October 16, 2006
Author (The Last Man
; Keep Faith, Change the Church
) and former Boston Globe
journalist Kenney uses the events of Boston's 1942 Cocoanut Grove Fire ("the greatest fire in the city's history"), to which his grandfather responded as a rescuer, to frame his account of the role firefighting played in the lives of the Kenneys over three generations ("the arc of a story that began and ended with the Grove but contained within it a story of our family"). Because Kenney himself never was part of the "amazing brotherhood" of firefighters, much of his narrative stays at arm's length, relying on documentary-style narrative techniques that maintain an air of authority but mitigate the pathos of the personal. However, the technical descriptions of firefighting, the gripping accounts of fire-related rescues and the sketches of men in love with sacrifice are well handled and moving. In addition, Kenney's ability to weave the story of six brothers growing up in blue-collar Boston, raised by a firefighting veteran father and a bootstrapping granddad, into a tapestry of great social change (WWII, civil rights, integration of schools and the fire department, 9/11) makes for an engaging tale. By the time a Kenney brother is sent as a rescuer to the World Trade Center, the family story and the social one are concluded with fulfilling thematic unity.
February 15, 2007
Novelist and former "Boston Globe" journalist Kenney ("The Last Man") tells the story of his family's lifelong involvement with the Boston Fire Department (BFD) and other emergency services. The narrative begins and ends with the tragic 1942 Boston fire at the Cocoanut Grove nightclub that claimed nearly 500 lives, for which Kenney relies heavily on the recollections of his firefighter grandfather, "Pops," who said "it was a job with a rare purity, a beautiful simple mission, to save lives." Pops was a member of the elite Rescue 1 Company, and he details the Cocoanut Grove fire, including graphic descriptions and details of the investigations into the fire, its long-term effects on firefighting techniques, and its other influences. Kenney also relates the firefighting career of his father, "Sonny," who also served with distinction in the BFD. The author's brothers would serve in the police department and emergency medical services. The story becomes a part of the story of 1960s and 1970s Boston, with court orders on fire department hiring practices and forced school busing, with racial discrimination and tensions. Kenney's brothers tried numerous times to join the BFD but were rejected owing to the new hiring practices that ensured better minority representation in Boston city agencies. The author provides readers with a vivid, readable account of the dangers and bravery inherent in emergency services and inherent in his family. Recommended for all general collections.David Alperstein, Queens Borough P.L., Jamaica, NY
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