Review by Avafisherman -- Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
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Avafisherman
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- Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
Review by Avafisherman -- Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
[Following is a volunteer review of "Strong Heart" by Charlie Sheldon.]
There is nothing like a good adventure story–especially one that has the mysterious allure of magical realism. Strong Heart, by Charlie Sheldon, draws its reader into a world of natural history and enchantment, of conflict and human origins. Although Sheldon’s story lacks consistency in its narrative tone at times, I found the book to be informative, imaginative, and overall a book that I had some serious trouble putting down.
Strong Heart follows the tense yet exciting adventures of four main characters: Tom, an old hiker living alone in a cabin in Washington state, William “Walleye”, an aging sailor of Native American descent, his daughter Myra, an avid hiker and geologist, and Sarah Cooley, the young teenager who appears on Tom’s doorstep claiming to be his granddaughter. Together they embark on a backpacking trip through the Olympic Peninsula in search of a piece of Tom’s history and in possession of a priceless artifact–one that could end up saving the beautiful range from the destructive clutches of a greedy mining company. This trip changes their lives. Our four heroes traverse treacherous conditions, dangerous encounters, and an experience so strange that it might not have even occurred. The mountains are filled with mystery, magic, and history, and Tom, Sarah, William, and Myra come face to face with all three. In this story of discovery and endurance, legend becomes truth and magic becomes reality.
Sheldon clearly knows his way around the Olympic Peninsula–and backpacking trips, and the North Pacific, and how to sail. It pleases me when authors use what they know in their stories. Through his expansive knowledge of these things, we are able to catch a glimpse into what they are like in real life. While reading, I found myself constantly googling places and objects that came up in Strong Heart. I looked up pictures of the Elwha River, the Olympic Peninsula, Ice Age creatures, Haida Gwaii, Native American weaponry and canoes, and more. Now, after having read the book, I feel as though I have a pretty good grasp on a place and its history, one that I might not have learned about otherwise–and that feels like a gift to me.
Something that Sheldon doesn’t seem as well versed in is personable dialogue. My biggest issues with Strong Heart were the immense chunks of speech that took over entire pages and often broke up the book’s flow. I understand and respect the desire to include vast amounts of history in a book such as this one but to have it all come through in dialogue was quite tiresome. If half of the factual information in the book came from dialogue, I think that would have been fine, but the big slabs of it all coming at once from a character’s mouth had me wanting badly to skim. Also, in an attempt to make this spoken history more personable, each character says the others’ names over and over–think Kate and Leo in Titanic: ‘Jack! Rose! Jack! Rose!’ This constant repetition makes the dialogue hard to believe, and further disrupts the flow of the writing.
I give Strong Heart 3 out of 4 stars. For the majority of my time reading it, I was thinking of giving the book two stars, but by the time I crossed the halfway point I was surprisingly smitten. The book is well-edited, has convincing, interesting characters, and holds a lot of engaging information. I refrained from giving it a full four stars because of the lengthy dialogue, and because I didn’t really fall for it until I was well into the page count. My last thought is that any book that takes on the challenge of representing a human culture needs to be fact-checked and read by sensitivity readers–I am no expert on the tribes included in this story, nor on Sheldon’s credibility, but if Strong Heart has not been checked over by those who are then it probably should be. Overall, I really enjoyed this book!
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
There is nothing like a good adventure story–especially one that has the mysterious allure of magical realism. Strong Heart, by Charlie Sheldon, draws its reader into a world of natural history and enchantment, of conflict and human origins. Although Sheldon’s story lacks consistency in its narrative tone at times, I found the book to be informative, imaginative, and overall a book that I had some serious trouble putting down.
Strong Heart follows the tense yet exciting adventures of four main characters: Tom, an old hiker living alone in a cabin in Washington state, William “Walleye”, an aging sailor of Native American descent, his daughter Myra, an avid hiker and geologist, and Sarah Cooley, the young teenager who appears on Tom’s doorstep claiming to be his granddaughter. Together they embark on a backpacking trip through the Olympic Peninsula in search of a piece of Tom’s history and in possession of a priceless artifact–one that could end up saving the beautiful range from the destructive clutches of a greedy mining company. This trip changes their lives. Our four heroes traverse treacherous conditions, dangerous encounters, and an experience so strange that it might not have even occurred. The mountains are filled with mystery, magic, and history, and Tom, Sarah, William, and Myra come face to face with all three. In this story of discovery and endurance, legend becomes truth and magic becomes reality.
Sheldon clearly knows his way around the Olympic Peninsula–and backpacking trips, and the North Pacific, and how to sail. It pleases me when authors use what they know in their stories. Through his expansive knowledge of these things, we are able to catch a glimpse into what they are like in real life. While reading, I found myself constantly googling places and objects that came up in Strong Heart. I looked up pictures of the Elwha River, the Olympic Peninsula, Ice Age creatures, Haida Gwaii, Native American weaponry and canoes, and more. Now, after having read the book, I feel as though I have a pretty good grasp on a place and its history, one that I might not have learned about otherwise–and that feels like a gift to me.
Something that Sheldon doesn’t seem as well versed in is personable dialogue. My biggest issues with Strong Heart were the immense chunks of speech that took over entire pages and often broke up the book’s flow. I understand and respect the desire to include vast amounts of history in a book such as this one but to have it all come through in dialogue was quite tiresome. If half of the factual information in the book came from dialogue, I think that would have been fine, but the big slabs of it all coming at once from a character’s mouth had me wanting badly to skim. Also, in an attempt to make this spoken history more personable, each character says the others’ names over and over–think Kate and Leo in Titanic: ‘Jack! Rose! Jack! Rose!’ This constant repetition makes the dialogue hard to believe, and further disrupts the flow of the writing.
I give Strong Heart 3 out of 4 stars. For the majority of my time reading it, I was thinking of giving the book two stars, but by the time I crossed the halfway point I was surprisingly smitten. The book is well-edited, has convincing, interesting characters, and holds a lot of engaging information. I refrained from giving it a full four stars because of the lengthy dialogue, and because I didn’t really fall for it until I was well into the page count. My last thought is that any book that takes on the challenge of representing a human culture needs to be fact-checked and read by sensitivity readers–I am no expert on the tribes included in this story, nor on Sheldon’s credibility, but if Strong Heart has not been checked over by those who are then it probably should be. Overall, I really enjoyed this book!
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
