Incendiary
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“A haunting work of art” “A mesmerizing tour de force” “Stunning” An emotionally charged open letter to Osama bin Laden about a London bomb plot, INCENDIARY gained notoriety for the macabre coincidence of its UK publication on 7th July 2005, the day of the London terrorist bombings. INCENDIARY won the 2006 Somerset Maugham Award, was shortlisted for the 2006 Commonwealth Writers Prize, won the United States Book-of-the-Month Club’s First Fiction award 2005 and won the Prix Spécial du Jury at the French Prix des Lecteurs 2007. ‘Incendiary’ is an international bestseller, published in 20 countries. |
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I’m still in the early stages of ‘Incendiary,’ but I’ve already fallen for the story’s narrator. She’s such a mass of contradictions it’s difficult not to. I used to know someone a lot like her…
This is truly one of the best books that I have ever read in my life.
I started Incendiary last night, am already half way through and can’t wait to settle down and finish it tonight. Daytime reading deprivation is the curse of parents with young children….
i simply love it. the book once made me forgetting my thesis…
Just finished reading “Incendiary”…..what can i say? I loved it…..the characters just came to life, and by the end of the book i felt that i knew them all on a personal level. Such a heartbreaking story, but also a story of hope! It was such a rollercoaster of emotions, one minute i was laughing, at the narrators sense of humour and her wit, the next i was crying.
I´ve just started with “Incendiary” and am shocked… it sounds so shocking real. Scary…
I do love your 2 books and the story is so shocking that u will probably find my comment on the use of the C word (more than twice) really shallow considering the bigger picture of the major shocking things BUT I just found it to be unneccessary and a word that I still find offensive when used in the wrong context. Just my opinion.
Just finished reading Incendiary and am disappointed to say the least. As a Muslim, I found it condescending and felt that it only promotes the already existing misconceptions of our religion.
There is little or no mention of terrorism against Muslims, i.e. state terrorism, Guantanamo Bay, etc – with the exception of Mena.
After reading The Other Hand I guess I was expecting much more and certainly not this type of story – I see enough bad propaganda in the media as it is.
Have to disagree with Nush, the inferences may have been missed by some but they were clear to me. The authorities’ stopping Muslims from working, the total failure to support the unknown woman through her grief, the ‘Shield of Hope’ barrage balloon rubbish, ‘brave’ Londoners selfishly worrying about their house prices and setting light to strangers’ cars in the midst of a bomb scare…. for me, it was all a very sad look at people’s petty attitudes and misdirected hatred.
Newsweek is right: this book is haunting. The title is right: this book burns. And Chris Cleave is right (no surprise there…), it is a story about a woman who loses her son, with all the simple sadness you would expect. But how brilliant!
This book is a fiction? No way: it feels more real than any true story I have ever read, it got under my skin, far deeper than any other. I finished it 4 days ago and swear not 2 hours have passed without me thinking about it. The rest (the attack, the other characters, the social issues) does not matter much: what stays is the sober, raw, permanent painful feeling of sadness and loss. An amazing book.
Chris, is there an antidote?
Dear Chris Cleaves,
I’ve just finished watching the movie of “Incendiary” with tears streaming down my face.
It is unusual for me to see a film version of a book before actually reading the book, but I am confidant that the book will move me even more so. Don’t know how I missed it’s publication,
will certainly seek it out.
Best wishes,
Nan Hadden
just finished this book was the best book i have read in ages ,and i love reading
but great read thnx..didnt realise a film was being made will deffinately watch !
didnt like her as a person tho
just finished this book was the best book i have read in ages ,and i love reading
but great read thnx..didnt realise a film was being made will deffinately watch !
didnt like her as a person tho
Started and finnished the book last night, compulsive reading to say the least, I loved the characters and was torn by laughing and crying. Feeling quite drained to say the least after such an emotional ride. Looking forward to Chris Cleave’s next book.
I am never without a book but I can honestly say that this moved more more than I can rememeber any other book doing before. It shocked me and scared me and also made me ache with a longing to help the protaganist who seems desperately vulnerable. I loved it even though the ending emotionally killed me!
I started and finished this book yesterday and was left heartbroken and unable to justify it’s brilliance to my nearest and dearest. Having just recently read The Other Hand I was keen to read another of your marvellous insights and boy, I wasn’t disappointed. A truly amazing story and agree with the comments above, felt frighteningly real.
Impossible to follow. How does Chris sleep at night with an imagination so huge and addressing wide world issues! Please write a third, even better book if you can. I feel bereft…
I have just finnished reading the other hand I have really enjoyed it I found it very hard to put down would like to read more of your books Chris if they are as good as the other hand I will enjoy reading them.
yours sincerely
Elizabeth
I have just finnished reading the other hand I have really enjoyed it I found it very hard to put down would like to read more of your books Chris if they are as good as the other hand I will enjoy reading them.
yours sincerely
Elizabeth
Chris,
Picked up “the Other Hand” at amsterdam airport just by pure chance and couldnt stop reading. Had to search for Incendiary for a while and read it in a couple of days.
Became your devoted fan and will not be able to express in full how I admire your talent, your ability to combine tragic and beautiful and make it work on one’s brain the way it does. Watching the news of russian train crash last weekend and was overwhelmed with emotions so strong, your books do make you think: “What if?”. Dunno how you are doing this, but please go on, I havent read anything more striking in ages. Thank you, Lina
Eight fortysomething Guildford ladies discussed Incendiary at Book Club last night. We are all mothers of sons (as well as daughters). Most found it shocking and horrific however not everyone got the humour which was fantastic in the way it was set against the horror. I loved Elton’s song, and the Tesco application. Some found Jasper endearing although i didn’t I thought he was weak. We also felt the scene with the stampede and panic across the bridge to be truly believeable and so awful. We all felt we loved the style and the way the main character, her son and husband had no names, maybe they are every family. We wondered if she’d ever sent the letter, and would it have reached him. If it did would he have read it he’s only a man after all. A great book, thank you. (we have also read The Other Hand too. Let’s hope there’s another one coming soon!
Paul Coelho has a rival- Both The Other Hand and Incendiary are life changing books. It is such a rareity to read something that stays with you in your sleep and leaves you questioning your own life and views. Having just finished Incendiary on Christmas Eve after recieving it as a secret santa gift it has left me glad to have what i have and be who i am, that is what you call a good read! Chris Cleave is a true talent in his ability to have you crying for the most unlikeable character on the surface of it, he has put himself in the shoes of an adultress, working class mother who left her son alone to go to the pub and sleep with another man, the same one she is sleeping with when her husband and son are blown to bits in a terrorist attck, and still manages to make you cry, feel and adore the woman with every chapter. Please hurry and write another!
hi i have just picked up incendiary
we have a casual book club at work
i run the canteen so we have a bookcase where everyone can swap books
i have already read 163 pages cant put it down
this is one of the best books i have ever read
totally identify with your “woman”
we totally feel for mum dad and son who never have a name
this is so emotional
i admire you for writing so acutely as a woman when you are obviously a man
Thank you Mandy – very kind of you to say so. I love the way you run a canteen with a bookshelf. You sound ace.
Chris,
I like it when you read something so involving and special it makes your heart slow down and you think you could die just there and then, like wittnessessing a car crash so destructively compelling and you can just feel your heart slow slow slower until-
Wow.
This novel is real. I am a 15 year old girl on the cusp of life with star’s in her eyes and the world at her feet. I am typical for my age, I live things by the little things in life like a funny shaped cloud a text in the morning telling me to have a good day and things that unite strangers like snowy days or-
Incendiary.
This has utterly changed my perspective of life. You write to each reader individually, we become your nameless heroine because she is so real and relateable and so painstakingly genuine that you can’t help but open your heart to her. She is not perfect my god we know she has made mistakes which is what generates each reader’s empathy.
Incendiary is so genuinely thought-provoking. I had never before considered terrorism or how close to home it can hit. Incendiary has become part of my life I must thank you for, it has taught me more about people then anything I have ever learnt in education. I have been left unmotivated by life although there is nothing wrong with it, but wittnessing second hand all the hate and pain of the adult world around me has has left me bitter. Since reading Incendiary, I now want to turn the world and I have never felt so alive and passionate about countering terrorism and helping people and saving humanity. Your novel has opened my eyes to the importance of maintaining SANITY.
This book needs to be read; living through your character has given me new hope and an aspiration, that I can be as brave as the survivors of May Day and do something to turn the world.
Elly, thank you. I hope you know what a good feeling it is, as a writer, to receive a comment like this. One day when I am old and all of this work is behind me and no one is reading my stuff anymore, I know I will re-read this message of yours and realise that it all meant something at least. Thank you again. You do sound like a great person and I bet you are going to have an amazing life!
Chris,
I have just finished The Other Hand, then Incendiary back to back. I feel exhausted but enriched at the same time. My heart is racing a bit faster as I literally finished Incendiary ten minutes ago. What an amazing book, compelling but bleak at the same time. We all love a happy ending but sometimes there is no happy ending. I have two girls and when I look at the world I have brought them into, I despair. I am sure there are loads of us out there, like worker ants trying to bring our children up well, obeying the speed limits and watching how many units we drink a week, but sometimes it all seems pointless when there is so much horror out there. How can we change anything?
Chris, if the only thing you ever do is write books like that, it will have been worthwhile, to make people stop and think. Well done………..and enjoy NY. We went in the January before 9/11. It was beautiful and has amazingly continued to grow and thrive as a city. Thanks again for the books.
Chris,
, you just captured the love of a mother so well.
I read Incendiary a couple of years ago, and though my annual rummagings, found it again and began to read. Once i started i couldnt stop till i had devoured the whole book. I don’t usually have the patience to read a book more than once, but i have read Incendiary a few more times since i rediscovered it.
Its one of those books people talk about, the types that change your perspective on the world and open your eyes to what your missing, its also one that makes the reader feel conflicted between crying their eyes out, laughing at the main character quick wit, and marvelling at her.. Human-ness.
To be honest, i was astounded when i realised you werent a woman after i read the book cover to cover
Being only 15, you dont expect a book you stumbled upon by accident to have this effect on you, but i thank you for the experience.
Its a brilliant eye-opener of a book and i am looking forward to hunting down your other novels
Chris,
I just finished reading “Little Bee”…and you have a me hooked as my new favorite author. I found your novel to be “non-arguable” and “courageously humanitarious with a strong compassion of forgiven betrayal.” I am eager to read your other novel, Incediary. Thank you for introducing me to a world I was ignorant about. I once had strong opinions about immigrations and now find myself questioning my views.
Chris,
my job recently relocated to Boston, MA which has now become a 2 hour commute one way. I decided I needed to take advantage of this time rather than complain about how tired I am daily with a 4 hour roundtrip commute, I went to the bookstore on Sunday evening and purchased Little Bee not knowing anything about you or the book. What caught my eye and made me buy it was the caption on the top of the back of the cover. I finished the book this morning on the train, it took everything I had to hold back the tears, I couldn’t do it, I cried. This book is so amazing – I gave myself headaches because I couldn’t put it now.
I have been thinking about Little Bee all morning as if she were real, I hate the endings, I want to know where they are and what they are doing, It will take me a long time to let her go, even as I write this to you, I am choking up. Thank you for opening my eyes to something that is so real and yet so many of us allow it to be hidden within our own souls..
I will look forward to reading Incediary once I am able to say goodbye to Little Bee like she needed to do with her sister page 256.
Thank you so much for you….
Best,
Donna
Hi Chris
I have just finished Incediary. I have never written to an author before but this book just took me to another place. I adored the mother, the letter writer. She was utterly wonderful and funny and furious and true. Thank you so much for this story. It’s one of those ones that will keep coming back to me, I know. And I’ll welcome it.
Dear Chris, the story of Incendiary has a very strong and unique character of its own. From the opening sentence until the last twist, the plot is stunning. The characters are rich and deep and one can identify easily with them. The loss of the son is breathtaking. Thank you for writing this story.
Why do you always choose to write from the female point of view? And why must all your female leads be adulterers?
Amazing! I have just finished incendiary. As a hard working father of a 15yo boy, I can completely empathise with your central character. I have a hollowness in me and struggle for breath as I reflect upon the story. The ending is sublime – I was so glad there was no more death. But what a sadness! it was raw, honest and very touching – I loved it and it will stay with me for a very long time. Thank you for taking the risk to become a writer and bare your soul to us all – you are a great addition to the literary world!
All the very best.
I love your work. And I am so glad that Barack Obama has abandoned the war on terrorism.
Your books have left me breathless. Loved your characters. Sometimes it’s so raw – touching and also funny at times otherwise it would be too much. In Holland the writer Kluun has the same effect on me. All the best.
Chris ,I loved your book little bee ,we are going to discuss it on monday at our book club. I am a muslim & I agree 100 % with Nush ’s above comment .A lot of people have a misconception about Islam. PEACE TO ALL.