Hi, all:
I know there is nothing new, and some aspects of this book might sound familiar, but this is one of those books I am sure I’ll always remember, not only because of the story but also for the writing.
Shark Heart. A Love Story by Emily Habeck.
A gorgeous debut novel of marriage, motherhood, metamorphosis, and letting go.
This intergenerational love story begins with newlyweds Wren and her husband, Lewis—a man who, over the course of nine months, transforms into a great white shark.
For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect, but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist’s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams.
At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis’ developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with a college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds.
Woven throughout this bold novel is the story of Wren’s mother, Angela, who becomes pregnant with Wren at fifteen in an abusive relationship amidst her parents’ crumbling marriage. In the present, all of Wren’s grief eventually collides, and she is forced to make an impossible choice.
A sweeping love story that is at once lyrical and funny, airy and visceral, Shark Heart is an unforgettable novel about life’s perennial questions, the fragility of memories, finding joy amidst grief, and creating a meaningful life. This daring debut marks the arrival of a wildly talented new writer abounding with originality, humour, and heart.
About the author:
Emily Habeck has a BFA in theater from SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts as well as master’s degrees from Vanderbilt Divinity School and Vanderbilt’s Peabody College. She grew up in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Shark Heart is her first novel.
My review:
I thank NetGalley and Quercus Books/Jo Fletcher Books for providing me with an ARC copy of this book, which I freely chose to review.
Let me start by saying that this is not a book for everyone (I’m not sure there are many, if any, of those, but this one definitely isn’t). It is a love story, or several love stories (depending on our definition of love), and it does require a large dose of suspension of disbelief. I think it would fit into a definition of Magic Realism. The world in which the story takes place seems pretty close to the world we live in, but some of the things that happen are quite extraordinary. Some people suffer from rare genetic conditions that cause them to mutate into animals. Lewis, an actor who became a drama teacher but still dreams of making it in the theatre, meets Wren, quite by chance, and although (or because) they are polar opposites (she is an accountant, likes order and practical things, and has always tried to go unnoticed), they fall in love and marry. Shortly after, Lewis notices some strange changes in his body, Wren insists that he goes to the doctor, and he gets an earth-shattering diagnosis. The rest of part one chronicles the changes in Lewis, the process of his transformation, and the attempts they both make to keep their relationship going against all odds.
Part two is dedicated to Angela, Wren’s mother, who got pregnant at 15, was in a violent relationship with Wren’s father, and was later diagnosed with another animal mutation, a pretty slow one in that case, but one that affected Wren’s childhood and coloured her personality.
Part 3 follows Lewis’s life as a white shark, his meeting another human who had also turned into a shark, and what happens next.
The book ends with an epilogue where we meet Wren again and see how her life has changed, and we discover that in spite of everything, life carries on, and it can be magical again.
The plot is extraordinary, evidently, but the way the story is told is also quite special. There are parts of the story written as a play (with the names and descriptions of the characters, setting, and dialogues), and those might, or might not, be part of the play Lewis was writing before he turned into a shark. The rest of the story is written in the third person, from different points of view (sometimes Lewis, sometimes Wren, sometimes Angela…), and it is beautiful, moving, touching, at times funny, at times sad, and, if you connect with the story, it will likely make you feel a full gamut of emotions. The publishing director introduces the book by saying that editors have a rule, if a book makes you cry, you should buy it. And this one did. I must admit I was also teary in parts (especially the parts about Angela and Wren), I laughed out loud in others, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
I loved the book and the story as such, although it is quite possible to read it as an allegory (we can all think of illnesses that turn people into somebody completely different, and we all have dreams and might experience many different lives and changes), but that is up to each reader to decide.
I won’t try and dissect the magic. I will simply recommend the book to anybody happy to give it a go, and not too worried about stories that push the boundaries of possibility. I am sure we’ll hear more about this author because this is an impressive and powerful debut novel. Go on, give it a try.
A few samples of the writing for those who like to have a little taste:
The surface of love was a feeling, but beyond this thin layer, there was a fathomless, winding maze of caverns offering many places to see and explore.
Feelings fled under pressure; feelings did not light the darkness. What remained strong in the deep, the hard times, was love as an effort, a doing, a conscious act of will. Soulmates, like her and Lewis, were not theoretical and found. They were tangible, built.
Maybe life has no ceiling, no floors, no walls, and we’re free-falling from the moment we’re born, lying to each other, agreeing to make invented ideas important, to numb ourselves from the secret.
So, maybe love wasn’t an unwieldy accessory in times of peril. Maybe it was the key to survival.
The world is a big and small place, and life, a terrifying and sublime journey.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for such a wonderful book, thanks to all of you for visiting my blog, reading, sharing, and commenting, and, please, remember to keep smiling and dreaming.