Review of Strong Heart
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- Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
Review of Strong Heart
[Following is a volunteer review of "Strong Heart" by Charlie Sheldon.]
Charlie Sheldon’s novel, Strong Heart takes its reader into two separately viable worlds, beginning in the present day of Washington state’s Olympic National Park, when a fractured family uncomfortably reunites while embarking on a backpacking mission. This steady yet challenging journey is taken on by middle aged Haida Tribe Indians whose love for their heritage and the realms of the Olympic Peninsula defies their various physical struggles due to age and lack of fitness. On the night before the trip, during a heavy rainstorm, a heretofore unknown granddaughter, Sarah arrives on the doorstep of Tom, the unsuspecting grandfather in this group, forcing them to make room for her on their pilgrimage to Tom’s grandfather’s unsanctified burial site in the Olympics from many years ago. With Sarah’s clear teen angst, and mixed feelings all around, a sacred object of profound age is also taken along with the group to be returned to the burial site. Its presence invites its destruction from county commissioners who want mining access to areas of the Olympic peninsula, while it forms the link to a second world. This other ancient dimension places Sarah into a human cargo of potential brides, forcing her to travel with a group of the earliest humans in a significant past life world, where she comes to earn the name "Strong Heart."
If a genre of literature could combine magical realism with the Pacific Northwest’s archaeological evidence of ancient peoples predating Judeo-Christian explanations of human life by thousands of years, Strong Heart is a prime example of its potential. The other-worldly voice of Sarah, aka "Strong Heart" in this other world, recounting her part in an ancient predicament of human survival during a time on earth where humanity barely survives itself, amid mammoths, short faced bears, and predatory creatures akin to dinosaurs in their might, is both enthralling and yet terrifyingly familiar. The story’s present-day building toward the compelling saga of Strong Heart cannot be anticipated until the reader is dropped into it, and like Strong Heart herself is no longer Sarah, the story shifts away from any sort of westernized narrative that a reader is to expect. Like the sudden cracking of ice while walking on a frozen lake would mean a shocking dunk into the cold water beneath, Strong Heart's (Sarah's) violence ridden narrative alerts the reader to the massive conflicts of survival that have no resolution in the distant future of westernized thinking.
The mixing of the two worlds unfortunately presents a conflict in Sheldon’s portrayal of the present-day characters around Sarah as they argue and cajole, because they are weakened by a tendency to dialogue in overly bookish explanations of historical context. One can’t help feeling that Sheldon wanted to be certain that today’s audience would be assured of the archaeological facts surrounding the allegations of the ancient world which Sarah has momentarily disappeared into. The importance of Sarah's mystical visit to the harsh conditions of early humans however does not need textbook accountability. In fact, the ancient world narrative of Sarah as Strong Heart is more convincing and authentic than the modern portrayal of her moody teenage complaints and tendency to sullenly retreat into her sketchbook. The modern-day characters just do not match the vibrancy of the early humans portrayed in the canoe of Strong Heart’s journey through this ancient other world.
I would rate Sheldon’s Strong Heart 3 out of 4 stars. Perhaps the ensuing sequels will show a deepening of some rather flat present-day characters, but to earn a four star review, hope for future character dimension is not enough. However, I greatly look forward to reading the next book in the series so that I can revisit that second, ancient world so incredibly detailed and thriving in Sheldon’s skilled voice shift between the limited perceptions of today’s western mindset, and the intriguing expanse of that remote, other time.
Charlie Sheldon’s Strong Heart would appeal to young adult readers as well as mature readers who enjoy an element of magical realism, but who do not seek the fantasy genre. Due to the violent events that Sarah, as Strong Heart, encounters as she travels with early humans northward by icy seas, the gory realities of human survival are explicit. Yet, because it is a novel that makes the dream world seem more real than the waking one, the novel Strong Heart would appeal to spiritual seekers and new age readers as well.
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Charlie Sheldon’s novel, Strong Heart takes its reader into two separately viable worlds, beginning in the present day of Washington state’s Olympic National Park, when a fractured family uncomfortably reunites while embarking on a backpacking mission. This steady yet challenging journey is taken on by middle aged Haida Tribe Indians whose love for their heritage and the realms of the Olympic Peninsula defies their various physical struggles due to age and lack of fitness. On the night before the trip, during a heavy rainstorm, a heretofore unknown granddaughter, Sarah arrives on the doorstep of Tom, the unsuspecting grandfather in this group, forcing them to make room for her on their pilgrimage to Tom’s grandfather’s unsanctified burial site in the Olympics from many years ago. With Sarah’s clear teen angst, and mixed feelings all around, a sacred object of profound age is also taken along with the group to be returned to the burial site. Its presence invites its destruction from county commissioners who want mining access to areas of the Olympic peninsula, while it forms the link to a second world. This other ancient dimension places Sarah into a human cargo of potential brides, forcing her to travel with a group of the earliest humans in a significant past life world, where she comes to earn the name "Strong Heart."
If a genre of literature could combine magical realism with the Pacific Northwest’s archaeological evidence of ancient peoples predating Judeo-Christian explanations of human life by thousands of years, Strong Heart is a prime example of its potential. The other-worldly voice of Sarah, aka "Strong Heart" in this other world, recounting her part in an ancient predicament of human survival during a time on earth where humanity barely survives itself, amid mammoths, short faced bears, and predatory creatures akin to dinosaurs in their might, is both enthralling and yet terrifyingly familiar. The story’s present-day building toward the compelling saga of Strong Heart cannot be anticipated until the reader is dropped into it, and like Strong Heart herself is no longer Sarah, the story shifts away from any sort of westernized narrative that a reader is to expect. Like the sudden cracking of ice while walking on a frozen lake would mean a shocking dunk into the cold water beneath, Strong Heart's (Sarah's) violence ridden narrative alerts the reader to the massive conflicts of survival that have no resolution in the distant future of westernized thinking.
The mixing of the two worlds unfortunately presents a conflict in Sheldon’s portrayal of the present-day characters around Sarah as they argue and cajole, because they are weakened by a tendency to dialogue in overly bookish explanations of historical context. One can’t help feeling that Sheldon wanted to be certain that today’s audience would be assured of the archaeological facts surrounding the allegations of the ancient world which Sarah has momentarily disappeared into. The importance of Sarah's mystical visit to the harsh conditions of early humans however does not need textbook accountability. In fact, the ancient world narrative of Sarah as Strong Heart is more convincing and authentic than the modern portrayal of her moody teenage complaints and tendency to sullenly retreat into her sketchbook. The modern-day characters just do not match the vibrancy of the early humans portrayed in the canoe of Strong Heart’s journey through this ancient other world.
I would rate Sheldon’s Strong Heart 3 out of 4 stars. Perhaps the ensuing sequels will show a deepening of some rather flat present-day characters, but to earn a four star review, hope for future character dimension is not enough. However, I greatly look forward to reading the next book in the series so that I can revisit that second, ancient world so incredibly detailed and thriving in Sheldon’s skilled voice shift between the limited perceptions of today’s western mindset, and the intriguing expanse of that remote, other time.
Charlie Sheldon’s Strong Heart would appeal to young adult readers as well as mature readers who enjoy an element of magical realism, but who do not seek the fantasy genre. Due to the violent events that Sarah, as Strong Heart, encounters as she travels with early humans northward by icy seas, the gory realities of human survival are explicit. Yet, because it is a novel that makes the dream world seem more real than the waking one, the novel Strong Heart would appeal to spiritual seekers and new age readers as well.
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
