Review by apulliam -- Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
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apulliam
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Review by apulliam -- 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, chronicles the struggles of four people, brought together by a common goal and one girl’s personal journey. Tom, William, and Myra, having planned a hike through the wilderness of the Olympic Peninsula to visit the grave of Tom’s grandfather, realize a change of plans when young Sarah unexpectedly enters Tom’s life. What begins as a trip to honor his grandfather’s memory and visit a land soon to be forever altered by the mining company, Buckhorn, ends in a joining of forces and a new respect for the Native American legends and for one another.
Charlie Sheldon wastes no time introducing strife. As a reader, I more than appreciate that tactic. There is no introductory chapter setting the scene and leading, slowly but surely, to the source of the characters’ conflict. He jumps right in. Between the vivid character descriptions and the clearly-drawn lines between Tom and Sarah in the first few paragraphs of this story, the reader is drawn into the plot almost immediately.
Sheldon provides a nice mix of traits between the four main characters. The balance between stubbornness and flexibility is evident and varies among the four as the story advances toward the climax. Tom, a man who lost his grandfather and mentor 45 years earlier, is just crotchety enough to still be lovable. A wide range of readers will relate to Sarah and Tom’s relationship while others sympathize with Myra’s struggle to cope with Sergei later in the story. William’s physical obstacles pulled at this reader’s heartstrings.
I enjoyed the fantasy-meets-history aspect of Strong Heart. Sheldon manages to include little, strategically-placed mysteries throughout the plot. He essentially gives readers a history lesson in the form of spirited debates between his characters. Sarah’s story, too sharp in its details to be fictitious, made me second guess my own second guesses as I read. I found Myra’s words, “This is a land of magic, history, and legend. A place of myth, ancient stories, ancient people,” to ring true. Sheldon has offered up version of history peppered with mystery that will appeal to a wide range of readers and fits into multiple genres.
I give Strong Heart a solid 3 out of 4 stars. Striking details and meaningful content permeate Sheldon’s work. Just shy of being a 4, I have to rate it a 3. Two different times in the book, Sheldon gives us Sarah with a first-person account of her experiences. While interesting, the tales retold by Sarah were intricately woven and, at times, difficult to follow. I found the large number of characters in a small number of pages to be distracting.
As I read, I tried to settle on a demographic I could see this book suiting. I wasn’t able to place it in one neat slot. In the end, I realized Sheldon has successfully appealed to adults as well as teens and has, without a doubt, captured the attention of readers interested in Native American history. Strong Heart features a story within a story and is one of the most detailed of this type that I have read.
******
Strong Heart
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3 out of 4 stars
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Strong Heart, by Charlie Sheldon, chronicles the struggles of four people, brought together by a common goal and one girl’s personal journey. Tom, William, and Myra, having planned a hike through the wilderness of the Olympic Peninsula to visit the grave of Tom’s grandfather, realize a change of plans when young Sarah unexpectedly enters Tom’s life. What begins as a trip to honor his grandfather’s memory and visit a land soon to be forever altered by the mining company, Buckhorn, ends in a joining of forces and a new respect for the Native American legends and for one another.
Charlie Sheldon wastes no time introducing strife. As a reader, I more than appreciate that tactic. There is no introductory chapter setting the scene and leading, slowly but surely, to the source of the characters’ conflict. He jumps right in. Between the vivid character descriptions and the clearly-drawn lines between Tom and Sarah in the first few paragraphs of this story, the reader is drawn into the plot almost immediately.
Sheldon provides a nice mix of traits between the four main characters. The balance between stubbornness and flexibility is evident and varies among the four as the story advances toward the climax. Tom, a man who lost his grandfather and mentor 45 years earlier, is just crotchety enough to still be lovable. A wide range of readers will relate to Sarah and Tom’s relationship while others sympathize with Myra’s struggle to cope with Sergei later in the story. William’s physical obstacles pulled at this reader’s heartstrings.
I enjoyed the fantasy-meets-history aspect of Strong Heart. Sheldon manages to include little, strategically-placed mysteries throughout the plot. He essentially gives readers a history lesson in the form of spirited debates between his characters. Sarah’s story, too sharp in its details to be fictitious, made me second guess my own second guesses as I read. I found Myra’s words, “This is a land of magic, history, and legend. A place of myth, ancient stories, ancient people,” to ring true. Sheldon has offered up version of history peppered with mystery that will appeal to a wide range of readers and fits into multiple genres.
I give Strong Heart a solid 3 out of 4 stars. Striking details and meaningful content permeate Sheldon’s work. Just shy of being a 4, I have to rate it a 3. Two different times in the book, Sheldon gives us Sarah with a first-person account of her experiences. While interesting, the tales retold by Sarah were intricately woven and, at times, difficult to follow. I found the large number of characters in a small number of pages to be distracting.
As I read, I tried to settle on a demographic I could see this book suiting. I wasn’t able to place it in one neat slot. In the end, I realized Sheldon has successfully appealed to adults as well as teens and has, without a doubt, captured the attention of readers interested in Native American history. Strong Heart features a story within a story and is one of the most detailed of this type that I have read.
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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