Review by Chitwoody -- Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
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Chitwoody
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- Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
Review by Chitwoody -- Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
[Following is a volunteer review of "Strong Heart" by Charlie Sheldon.]
4 out of 4 stars
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First of all, I want to start my review by saying that I LOVED everything about this book! I give it 4 out of 4 stars, and I honestly cannot think of a single thing that I did not like about it. Charlie Sheldon tells a story within a story, with settings in both the past and the present, and weaves back and forth between the stories and locations seamlessly. The author himself describes this book as “an adventure in magic realism” in an interview given after the book was published, and I don’t think I could give it a better general description.
The modern day portion of Strong Heart portrays a troubled teenage girl as she faces a world made overly complicated by the adults surrounding her, the conflicts (both recent and long-standing) between said adults and volatile political issues surrounding sacred tribal areas in the Pacific Northwest. Anyone who has parented (or closely witnessed the parenting of) a young teenage girl will immediately recognize the attitude and underlying insecurities displayed by Sarah as she is shuffled from one adult family member to another throughout the story. The tug of war between lead character Tom (Sarah’s grandfather), his ex-wife Ruth and her husband Fletcher is almost as painful to the reader as it is to the characters involved (and is definitely my least favorite part of the story, as Fletcher is definitely my least favorite character).
Sarah is introduced when she is dropped off at Tom’s house, during a rain storm, by an exasperated grandmother who couldn’t handle “her drinking, her bad attitude, and the skateboard trash she somehow met”. Five days prior to that, she had shown up at her grandmother’s house without warning (either of her visit or of her existence) because her step father felt she needed “a timeout from the family” while he took an extended trip to Europe. Although initially introduced as a problem child, as the story progresses Sarah reveals herself to be anything but a problem or a child (which is probably my favorite theme of the story). Her mother and biological father had both been dead for years, and until meeting Tom, his Native American friend William and William’s daughter Myra, Sarah had been disappointed by one adult after another in her troubled life.
Sarah’s unexpected arrival interrupted Tom, William and Myra as they were preparing to embark on a 30-plus mile hike into the interior of the Olympic National Park to visit the grave of Tom’s grandfather. The land they were planning to visit had once been a mining claim that belonged in Tom’s family, but was now a part of a controversial land deal between Fletcher and a mining company which was trying to set up operations in the area. Sarah unwillingly goes along on the hike, and ends up taking a trip back through time and stepping into the life of a member of a tribe that was indigenous to the area. The story she tells when she re-emerges into her modern day life calls into question accepted theories regarding both the people and creatures of the region and adds fuel to the fire already burning between the local tribes and pro-industry supporters in the area.
I see this story appealing younger and older readers alike, for different reasons. I was drawn to both the historical side of the story as well as to the way the modern day characters relate to each other. I’m certainly not a geologist, an archaeologist or an anthropologist, so I have no technical background with which to judge the theories discussed by the characters. I can only say that the story was so engrossing and well written that it seems like it could really have happened. Clearly, an extinct bear cannot reappear in present times and lead a girl back through time, but while reading the book I almost forgot that! This “magical” portion of the story is what leads the reader from one setting to another, and I’m not sure how the story would have flowed without it, it blends present and past together so well. Again, I LOVED this book, and cannot wait to see if the author brings the characters back for another book!
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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4 out of 4 stars
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First of all, I want to start my review by saying that I LOVED everything about this book! I give it 4 out of 4 stars, and I honestly cannot think of a single thing that I did not like about it. Charlie Sheldon tells a story within a story, with settings in both the past and the present, and weaves back and forth between the stories and locations seamlessly. The author himself describes this book as “an adventure in magic realism” in an interview given after the book was published, and I don’t think I could give it a better general description.
The modern day portion of Strong Heart portrays a troubled teenage girl as she faces a world made overly complicated by the adults surrounding her, the conflicts (both recent and long-standing) between said adults and volatile political issues surrounding sacred tribal areas in the Pacific Northwest. Anyone who has parented (or closely witnessed the parenting of) a young teenage girl will immediately recognize the attitude and underlying insecurities displayed by Sarah as she is shuffled from one adult family member to another throughout the story. The tug of war between lead character Tom (Sarah’s grandfather), his ex-wife Ruth and her husband Fletcher is almost as painful to the reader as it is to the characters involved (and is definitely my least favorite part of the story, as Fletcher is definitely my least favorite character).
Sarah is introduced when she is dropped off at Tom’s house, during a rain storm, by an exasperated grandmother who couldn’t handle “her drinking, her bad attitude, and the skateboard trash she somehow met”. Five days prior to that, she had shown up at her grandmother’s house without warning (either of her visit or of her existence) because her step father felt she needed “a timeout from the family” while he took an extended trip to Europe. Although initially introduced as a problem child, as the story progresses Sarah reveals herself to be anything but a problem or a child (which is probably my favorite theme of the story). Her mother and biological father had both been dead for years, and until meeting Tom, his Native American friend William and William’s daughter Myra, Sarah had been disappointed by one adult after another in her troubled life.
Sarah’s unexpected arrival interrupted Tom, William and Myra as they were preparing to embark on a 30-plus mile hike into the interior of the Olympic National Park to visit the grave of Tom’s grandfather. The land they were planning to visit had once been a mining claim that belonged in Tom’s family, but was now a part of a controversial land deal between Fletcher and a mining company which was trying to set up operations in the area. Sarah unwillingly goes along on the hike, and ends up taking a trip back through time and stepping into the life of a member of a tribe that was indigenous to the area. The story she tells when she re-emerges into her modern day life calls into question accepted theories regarding both the people and creatures of the region and adds fuel to the fire already burning between the local tribes and pro-industry supporters in the area.
I see this story appealing younger and older readers alike, for different reasons. I was drawn to both the historical side of the story as well as to the way the modern day characters relate to each other. I’m certainly not a geologist, an archaeologist or an anthropologist, so I have no technical background with which to judge the theories discussed by the characters. I can only say that the story was so engrossing and well written that it seems like it could really have happened. Clearly, an extinct bear cannot reappear in present times and lead a girl back through time, but while reading the book I almost forgot that! This “magical” portion of the story is what leads the reader from one setting to another, and I’m not sure how the story would have flowed without it, it blends present and past together so well. Again, I LOVED this book, and cannot wait to see if the author brings the characters back for another book!
******
Strong Heart
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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Latest Review: Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon
