Review by Nikonov36085 -- Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
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Nikonov36085
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- Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
Review by Nikonov36085 -- Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
[Following is a volunteer review of "Strong Heart" by Charlie Sheldon.]
3 out of 4 stars
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Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon is a fascinating story of a small band of close friends that go on an exploratory mission to rediscover the past of when humans roamed the earth during the ice age. Tom, an aging man, wishes to bury an ancient artifact he found with his late grandfather, at his grandfather’s burial place. But when he finds a young granddaughter on his front steps whom he has never met before in his life, his lifelong friend, William, convinces Tom to take his granddaughter, Sarah, along for the hike. While William and his daughter, Myra, are part of the Native American people of the Olympic Peninsula, Sarah and Tom are not as related to the land as the former pair. However, Sarah’s presence on the trip turns out to be one of the most important pieces of figuring out the past. While Sarah has visions of an ancient tribal group during the ice age, the present party finds it hard, albeit willing, to believe her stories. With a rival and his company trying to take over the hiking trails for mining purposes, the hiking party comes across some complications and tries to find evidence of an ancient people that used to reside there in the mountains in order to try and stop them.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The history of the park and the visual images of the landscape are intriguing. It was a little slow in the beginning, building up the background of the main characters and their own stories, and then it picks up when Sarah has visions of an ancient tribal people. This book would be good for history majors, environmentalists, and anyone who has a general interest in old stories.
I didn’t give this book a four because the descriptions in the book would sometimes be short, clipped, and random. On page 37, it said the hiking group would stay to dry their tents because of the mist. After two pages of dialogue, Tom finishes speaking, and it just says, “the tents were dry.” The reader could have forgotten the tents were moist to begin with because of the two full pages of interesting dialogue. It would have been easier to understand if it was written in a different way to remind us that it was misty outside and that’s why they stopped in the first place. What I disliked most were the number of expressions, or words, used in the book that the reader might not have understood. During Sarah’s visions of the tribal people, when the boat was full, they had to “bail.” I didn’t understand what that meant until they “bailed” several times a few chapters into the visions. Also, what is a hand span? When the people were rowing, they would row a few hand spans. What exactly is the Ice Bear? Is it a mountain? Throughout the whole book I wasn’t exactly sure what the “Ice Bear” was.
I loved Sarah’s visions. These stories were my favorite parts of the story because it was fascinating to see how another people lived, fought, hunted, and survived. It showed the major differences between the people of then and the people of now. There were many characters in the flashbacks, and it was a little difficult to keep track of all of them, but they still made the stories great and made for a great plot. For a story within a story that is not that long, the characters are really easy to become attached to and it adds a little extra something to the rest of the book. I liked how it also tied into the present time and the problems Tom’s group came across and how the past could affect the future of the park.
The ending was so abrupt! I was so engrossed with this story. I thought the group was going to make it to the marking place and then all of a sudden, the book ended. I think it left a lot of open-ended questions that would/should lead to a second book. Does the group ever make it to the marking place, even though they were right there, why didn’t they just go there when they were so close? Does Thrower and Strong Heart end up together? What ever happens to Lynch and his company? Who does Sarah end up staying with after the hike, and do the people that caused her pain in her past ever see the inside of a court room, or better yet, a jail cell? There could also be more to the story of the ancient tribal people, about how the rest of the tribe lived and not just how they survived on the voyage to get there.
******
Strong Heart
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3 out of 4 stars
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Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon is a fascinating story of a small band of close friends that go on an exploratory mission to rediscover the past of when humans roamed the earth during the ice age. Tom, an aging man, wishes to bury an ancient artifact he found with his late grandfather, at his grandfather’s burial place. But when he finds a young granddaughter on his front steps whom he has never met before in his life, his lifelong friend, William, convinces Tom to take his granddaughter, Sarah, along for the hike. While William and his daughter, Myra, are part of the Native American people of the Olympic Peninsula, Sarah and Tom are not as related to the land as the former pair. However, Sarah’s presence on the trip turns out to be one of the most important pieces of figuring out the past. While Sarah has visions of an ancient tribal group during the ice age, the present party finds it hard, albeit willing, to believe her stories. With a rival and his company trying to take over the hiking trails for mining purposes, the hiking party comes across some complications and tries to find evidence of an ancient people that used to reside there in the mountains in order to try and stop them.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. The history of the park and the visual images of the landscape are intriguing. It was a little slow in the beginning, building up the background of the main characters and their own stories, and then it picks up when Sarah has visions of an ancient tribal people. This book would be good for history majors, environmentalists, and anyone who has a general interest in old stories.
I didn’t give this book a four because the descriptions in the book would sometimes be short, clipped, and random. On page 37, it said the hiking group would stay to dry their tents because of the mist. After two pages of dialogue, Tom finishes speaking, and it just says, “the tents were dry.” The reader could have forgotten the tents were moist to begin with because of the two full pages of interesting dialogue. It would have been easier to understand if it was written in a different way to remind us that it was misty outside and that’s why they stopped in the first place. What I disliked most were the number of expressions, or words, used in the book that the reader might not have understood. During Sarah’s visions of the tribal people, when the boat was full, they had to “bail.” I didn’t understand what that meant until they “bailed” several times a few chapters into the visions. Also, what is a hand span? When the people were rowing, they would row a few hand spans. What exactly is the Ice Bear? Is it a mountain? Throughout the whole book I wasn’t exactly sure what the “Ice Bear” was.
I loved Sarah’s visions. These stories were my favorite parts of the story because it was fascinating to see how another people lived, fought, hunted, and survived. It showed the major differences between the people of then and the people of now. There were many characters in the flashbacks, and it was a little difficult to keep track of all of them, but they still made the stories great and made for a great plot. For a story within a story that is not that long, the characters are really easy to become attached to and it adds a little extra something to the rest of the book. I liked how it also tied into the present time and the problems Tom’s group came across and how the past could affect the future of the park.
The ending was so abrupt! I was so engrossed with this story. I thought the group was going to make it to the marking place and then all of a sudden, the book ended. I think it left a lot of open-ended questions that would/should lead to a second book. Does the group ever make it to the marking place, even though they were right there, why didn’t they just go there when they were so close? Does Thrower and Strong Heart end up together? What ever happens to Lynch and his company? Who does Sarah end up staying with after the hike, and do the people that caused her pain in her past ever see the inside of a court room, or better yet, a jail cell? There could also be more to the story of the ancient tribal people, about how the rest of the tribe lived and not just how they survived on the voyage to get there.
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
