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A Fire Story: A Graphic Memoir Kindle & comiXology

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 194 ratings

The award-winning author and illustrator presents a personal account of the Northern California wildfires of 2017 in this moving graphic memoir.

On October 9th, 2017, wildfires burned through Northern California, resulting in forty-four fatalities and the destruction of thousands of homes. In
A Fire Story, Brian Fies shares an unflinching account of this tragedy as he and his wife experienced it—including losing their house and every possession that didn’t fit in their car.

As the fires continued to burn through the area, Brian pulled together 
A Fire Story and posted it online. It immediately went viral. He later expanded the webcomic to include environmental insight and the fire stories of his neighbors. A Fire Story is a candid testimony of the wildfires that left homes destroyed, families broken, and a community determined to rebuild.

This updated and expanded edition includes thirty-two pages of all-new material, extending the story past the events of the hardcover edition to include updates on the rebuilding, wrestling with insurance, wrangling with contractors, the management of sometimes volatile emotions, and the threats of yet another wildfire.
Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download

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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

In 2017, California wildfires drove author-illustrator Fies (Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?) from his California home with his wife and some scant possessions. In the days after, Fies chronicled his story through a webcomic, created from scans of his Sharpie-drawn pages. Now he has expanded the narrative to include the months following the disaster, incorporating the accounts of fellow survivors. Much like his Eisner Award-winning Mom's Cancer, this book is heartrending. The art is cartoonish (bringing to mind Calvin & Hobbes), which helps ease the sadness. There's a brief moment of profanity (as the author stares at the ruins of his home), but there is otherwise no explicit content. Some readers may not want to read the wordy side stories, but they can be skipped in favor of the core tale of Fies and his family. VERDICT In an era of increasing national disasters, this book will help teens understand the impact of tragic events. A must for most collections.-Tammy Ivins, University of North Carolina at Wilmingtonα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Review

3 STARRED REVIEWS

“Drawings, words, and a few photos combine to convey the depth of a tragedy that would leave most people dumbstruck.”―
Kirkus Reviews - STARRED review

“’On Monday, my house disappeared,’ begins this quietly devastating graphic memoir…Without pleading or preaching, this affecting record guides readers through the experience of enormous loss, then out through the other side.”―
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“Sometimes incorporating photographs and often communicating emotion with color, he affectingly relates the grief, rage, and powerlessness of losing one's home and possessions; each time he remembers another thing he's lost—home videos he'd been meaning to digitize, for instance—the pain feels brand-new again. Inviting, empathy-driven, and ultimately hopeful in the face of hardship.”―
Booklist, Starred Review

“Vibrant coloring and fascinating secondary stories create a gripping read that will attract graphic memoir fans and anyone seeking firsthand accounts of surviving a natural disaster.”―
Library Journal

“Fies' personal, journalistic writing is more than matched by his massively appealing, bright, and pleasantly old-school comics style . . . Sometimes incorporating photographs and often communicating emotion with color, he affectingly relates the grief, rage, and powerlessness of losing one's home and possessions; each time he remembers another thing he's lost—home videos he'd been meaning to digitize, for instance—the pain feels brand-new again. Inviting, empathy-driven, and ultimately hopeful in the face of hardship.”―
Booklist, Starred Review

“‘On Monday, my house disappeared,’ begins this quietly devastating graphic memoir . . . Despite the pain he and his wife endure sifting through the ashes, Fies goes light on sentimentality, instead focusing on the realities of surviving the crisis and rebuilding literally from the ground up . . . Without pleading or preaching, this affecting record guides readers through the experience of enormous loss, then out through the other side.”―
Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

“…a full-length graphic novel that shifts between his own tragedy and the larger picture of how the blaze devastated his Santa Rosa community. Breakout stories spotlighting some of his neighbors deepen the book’s emotional tug.”The Washington Post

“Subtle and heart-wrenching.”―
Press Democrat

“As striking as it is detailed.”―
Entertainment Weekly

“An effective snapshot of a broad disaster.”―
io9

“Vibrant coloring and fascinating secondary stories create a gripping read that will attract graphic memoir fans and anyone seeking firsthand accounts of surviving a natural disaster.”―
Library Journal

“Brian Fies sat down with some Sharpies and some paper to process his pain the way he knows best. He began to draw. The result is
A Fire Story . . . a webcomic that recounts the heart-wrenching devastation the California wildfires has wrought. Fies is a graphic novelist, one of the best in his field. A few years ago, when his mom was battling terminal cancer, he processed his grief by writing the comic Mom’s Cancer. It won an Eisner Award, one of the comic world’s highest achievements. Now he’s had to do it all over again.”―CNN

“The unimaginable has been laid out on the page by author and artist Brian Fies. Brian’s own story provides the framework, but he also incorporates the vivid recollection of others to paint a picture of a horrendous night and its aftermath.
A Fire Story is more than just a graphic novel, it is journalism and memoir at its best.”―Jean Schulz, President, the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California

A Fire Story is that most potent of accounts, both immediate yet timeless. Brian Fies’s deceptively simple words and pictures drew me in from page one, then delivered a triple punch to the gut: clutching dread, followed by hollow despair, and ultimately quiet, unquenchable determination. You don’t merely read this, you feel it.”―Richard Pini, ElfQuest

A Fire Story grabs you from the first page, drawing you in with its harrowing and uplifting tale of loss, survival, and the power of community. Fies is a master storyteller who uses his skills as a cartoonist to create deeply personal stories with lasting impact.”―Jeff Kinney, Diary of a Wimpy Kid

“‘
I inhaled my neighbors’ lives.’ Brian Fies‘s description of his first sensory encounter after a fire destroyed his entire neighborhood took my own breath away in this powerful graphic account of a family’s loss from the devastating California wildfires. Though a heartbreaking read, Brian still inspires with his honesty and humanity while taking us on a journey of recovery after losing both home and possessions.”―Ann Telnaes

A Fire Story is urgent first-person journalism, encompassing the wider stories of fellow survivors and global climate change.”―Paul Gravett

A Fire Story is a perfect storm of a book, an individual graphic memoir that tells the larger story of a community, a comic that is the result of both long years of work and a viral internet sensation, a literal perfect storm of weather and human behavior that resulted in one of the most devastating wildfires of all time.”―The A.V. Club

""A Fire Story" has the feel of a touchstone book, something that will only (sadly) gain relevance as more and more of us are displaced by severe weather incidents that take our loved ones and our possessions, wiping away whole neighborhoods. It's exquisitely and subtly told.” ―Boing Boing

“It’s a moving and informative piece of journalism, one that relates not only the Fies couple’s ordeal, but the experiences of others.”―
Bay Area News Group

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07FPGW9GD
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ ABRAMS Comic Arts; 1st edition (March 5, 2019)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 5, 2019
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 276706 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Not enabled
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 160 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 194 ratings

About the author

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Brian Fies
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Brian Fies has a Physics major, an English minor, one wife, two kids and a dog. He's been a journalist, an environmental chemist, a freelance journalist, a science writer and, beginning early in the 21st century, a cartoonist. His first graphic novel, "Mom's Cancer," a true story about his mother's diagnosis and treatment, won an Eisner Award, a German Youth Literature Prize, and other recognition. His second graphic novel, "Whatever Happened to the World of Tomorrow," looks at the Space Age through a Pop Culture lens to wonder how we went from optimism to pessimism; from utopianism to dystopianism. Both it and his follow-up webcomic, "The Last Mechanical Monster," were nominated for Eisner and other awards.

In October 2017, Brian and his wife Karen lost their home in what was at that time the largest wildfire in California history. The day after, he went to the store to buy shoes, a shirt, and art supplies. The webcomic he made, "A Fire Story," gave a first-hand account from ground zero of a major disaster. An animated version from PBS station KQED won a regional Emmy Award in 2018. In 2019, Brian expanded his webcomic into a full-length print version of "A Fire Story." He and Karen rebuilt their house on its former site, and are now working to make it a home.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
194 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book relatable and emotional. They appreciate the compelling storytelling and inclusion of others' stories. The visual style is described as simple and beautifully drawn. Readers feel the book can help fire victims and those who want to prevent them.

AI-generated from the text of customer reviews

20 customers mention "Emotional depth"20 positive0 negative

Customers find the book evocative and relatable. They appreciate the author's storytelling style and how it connects the tragedy to real people. The graphic memoir captures the emotional confusion that envelops survivors of tragedy.

"...read, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it is a marvelous - and heartbreaking - first-hand account of one of the worst fires in California history..." Read more

"...much of the aftermath described in this book is very relatable. For instance: -..." Read more

"Very interesting way to articulate and convey a personal experience...." Read more

"...one of his previous works, “Mom’s cancer,” his book walks people through the stages of grief, and explores the large and small ramifications of loss..." Read more

20 customers mention "Storytelling"20 positive0 negative

Customers find the storytelling compelling and realistic. They appreciate the inclusion of others' stories, which help tell the story of survival. The book provides a vivid account of what it was like to be in the disaster, making it an interesting and important read.

"...The illustrations are fantastic and help tell the story of the author, his wife and those around them who lost everything...." Read more

"...family member lose a home in the Tubbs fire, this simply-styled narrative truly captures the facts and many of the emotions that resulted from this..." Read more

"...Fies is a master story teller and his writing his emotional journalism: accurate, fact-driven, captivating, and important...." Read more

"...The storytelling is so excellently done that the events felt so real and I felt much sympathy for those in them...." Read more

20 customers mention "Visual style"20 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's visual style. They find the illustrations simple yet effective, with personal depictions of the victims of the California wildfire. The perspective drawings and small details are appreciated. Readers appreciate the graphic novel format, which combines the coolness of a graphic novel with the intensity of a massive wildfire.

"...The illustrations are fantastic and help tell the story of the author, his wife and those around them who lost everything...." Read more

"...he found a way to share their reaction to this experience in very simple words. Just the cover of the book conveys a great deal of information...." Read more

"Very interesting way to articulate and convey a personal experience...." Read more

"...The ambitious perspective drawings and small details in each of the 160 pages of illustrations were impressive as well." Read more

4 customers mention "Fire prevention"4 positive0 negative

Customers find the book an evocative and emotional read about fire prevention. They say it communicates the tragedy and shock of wildfires in an evocative way. The book can be helpful for both fire victims and those who want to better understand fire prevention.

"...I think it can do good for fire victims, as well as those who want to better understand the devastating experience of losing one's home." Read more

"...of the graphic form effectively communicates the tragedy & shock of wildfires. Emotional, evocative read. Would buy more from this author." Read more

"Combines the coolness of a graphic novel with the intensity of a massive wildfire..." Read more

"Terse, fiery and touching..." Read more

Equally fantastic and heart-breaking
5 out of 5 stars
Equally fantastic and heart-breaking
This book is phenomenal. It’s the first graphic novel I’ve ever read, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it is a marvelous - and heartbreaking - first-hand account of one of the worst fires in California history. The illustrations are fantastic and help tell the story of the author, his wife and those around them who lost everything. Reading this book definitely made me want to better prepare for potential disaster. I highly recommend this!!
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Top reviews from the United States

  • Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2023
    This book is phenomenal. It’s the first graphic novel I’ve ever read, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it is a marvelous - and heartbreaking - first-hand account of one of the worst fires in California history. The illustrations are fantastic and help tell the story of the author, his wife and those around them who lost everything. Reading this book definitely made me want to better prepare for potential disaster. I highly recommend this!!
    Customer image
    5.0 out of 5 stars Equally fantastic and heart-breaking
    Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2023
    This book is phenomenal. It’s the first graphic novel I’ve ever read, so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it is a marvelous - and heartbreaking - first-hand account of one of the worst fires in California history. The illustrations are fantastic and help tell the story of the author, his wife and those around them who lost everything. Reading this book definitely made me want to better prepare for potential disaster. I highly recommend this!!
    Images in this review
    Customer image
    Customer image
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2019
    Personally having a family member lose a home in the Tubbs fire, this simply-styled narrative truly captures the facts and many of the emotions that resulted from this catastrophic event. The author and his wife lived through this nightmare and he found a way to share their reaction to this experience in very simple words. Just the cover of the book conveys a great deal of information. When my sister (who lost her house) asked a neighbor if she was aware of a fire that night, the neighbor looked out an eastward facing window and exclaimed, "It is ORANGE!" After that statement they heard bullhorn orders to immediately evacuate. This author tells "the rest of the story." Highly recommended!
  • Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2020
    If you have never lived through a fire, but want a glimpse into that life-altering experience - READ THIS BOOK.

    If you know someone who has lived through a fire and want to better understand what they're going through - READ THIS BOOK.

    If you have lived through a fire and want to see how others have experienced the loss of their home - READ THIS BOOK. It will very likely validate many of the things you've felt and encountered after your own fire. It did for me.

    My husband (then fiance) and I lost our home due to a large fire in our apartment building. Although our loss was different (i.e. an apartment, not a house; an isolated building fire, not a wildfire), much of the aftermath described in this book is very relatable. For instance:

    - Leaving home and fully expecting to be able to return to it intact.
    - Returning "home" and experiencing such shock when seeing the devastation.
    - Buying new... EVERYTHING. And tools/safety gear related to future fire-recovery efforts.
    - Crying at the sight of something in a store that makes you think of what has been lost.
    - Having keys to a home that no longer exists.
    - Dealing with service representatives that just. don't. get. it. (oh how I loved that Brian Fies included that bit about canceling his gas and electric service!!!)
    - The glimmer of positivity when there is an outpouring of support from the community in your time of need.
    - Having the thought that you "just want to go home". After all, you are stressed and just want to retreat to your home. Your safe space. But home no longer exists.
    - Being unsure if you should make a purchase. Before the fire you owned that type of item. But do you still?
    - Becoming newly upset when you realize yet-another-thing you lost in the fire, but hadn't realized until now. (This still happens more than a year after our fire)
    - Deciding to do something, but then realizing you can't because you no longer own the item/items needed. And then putting said items on the ever-growing "list" of things to purchase.
    - Becoming paranoid about the origin of smoke when you see/smell it.
    - How the loss of your "stuff" is more than that. Much more than that. (My own PSA: PLEASE don't tell fire-victims that "it's just stuff" they lost. Although well intentioned, it really misses the mark and is insensitive to their grief. The loss is real. Some things cannot be replaced. And even if some things can be replaced, their home will never be the same.)

    Thank you, Brian Fies, for putting this book out there. I think it can do good for fire victims, as well as those who want to better understand the devastating experience of losing one's home.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2019
    Very interesting way to articulate and convey a personal experience. I will admit that I didn’t realize this story was going to be presented in a comic strip type of delivery and almost didn’t read it. Please understand I mean no disrespect to the author/artist using a reference to a comic strip as there was nothing comical about this tragic event. I gave it 4 stars because, considering myself to be somewhat of an artist myself, after I got past the delivery method of the story I started to really examine and appreciate the individual frames and talent that it takes to produce such work.
  • Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2019
    Brian Fies has once again told a story (or, in this case, stories) that perfectly snapshot an incredibly emotional and harrowing period of time. Much like one of his previous works, “Mom’s cancer,” his book walks people through the stages of grief, and explores the large and small ramifications of loss on a family, providing readers with a story that is simultaneously universal and incredibly personal. Fies outlines the importance of home, and gives readers a step by step guide to rebuilding a life.

    Illuminating, uplifting, raw, funny, and overwhelmingly human, everyone will finish the book with a richer understanding of what a home really is, and how we connect our identity and lives to the world around us. Fies is a master story teller and his writing his emotional journalism: accurate, fact-driven, captivating, and important. He does justice to every story he tells and his words will stand the test of time long after the Sonoma county fires are out of living memory.

    This is an absolute must read.
    4 people found this helpful
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  • Reviewed in the United States on April 29, 2019
    As a San Francisco Bay Area resident, I saw many news stories about the fires near Santa Rosa, but it was only this book that brought me to tears (several times). The first-hand accounts of the author and others who endured the fires are heartbreaking, but they also tell the tale of resiliency and community. The storytelling is so excellently done that the events felt so real and I felt much sympathy for those in them. As an illustrator, I was impressed by the facial expressions and body language that accompanied and gave weight to these stories. The ambitious perspective drawings and small details in each of the 160 pages of illustrations were impressive as well.
  • Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2024
    A tale told in comic form is still overwhelming to the senses. I can imagine any reader could think of this in personal ways but imagine we never could experience it truly.

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