks; ruins his marriage; reunites with his parents; and gets really drunk.

Part mystery, part comedy, part insightful memoir, Arsonist defies the conventional formula in producing a wildly entertaining novel.

Meaning you won’t seek revenge on Brock Clarke anytime soon.

Available online at amazon.com.

  Literary Maven