Torch (Vintage Contemporaries)

The paperback version of Cheryl Strayed's complex and moving debut novel, "Torched," contains a revealing conversation with the author. In it, Strayed laments the fact that "in contemporary literary fiction...one's writing must never be sentimental, which often results in writing that lacks sentiment entirely." With extraordinary sensitivity, "Torch" explores the grief, pain and confusion that accompany the unexpected death of a family member. This is a deeply felt novel, one which features characters whose anguish is palpable, whose coping mechanisms are far from perfect and whose personalities are indelibly stamped by loss. Fleeing an abusive marriage, Teresa Rae Woods lands in tiny Midden, Minnesota, impoverished, jobless and saddled with the responsibility of raising her two children. Resolute and resourceful, she slowly makes a life for herself, and in the process, discovers the true love of her life, an admirable carpenter, Bruce. Literally taking the advice she dispenses on her weekly radio show, Teresa words hard, does good and tries to "be incredible." Her exceptionally bright daughter, Claire and her alienated son Joshua have forged a profoundly healthy relationship with Bruce, who is everything to the two of them less being their legal father. Then, at age thirty-eight, Teresa succumbs to cancer, and, predictably, those who love here most are staggered with the near-exquisite pain of loss. The centrifugal forces of grief splinter the family; each of the three survivors staggers under the weight of such an unsettling loss. Through various stages, Bruce, Claire and Joshua come to grips with the death of a loving partner or parent, and their journey towards understanding, acceptance and health is gripping. The greatest strength of "Torch" is Cheryl Strayed's probing how each character summons the strength to endure. Hers is a messy novel, elegantly written and deeply felt. Her characters lose track of family history, turn into themselves and find themselves washed ashore -- shipwrecks of life. There is not a single note of falsehood in Stayed's writing; the terrible strain of mourning results in awful decisions and sundered bonds. Despite the fact that the three survivors share the most cruel of bonds -- the death of the family's anchor -- not one of them can summon the ability to reach out to the other. Their resulting loneliness increases their pain. In part autobiographical, "Torch" took some ten years to write. Its treatment of cancer, post-death dislocation and our capacity to renew ourselves after trauma distinguish this honorable novel. Cheryl Strayed has accomplished her goal; she has crafted a work of great emotional impact, a work of art that elicits both thought and feeling.

I, like many others, first became aware of Cheryl Strayed with her book entitled "Wild" which chronicled her walk along the Pacific Coast Trail. It was selected by Oprah and I thought it was one of her better selections. Ms. Strayed was speaking at a local college earlier this month and I decided to go back and read her freshman effort in preparation for attending her talk. While the book is fiction, it definitely had a familiar theme and was heavily influenced by the loss of the author's mother at a relatively early age. From both books and hearing the author speak, it appears the death of her mother was the most defining even of her life so far and the hole it left is still obvious even in the present day. The story itself revolves around a young(ish) mother who discovers she has a very aggressive cancer and only a short time to live. How her live and death impacts her family and how they each hand their grief is the bones of the story. Her two children are older and their reactions are very different. One child is out on her own attending college and the other is still in school and living at home. Her "husband" who she never legally married is the love of her life and his way of grieving is very different from what might be expected. A star rating is difficult to assign as I had some very conflicted opinions. On one hand, the characters are incredibly well fleshed-out and I feel like I came to know them and what they were going through. The writing is both descriptive and clear which is often times difficult for a writer to pull off. On the other hand, the main theme is so similar to "Wild" that the two books almost merged in my mind. I would also recommend you take a pass if you are feeling depressed or in need of a lift. Hard to read and hard to forget. A well-written book that isn't quite in that top group of stellar books but pretty amazing for a first novel.

Here's the thing ... this book is the twin of Wild -- or, at least it's first few chapters. The death of Cheryl Strayed mother obviously and irrevocably changed her, as I imagine it would many people, I could not possibly fault her for that. But each of her books (all 3 of them) seems to play to that similar theme leaving readers wanting (maybe begging) for something different from Strayed's unique voice. Having read Wild first, I bought this book knowing full good and well what I was getting into. Strayed and her blurb writer make no bones about it -- Torched is an almost-autobiography, more memoir then fiction. But a reader would hope for individuality in the novel, totted as fiction, nevertheless -- something, anything that would somehow set apart. That is where Torch unfortunately fails. Down to the food color/sugar/water drinks Teresa's fictional children consume in Torch that Strayed fondly recalls from her own youth in Wild, a reader is in for more then a few deja vu moments. It was during that time I was left question -- where is the individuality? However, with that said, this book is not without legs of it's own. Beautifully written, emotionally treading, this book teeters always on the fine line of grief and complete loss. Strayed refuses to shy away from uncomfortable moments -- drug abuse, grief-ladden sex, harrowing inner-monologs to name just a few. She does so with eloquence, which makes it all (if possible) that much harder to read. Torch is the sort of book that deserves to stand in a light all its own ... it's just a shame it has to share so much with Wild. Both books are brilliant, just too similar.

Bereavement touches all of us - and does so in ways we do not comprehend at the time. Cheryl wrote of her own personal devastation at the loss of her mother in WILD. She returns to the subject in this novel and looks at the loss of a key family members from the perspectives of the different people bereft. It is a perceptive book - realistic in the extreme and helpful as something to recommend to those who've had to face the death of a loved one.

So I got "Torch" because I read Wild (yes the one from the film produced and played by Reese Witherspoon), which I only read after I read her agent's book (Betsy Lerner, the Forest from the trees) in which she mentioned Cheryl Strayed. Where Wild feels very straight from the heart (and I constantly could see Reese Witherspoon in my head), funny, dry and raw at the same time, Torch feels much more construed. Some elements are the same: her mother who she loses to cancer, the stepfather who remarries shortly after her mother's death. Some are others, and as I had read Wild, I could not stop thinking Nono, that's not how it went. However, where Wild is written in the first person, entirely from the narrator's perspective, Torch uses multiple angles: the main character, the brother and the stepfather. For those who usually are not into that, the way the author has done it, works. It's clear and it does have an added value. At the same time it feels more distant. Having said that, it is a good read and you do feel for all of them. Especially her experience, struggles and grief around her mother's death cut straight through my soul. One warning: it is difficult to put down/close your Kindle.

Fabulous and not dissimilar to non fiction biography Strayed

A lovely story, full of everyday revelations about life. Easy to relate to and a heart tugger, especially if you have ever lost someone close to you. Worth a read.

One might argue that the story is too authobiographic and too similar to what Charyl Strayed already told in Wild. I wondered about that at first myself. So I am, honestly, a little surprised about how much I love this book. Mayby I just like her style of writing. But HOW the author describes the terrible loss this family finds itself having to go through is beautiful and heartwarming, despite all the heartbreak that is being described as well, of course. I especially like that the experience is - in my eyes in an absolutely believable way - described from the different perspectives of the three surviving family members. Dear Mrs. Strayed, I'm so glad you wrote this book. Thank you!