Author: J.C. Michaels

Publisher: Philograph Press

 ISBN: 0-9726173-0-1

The following interview was contributed by: Penny Watkins:   CLICK HERE  to read more of Penny's Reviews.

Firebelly is a tale about the life of a firebelly frog, from his beginning as a single cell until he makes a choice that transforms everything.  He embraces freedom and creates his own life when he chooses whether he will be a pet, or be a wild frog.

Firebelly is an allegory, an existential metaphor.  Michaels divides the book into a primer (you choose whether you read the primer for children, teenagers, adults or all three—all three is a good choice), three parts, an epilogue and two postscripts.  The postscripts give us additional information about firebelly frogs and existentialism, which is a rather odd pairing.  Firebelly is an odd frog.  He only has two legs.  The other two appendages—one back and one front—are stumps. 

Part 1 is about the beginning of Firebelly’s life, growing from cell mass to tadpole to disfigured frog.  Moving from water to land, from aquarium to pet shop to Caroline’s home.  These are changes that Firebelly has no control over.

At the end of Part 1, however, Firebelly is in a very frightening situation.  He doesn’t know what to do, he may die if someone doesn’t rescue him, and there is no one to rescue him.  He instinctively does what firebelly frogs do:  He flips over on his back, puffs up his bright red belly and becomes still.  When the threat passes, he deflates his belly and flips back onto his legs, becoming once again a dappled green frog.

Firebelly has discovered the “power of his body,” what he is and what he is capable of.  The section ends with a shout:  “Behold the meaning of Firebelly!”

In Part 2, Firebelly dreams of the outside world; he dreams of being wild.  He doesn’t know if he has the courage to be wild, though, and he knows Caroline will cry if he escapes into the wide world.  Still, he takes advantage of an opportunity to escape from his container while Caroline’s dad is transporting him in a rental car.  Firebelly hides and refuses to let himself be found.  He does not escape, but makes the car his new home and it becomes a prison.  Part 2 ends with a flat statement:  “This car is my prison, but I am guilty of nothing.”

Part 3 is about Firebelly’s relationship with another girl, Claire.  He is still hiding in the rental car when Claire’s father rents it.  You’ll have to read the book to find out more about Claire, how she and Firebelly meet, and about Firebelly’s choice.  The point of Part 3, however, is that he did choose, and that choice determined his future.  Part 3 also contains a shout:  “Behold the power of Firebelly!”

Firebelly explores what it means to be.  What does it mean to be a firebelly frog, or a little girl, or Claire?  What is essentially me and what is an aggregation of cultural norms and other peoples’ expectations?  If all the superimposed layers are peeled off of my life, what, if anything, is left?

These questions are difficult:  It’s hard to grasp even the concept of being.  They are lonely:  Few people want to think about them.  And they are frightening:  What if there is no being?  What if there is nothing under the layers?

In my opinion, existentialism makes us aware of how lonely, isolated, fragile and vulnerable we are.  It confronts us with the fact that we can know absolutely nothing absolutely; that our neurons and synapses are capable of creating a whole world out of miscalculated chemistry. 

There are no answers to these large questions of the mind; there is only faith.  Faith in God, faith in humanity, faith in ourselves, even faith in reality.  As Firebelly says, “No one knows the whole story, but sometimes we see the shadow of it moving across our lives.  And for one brief moment, we grasp an understanding of being.”

Michaels uses clear, thoughtful language to make us think difficult thoughts.  As a parable, Firebelly illuminates and elucidates the ideas of being and freedom and caring.  The story is both enjoyable as a tale, and mind-stretching as an allegory.

As a bit of an afterthought, I love the beautiful words Michaels uses; words like virid and recherché, pugilist and metamorphosis.  Words that roll around pleasantly on your tongue and ring musically in your ear.  Thank you, J.C. Michaels, for a fine book.