Walking In Wuhan

I don't read fiction. If there's one obvious thing about these mini-reviews (do people really even care?) it's that I don't often venture into the fiction section. Even reading the fiction serials in The New Yorker is a stretch for me at times. But the title of this book and the fact that it was free, made it worth the risk. The book follows the life of Sam Pulsifer, who just emerges from jail from having burned down Emily Dickinson's house in New England. He goes to school, marries, has two kids and then his life is turned upside down when the son of the victims of the Dickinson house fire drops by his house.



The plot thickens as more writer's homes start burning down around the Northeast. Of course, Pulsifer becomes the main suspect. One of the main reasons I don't like most fiction -- especially contemporary fiction -- is that characters will often make decisions for the sake of plot that nobody would ever make. I often find it maddening, and I almost stopped reading this book but stuck it out to the end. At it's best, this book made me chuckle a bit. Other times, the protagonist's decisions left me wanting to light my hair on fire.