3 out of 4 stars
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Charlie Sheldon's "Strong Heart" is a book of fantasy and reality, a book of comfort and risk, a book of the usual and the unusual blended together in an unwonted cocktail.
It's the story of a normal man, Tom, leading a run-of-the-mill life in Washington, with his friends William and his daughter Myra, when he receives an unforeseen visit from his ex-wife, with a "girl, 12 or 13 years old, thin as a stick, less than 5 feet tall, mouth determined", who reveals herself to be his grand-daughter, now entrusted to him. The time was not suitable for her arrival, as Tom was planning to go with his friends to visit his grandfather's grave in the snowy Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. Will Tom agree to take Sarah, this revolted teenager, this apparently burdensome child, on this important trip as William suggests ? What surprises await them ? Who will Sarah reveal herself to be truly ?
I rate this book 3 out of 4, as I think it will be very enjoyable for some and not so much for others. What I like about this book is the originality of the story, the many questions that are born during the reading process, and the stimulated curiosity that arise from Sarah's story and from the oscillations between past and present, touching the space between dream and reality. The description is well made, encouraging and facilitating the immersion of the reader's imagination in the story's space and time. Sarah's character inspires sympathy, empathy, and admiration, the others are also very humane, understandable, and close, which makes the reader able to relate to them and their experiences as well as to their disorientation, puzzlement and perplexity.
Nevertheless, some aspects of the book made it less enjoyable to me and less engaging than it could have been. The excessive amount of details and actions in Sarah's story (which makes it difficult to follow and remember), compared to a relative stillness of the action in other parts doesn't make the reading particularly enthralling. I would have appreciated as well more emphasis on the interpersonal, and the psychological aspects, with a slightly more poetic approach that could have been very interesting. I believe the story could have had a better aptness to hook the reader.
This book could suit the taste of adult readers who like adventure as well as social, geographical, anthropological, and historical issues. It is not a book for those who seek more sentimental, interpersonal issues, even though this dimension is present vaguely in the background, as a sideshow to the foreground action. It's a book offered "for those whose greatest pleasure is curling up with a book on a rainy afternoon ; and to contrary girls everywhere, may each of you find your own short face bear"( Charlie Sheldon). In the end, it's a book about finding your way. What does Sheldon mean with "may each of you find your own short face bear" ? ... Come on, read the book and find out !
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Strong Heart
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