This book is about two
extreme personalities who commit arson as an unusual form of lovemaking. It's
about the community in which they commit this crime, nearly 60 times in a
single year. It's about two individuals who want significance. One of them
wants to keep the love of the woman he's fallen for. The woman wants attention
and satisfaction and confirmation of her worth. It's never clear which one of
the two instigates or promotes the crimes. The man claims that arson is the
woman's way of getting sexual satisfaction since he can't seem to perform. She claims
that he just wanted to set fires and took her along for the ride. She's fairly
intelligent. He's not. It's possible she manipulated him. In fact, it's almost
obvious that in some ways she manipulated him since while he's in jail, having
confessed to most of the acts of arson, she is out of jail taking care of her
children and having affairs. He thinks she loves him. She might love him, in
fact, but love for her doesn't mean fidelity. Love for her means moving along
to the next partner when the first one is in jail for the long term. The man is
easily intimidated by the police once they figure out that he's the arsonist,
or at least one of them. The woman, on the other hand, is absolutely imperturbable.
She never cracks. She never waivers in her declarations of innocence. At least
not until her lawyer convinces her that if she doesn't confess she's going to
be in jail for most of the rest of her life.
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