Burning Girl

by Ben Neihart

Book Overview

Seduced by the wealth that surrounds him, a working-class college student is caught in a maze of half-lies and manipulations, as he tries to figure out who to trust and who is to love between a fierce sexual attraction and a soulmate bond.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688156916
• ISBN13: 9780688156916
• Release Date: January 1999
• Publisher: Rob Weisbach Books
• Length: 245 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Scary, Sexy, Crazy, Cool

In equal parts I love and hate this book. I can't quite tell how serious the author is. Some parts, I swear, are so purple and breathless, but other, blacker, sadder parts caught me off guard, made me cry. The three main characters are shallow, Dawson Leery-like "kids" who don't talk at all like kids, but then again Peanuts never talked like real kids either.The murder mystery at the center reveals a strong, harsh, judgemental moral code. The settings are as gorgeously described as anything in Myst. I really tried to guess whodunnit and I failed.The sex scenes, boy-boy and boy-girl, were sort of overdone, yet I still was aroused. The violence in some scenes made me queasy and in other parts sort of made me laugh. I wished there had been more sex scenes with Jewel music because I really get crazy when I hear "Who Will Save Your Soul" while I'm in bed with my boyfriend.

It's about salvation

Are you greedy? Are you lazy? Are you shallow? But are you beyond salvation? The characters here will do anything to look good, anything to believe that they are strong, that they are survivors, but deep in the heart of their long, heart-pounding nights, they know that they're bad. And haven't we all had our wakeup calls? This is a book about salvation.

Dark yet full of hope

Emotionally gripping, theatrical, heartfelt. This book takes the structure of a teen thriller -- as overheated sometimes as "like" (Neihart needs to watch the "like" addiction) "Dawson's Creek" -- and turns it on its head. The "hero" gets stronger as the book progresses BECAUSE he ministers to the VILLAINS. You might only grudgingly respect "hero" by the end of the book, but he seems more REAL as a character. I want to read this book again.

A fast, sexy thriller

I read Burning Girl in one night. Couldn't put it down. It's a thriller written by someone who's in touch with the hip, smart youth of today. The characters are all completely original, but totally realistic. From the start, I was intrigued, felt like I was spying on a group of cool, fashionable, reckless kids. The ending was full of surprises, each more intense than the previous. Read it.

Exceptional Book

Of course this isn't a book for children (see other review). Neihart is an adult writing for adults, as he did with Hey Joe, an exquisite work of literature. Burning Girl is also sublime: mature and contemporary, abounding in universal themes; particularly love and fear, which anyone can relate to, gay or straight. Personally, I don't care if a book is about WASPS or people ofcolor, men or women, adults or children. What I care about is plot, language, and characters. Neihart excels in his writing in all of these categories, and I will long be a fan of his accomplished, tender, heart-aching, brilliant work. It will be one of the year's most remembered books.