...the language is Nabokovian to say the least. Right when you think Celt has hit some undefined apogee of prose, she proves time and time again there’s still more fun to be had, and her lyricism and wit are a real treat ... Celt’s prose also excels at distinguishing the varying writing styles of her characters ... Invitation to a Bonfire challenges the notion that an artist is inexorably responsible for their work or their legacy.
...a ravishing tale of love ... This novel is every bit as strange and sensuous as Celt’s lyrical debut, The Daughters ... Despite its exceedingly dark subject matter, however, the novel possesses a human warmth that even Nabokov’s most tender novel, Pnin, never quite manages to achieve ... To write a homage to arguably the finest English-language prose stylist of the 20th century takes a great deal of nerve. Fortunately, Seattle-born Celt is an exquisite writer; her sentences take hold of you and will not let go ... Celt writes with great tenderness and humour ... The novel’s critique of Nabokov is as sharp as the admiration is intense ... The question invited by every homage is whether it merits being read by those who are unfamiliar with the source of inspiration. In the case of Invitation to a Bonfire, the answer is, emphatically, 'yes.'
The first challenge I faced with the novel was suspending disbelief with Zoe’s 'diary.' It leaps off the page fully formed, beautiful and literary — not like any diary I have ever kept or read ... The second challenge was the novel’s promotional material ... I am not a Nabokov expert, so I worried that my appreciation of Celt’s novel would be limited. However, as the story unfolded, these concerns slipped away in the magical prose Celt creates.
...a cleverly constructed novel about love, obsession and revenge ... the novel pays homage to the great writer in Celt’s use of an unreliable narrator and a title that’s echoes one of Nabokov’s earlier novels. But the cunning plot and Celt’s singular, sparkling prose are very much her own.
Invitation to a Bonfire is—forgive me—a slow burn ... Adrienne Celt’s Invitation to a Bonfire will infiltrate your subconscious and make you read passages twice, maybe three times ... When the threads—like lit dynamite fuses—hit their target, you’ll get way more than just a bonfire.
...[a] disquieting second novel ... Though the ending is implausible, it’s nonetheless cleverly twisted. This is an incendiary and provocative novel about obsession.
Trembling with atmosphere ... an ominous snowball of a novel ... with a slow-burning first half and a second half that hurtles toward inevitable catastrophe, it’s a book that requires some patience, but that patience—carefully calculated—pays off in spades. Rich and moody.
