Book Review: UNQUENCHABLE FIRE

Urban Fantasy Goes to 11

Book Review: UNQUENCHABLE FIRE (1988) by Rachel Pollack

Imagine that “New Age” was completely real — and had become part of everyone’s everyday life. We’d have Tarot, magic, spirits flying around, totems, demons — the whole circus — every day of the week. And it had become so normal, supernatural events would make the evening news without anyone even batting an eyebrow.

That’s the world of UNQUENCHABLE FIRE. It’s a novel quite unlike almost anything else I’ve read before. Now, what works for me is that the author doesn’t use “spirituality” as window-dressing. It’s depicted as creating an alternate reality.

And this fictional America that has undergone a spiritual revolution isn’t a “theocracy” — or a Christian society — but decidedly pagan. (Imagine that all of America turned into that part of California where people are into cults, healing crystals and shamans.)

But as you know, people can get accustomed to almost anything. So even the magic of this actually magical society has gone stale, institutionalized, bureaucratic — in short, the sense of enchantment is gone.

The protagonist Jennie Mazdan is, against her wishes, swept up in some great spiritual event that might renew the connection between humans and gods.

Unusually for fantasy — or is this science fiction? — the protagonist isn’t a “special” talent in any way. She’s a very average person and seems to have been randomly picked by the higher powers for their great purpose. And she naturally resists the idea of becoming a vessel for something greater than herself. Jennie coming to terms with this development is the “plot” of the book — though the plot is really a mechanism for exploring this alternate world in all its details.

The fun of reading UNQUENCHABLE FIRE lies in the world building. I laughed out loud several times at some absurd detail. (I mustn’t spoil the [giggle] hilarious bit about the sacred fountain...)

The details can also be disturbingly pagan — these people are not quite “civilized” in the modern sense. (When reading some parts that dealt with grotesque pagan rituals, I had a sneaking suspicion that maybe the author was trying to weave personal kinks into the world building. But you be the judge.)

There is a great dilemma (and narrative weakness) inherent in this kind of mystical world. How do the characters (and readers) figure out what an omen/story/message really means?

Since absolutely everything in UNQUENCHABLE FIRE — every cloud with a funny shape, every street dog, every casual conversation, every newspaper — is a story with a “hidden meaning”, this opens up for an infinite regression:

Story “A” really means “B” — but “B” is also a story, which can be interpreted as having the hidden meaning “C” — which in turn has the hidden meaning “D” … and so on, ad infinitum.

Ultimately, this makes for a world with no story at all, just random supernatural events, and people squabbling over their meaning. (I don’t mean it as an indictment. It’s kind of illuminating.)

In one central passage, an emissary from the gods tries to explain to the protagonist directly “what it’s all about” — and he points out that humans can’t stand too much of this truth. We’ll do anything to avoid staring reality directly in the face. (Whether this explanation makes sense, or these “gods” are wrong or being disingenuous, is up to you to decide.)

It also struck me how American this novel is! The way the characters chase magical solutions to their problems — they are chasing fads, which is such an American phenomenon. Always looking for the next New Thing, that will finally give their lives a deeper meaning, and the fad always fades or sputters out — to be replaced by the next fad.

Is the great spiritual reawakening at the climax of UNQUENCHABLE FIRE simply “the new fad”? You decide.

UNQUENCHABLE FIRE is a strange, interesting experience, though not really that much of a “story.” It may also have a hidden message about American culture that the author did not intend (?). Recommended for its humor and originality.