Michelle Herbert reviews Bonfire by Krysten Ritter…
Bonfire starts with Abby returning to her hometown of Barrens. Abby is now working for an environmental advocacy firm and is returning to Barrens to see if the town’s main employer, Optimal, is polluting the town’s water.
Abby is still dealing with a lot of trauma from her childhood. After leaving Barrens ten years ago, she never had plans to return. Throughout the story, it is almost like she has been drawn back to solve a mystery that has been haunting her. Like any story about returning home, Abby is running into old adversaries, who are now acting like they want to be her friends. Abby’s memories of the past are coming fast and furious and she can’t shake the feeling that some of these people are trying to get into her head.
Misha the most violent of Abby’s bullies is now the vice principal at their old high school. Misha seems genuinely happy to see Abby and whilst reminiscing about the past, Misha seems to blame her previous behaviour on Kaycee Mitchell. Kaycee is one of those people whose behaviour impacts the people around them, but Kaycee ran away a long time ago, so Abby has to decide whether Kaycee’s actions are still causing repercussions ten years later.
For Abby, there is a lot of uncertainty as to what happened to Kaycee and herself, with lots of memories resurfacing, including an event that in its retelling seems to be reminiscent of The Crucible, when a group of teenage girls led by Kaycee start displaying symptoms of a mysterious illness. Abby has to decide whether Kaycee was really ill or as it was cleared up at the time that the girls were they all faking their symptoms for attention?
Abby has multiple issues to deal with, including finding out if there is a case to bring against Optimal. Abby also has to confront her family issues and work out if there is more to Kaycee’s last days in Barrens than she previously thought. There is also the fact that Abby is now seen as an outsider in the small town and not many people are happy to see her investigating Optimal when they are so tied to the town.
Conspiracies come thick and fast, and we are left questioning whether these are Abby’s imagination or if the town’s resurgence is due to a dark and well-hidden secret that not only resonates with the past but is being enacted in the present. Trust is a theme that is repeated over and over again, with revelations about people you would generally expect to be able to rely on, being turned on there head.
Abby is a great character who strove to break away from her past but is also haunted by it. Abby herself is a broken person, who self-medicates with alcohol which contributes to Abby’s compulsive, obsessive behaviour. Abby is so driven to get to the truth that she burns a lot of bridges with not only the people she works with but also potential allies. Abby makes a lot of missteps that, but this makes Bonfire a more compelling read, as you aren’t sure if the book is about one woman’s spiral into madness, or if Optimal is exactly the kind of corporation that would put profits over people’s safety.
Bonfire has so many heartbreaking secrets, as well as a lot of contemporary themes. The book switches between the corporate storyline of getting a case together and the personal. Although it feels at times like we are following Abby’s personal crusade, it also becomes that of the characters she interacts with. This is a much larger story than the awkward girl who made good, this is a story of what you are willing to sacrifice to understand your past.
Michelle Herbert
