City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg (Book Analysis): Detailed Summary, Analysis and Reading Guide

By Bright Summaries

Unlock the more straightforward side of City on Fire with this concise and insightful summary and analysis!

This engaging summary presents an analysis of City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg, one of the most talked-about books of the 2015 literary season and the most expensive first novel ever published. This sprawling book follows an extensive cast of characters, from wealthy real estate magnates to destitute musicians, living in New York in the 1960s and 1970s. Set against the backdrop of major social upheaval and the burgeoning punk movement, the novel provides a compelling illustration of the city’s power and its influence on its inhabitants’ actions. Garth Risk Hallberg is an American writer known for his novels, short stories and essays. He currently lives in New York and teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

Find out everything you need to know about City on Fire in a fraction of the time!

This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you:

• A complete plot summary
• Character studies
• Key themes and symbols
• Questions for further reflection

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• Language: English
• Publisher: BrightSummaries.com
• Release date: Sep 22, 2017
• ISBN: 9782808004480

Book preview

American author

Born near Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1978.

Notable works:

A Field Guide to the North American Family (2007), novella

That High, Lonesome Sound (2012), short story

How Fiction Can ‘Make It New’ (2015), essay

Garth Risk Hallberg was born in a small town near Baton Rouge in December 1978. He grew up in North Carolina, before studying English at Washington University in St. Louis (Missouri) and gaining his MFA from NYU. He has lived in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and their two children since 2004. He is a professor at Sarah Lawrence College in New York State, where he teaches the art of novel-writing in a programme focusing on professional novel-writing and narratology.

Hallberg began his literary career with award-winning short stories, which have appeared in prestigious publications such as The New York Times Magazine and Book Review.

A novel about sprawling New York

Genre: novel

Reference edition: Hallberg, G. R. (2016) City on Fire. London: Vintage.

1st edition: 2015

Themes: New York, punk, drugs, family, crisis, art, destruction, corruption

City on Fire, which was published in 2015, caused significant buzz before it even went on sale. The American publisher Alfred A. Knopf was impressed by the young author’s originality and bought