Review by alt211 -- Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon

amandathebibliophile · Post by **amandathebibliophile** » 06 May 2018, 15:41

[Following is a volunteer review of "Strong Heart" by Charlie Sheldon.]

4 out of 4 stars

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Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon is one of the best books I have read in a long time! I chose the story to read because being adventurous myself, I liked the outdoorsy and rugged seeming theme. From start to finish, I couldn’t put the book down. It was SO engrossing and thought provoking: it got me thinking about who we are as human beings and the footprints we are making here on Earth. These aren’t comments I make lightly either! I was simply that impressed.

The story begins when a defiant young girl, Sarah, is dropped off without notice at the home of her grandfather, Tom. Tom knows nothing about her and this is the first time they are meeting. He is getting ready to go on a pilgrimage to pay respects to his deceased grandfather deep in the Olympic Peninsula with his dear friends, William “Walleye” and daughter, Myra. But now with Sarah abruptly thrown into their party, they feel they have no choice but to bring her along.

They head into the mountains and right away run into an ominous group of men who turn out to be surveyors for a company called Buckhorn, a powerful organization that is trying to develop ancient lands near and dear to all of these characters’ hearts. On the trek, a number of fascinating stories are told. For one, we learn about Tom and his relationship with his grandfather, Bob-Bob, the man whose grave they were planning to visit on this trek into the Olympic Peninsula. We also learn about an ancient artifact associated with Bob-Bob. This atlatl, or spear thrower, becomes an important part of the story.

As it turns out, Sarah is a defiant 13 year old. She is also a talented artist who connects with Myra the more they get to know each other. At one point, Sarah claims to have seen a short faced bear. Tom doesn’t believe her because these animals have been extinct for thousands of years, but her drawing is uncanny. Then, after a confrontation with Tom, Sarah disappears in the wilderness. In her anger, she leaves camp with the atlatl in hand. She goes missing for eight days. During this time, a huge manhunt ensues - helicopters and all. But no trace of Sarah is found. It isn’t until they have almost given up when she mysteriously appears in the pouring rain. She is missing a finger, covered in cuts and bruises, and is minus the artifact.

But she did return with a tale. And this tale goes on for many, many chapters. It’s a tale of Sarah’s experience during the eight days she was missing, and it’s so fantastical that one finds oneself believing it. It’s a tale of long ago. It’s a tale of possibly the first humans on Earth. It’s a tale of survival on the open waters near the Bering Strait. It’s a poetic tale and I found it very compelling. Though at first, I admittedly found this narrative switch a little disconcerting. However, I soon got used to it and in fact, I was so hooked on Sarah's narrative, I couldn’t decide which story I loved more: the one of the present day or that of the ancient day.

By about halfway through the book, the reader has travelled back in time from the tale through Sarah’s eyes and is now back in the present day, dealing with the fallout of having lost a 13 year old in the mountains for over a week. It seems Tom will not get to keep his granddaughter, and Sarah is exhibiting strange behavior at her other grandmother’s home. Buckhorn plays a bigger role in this section, and the reader more or less learns about its plans to exploit the land for profit. Also, William meets up with his dear friend, Alec and son, Sergei. These men are Russian and scientists (though Alec calls himself a hobbyist) - both details that figure well into the plausibility in Sarah’s “eight day adventure,” and help the reader to connect the scientific dots, as it were. After all, a major thread running through this tale seems to be uncovering the origins of humankind.

Strong Heart begins in May, and by August, they are heading back into the mountains to resolve the many mysteries at hand: to recover the missing artifact and determine its possible role in the history of humankind, to hear the rest of Sarah’s “eight day adventure” (always in quotations, because the reader suspects her tale is far longer than the eight days she was missing in present day), and to mend relationships.

As I was approaching the end of the story, I kept wondering how the author was going to resolve all of the plot details. I felt there were so many long (and worth reading!) stories that could easily stem from the main tree trunk of the story. Let’s just say that I was not disappointed. The questions I was left with in the end were the ones I believe the author intended: greater questions about our place in the world and the traces we leave behind after we are gone. Questions about who we are as people. When I closed the last page, I felt very thoughtful and satisfied with the story I had just read. If you want to read a beautiful fiction story that is compelling enough for you to consider being true, and if you want to read about it in lovely and descriptive language that will transport you to the Pacific Northwoods, then I very highly recommend Strong Heart, by Charlie Sheldon. I give this book a resounding 4 out of 4 stars.

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Strong Heart
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