Riveting true story written with empathy and grace

books:


	• 3000 Degrees: The True Story of a Deadly Fire and the Men Who Fought It Sean Flynn Warner Books, 2002 - 240 pages average customer review:based on 20 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Riveting true story written with empathy and grace

I didn't think a non-fiction book about the personal and professional lives of 'everyday' people would be so well composed. Sure, I expected to read about drama and bravery and tragedy, but Sean Flynn writes with well-tuned prose and a well-honed ear for the people and the town he reveals to the reader. He has done a great service in getting to the heart and soul of the protagonists and their loved ones. He does so without exaggeration, false bravado, or romanticism. The heroic fire fighters are shown three-dimensionally, and there isn't a phony note or word in the book. And like the true heroes in history, they are far from perfect human beings. In fact, the profound issue suggested in this book is that they are willing to risk their lives because they have flaws and have felt personal pain. How else could one feel so obligated to save utter strangers at the risk of their own lives and to have such an intuitive sense of how far your body and soul can go when they're up against a formidable foe. George Orwell said that it is the job of a human being not to be a saint. If my life was at risk, and given the choice who would try and save me, I'd pick these guys over any saint, preacher, minister, or holy man.

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WORCESTER not WORCHESTER - Keep the H out of it

Note to who ever wrote the Publishers Weekly review. Get a map. The second largest city in New England is Worcester Mass. not WorcHester. Those of us born and raised there pronounce the city to rhyme with mister.

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Realistic and compassionate.

I really enjoyed this book. My dad was a firefighter and I thought the writer portrayed the firefighters with a tough realisim without taking away their compassion for what they do. The families stories seemed to convey not only the day to day fears that all firefighters families have but, a small sense of what they went through when the unimaginable happened to them. Overall a great read by a writer who seemed to care about the subject.

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Riviting

I read this book simply because my boyfriend said he couldn't put it down. I was mesmorized by the bravery these men went gave out to fight the fire. After every page, I kept thinking to myself, "This is TRUE." I have a stronger respect for the brave fire fighters aroundt he world. Not only is this book about the fire and the fighters themselves, but it also depicts the family's devistation after the fact. Every page brought tears to my eyes. I would recommend this book to anyone, especially family's of fire fighters. Didn't want to put it down.

the book that started my addiction...

All that I can say is that Sean Flynn wrote this book about a horrific true event in such a way that I feel as if I lost my friends in the blaze. I can only imagine how the true friends of these 6 men felt and continue to feel each time they see a family member of one of their perished brothers. I'm not a crying man, but I cried at some points in this story b/c they hit so close to home for one, but for two you get so wrapped up in the lives of these men that you feel the stinging pain of realizing they have died. It's a sad story, that I actually remembered hearing about after i read the book, but it's also very motivating to anybody that has thought of becoming a FF. It's almost as its a test of your heart to be a FF. Like the beginning of initiation (hazing) to become a part of a fraternity. I know two other people that read it, that upon completion(one wasn't even able to finish) withdrew from the FF applicant process in which we all signed up together. Weeds out the weak...well kinda. :o)

Either way you look at it, this is good reading. I finished in in 4 days and I was continually fussed at for 3 of those days by my 9 month pregnant girlfriend b/c I wasn't giving her the attention she wanted. Now she's reading it and i'm not getting any attention. Go fig!

Buy the book! BTW...my addiction i speak of in my title just means my addiction to FF books.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4

On December 3. 1999, the call crackled in to the men of Worchester, Massachusetts Fire Department: a three-alarm warehouse blaze in a six-story windowless colossus of brick and mortar. Firefighters love the excitement of a triple, but this was a different beast. What happened once insideand how their lives were changed foreveroffers and unprecedented look at these heroic men whose job it is to rush into burning buildings when everyone else just wants out.

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