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| Losing Heart |
Name: Losing Heart
Author: Donna Brown
Year: 2014
Genre: Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Novella
For this week's review, I am reviewing the recently published psychological thriller, Losing Heart, by Donna Brown.
Plot
The story begins with Helen, a 45-year-old wife and mother who is awaiting a new heart after being diagnosed with heart failure. Fortunately, a donor is found after a 20-year-old woman called Sylvia tragically dies in a car accident.
A few months later, Helen has the new heart and we learn she is trapped in a loveless marriage with her husband Tom, who cannot get over her earlier bitterness whilst waiting for the new heart. Whilst having a routine check up with her doctor, Jack Meadon, she ends up meeting him for drinks and begins a passionate love affair.
At the same time we learn the mother of the daughter who died, Marion Chambers, wants to meet the person who received her daughter's heart and it soon becomes clear their is more to her than meets the eye and entering into a friendship with her could be a costly mistake...
Thoughts
Overall, my favourite aspect of Losing Heart was the very simple but effective setup revolving around the donor register. For a thriller, this is a very simple, easy-to-understand starting point for many readers and is different to some of the usual starting points for thrillers seen elsewhere. This simple set-up I also think gives the book an easy pick-up and continue reading aspect for people who may need to leave it for a little while.
The book moves along at a very fast pace - one of the fastest I have seen for a thriller novel (for instance, all of the events I have written in my synopsis above take place in the first three chapters alone) and the fact it is a novella means the book reaches it's conclusion very quickly. This combined with the simple premise probably makes it a good book choice for people with little time for reading, or for people who haven't read anything for a while and they need something short and satisfying to get back into reading.
The book is also very involving and stirs in the reader many different emotions which can be related too. Helen starts life as a very bitter character awaiting a heart which many readers probably would imagine themselves feeling when they are on a waiting list for what is essentially the chance to live again. She then also develops this glowing rejuvenation at being alive again and feelings of love and hope towards Jack which again can be related too.
The most absorbing part for me though is when Marion is first introduced and Helen has a range of emotions initially. From developing a fear of her (which we later learn is pretty much justified) to feeling guilty at the fact she is scared of Marion and the fact she can live on at her daughter's expense. These are very challenging emotions which the reader cannot help but feel along with Helen.
My only criticism of the book comes from the fact it is a novella. This means the book moves along at a very fast pace and I have to admit sometimes the book moved a little bit too quickly for me. There is little doubt this makes the book entertaining but on a couple of occasions I felt the plot twists were a bit too sudden - especially in the earlier chapters before the book develops a focus on Marian. From a personal perspective I would have liked the book to have been a little longer as I felt this would have developed the characters and story a little bit more than they are which may have lent the plot twists a bigger impact.
Verdict:
A very entertaining thriller which I think is great for people who haven't read anything for a while but the searing pace of the book made me feel as though the twists were a little too sudden.
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| A Christmas Carol |
Title: A Christmas Carol
Author: Charles Dickens
Year: 1843
Genre: Novella, Parable, Fantasy
Now that the Christmas season is almost upon us, I decided to get myself into the Christmas spirit by reading probably the most famous festive story after the Nativity, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Plot
For those who have never read the novel or seen any of the numerous film adaptions - the story begins on Christmas Eve where we meet the character Ebeneezer Scrooge who is still working away on his business, called Scrooge and Marley, by himself after his partner, Jacob Marley, passed away some years ago. Scrooge is to all intents and purposes, a miserable old git - even turning down the offer of making a donation to charity with the mere comment that the workhouses are there to help people in need and he dismisses the thought of spending Christmas with his nephew with the now iconic "Bah, Humbug!"
After he closes his business, Scrooge heads home where he gets the shock of his life through a ghostly encounter with Marley, who forewarns him that he will soon meet three spirits who aim to change his outlook on Christmas and his life over the night. At first Scrooge is skeptical and goes to sleep but at one in the morning, as Marley forewarned, the Ghost of Christmas Past appears to remind Scrooge of Christmases he once experienced in years gone by. back when he enjoyed Christmas.
Next, Scrooge encounters the Ghost of Christmas Present who takes him around Victorian London so he can see what Christmas is like for people in the city, including his clerk's family where Scrooge is saddened to learn of his employee's son, Tiny Tim, who cannot walk but still has a vibrant outlook on life.
The last spirit however, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, provides Scrooge with a window to an horrific future Christmas unless he changes his ways. Will the spirits do enough to make Scrooge change his mind?
Thoughts
In comparison to other books I have reviewed, it is a bit trickier for me to actually review this one, given that the story has now become a quintessential Christmas classic.
Firstly, the book is extremely short, with only 120 pages but is still a wonderful Christmas story. Scrooge is plainly a miser and I liked how in the novel he has a much colder and darker side to his persona than he has on movie adaptions, which makes the overall plot feel more believable as Scrooge experiences each successive spirit and begins to question his outlook on life.
Also, it can be seen Dickens was trying to make a social comment on the world he was living in which is made very strongly, despite A Christmas Carol being one of his shorter stories, where poorer people had to suffer in the unpleasant workhouses whilst those who were rich often did nothing about it, no matter how wrong it was (a problem which arguably is still an issue today).
It is obvious this is one of Dickens' most inventive and imaginative stories from a plot perspective compared to his more gritty, realistic plots in his longer novels but it works to create a magical fairytale as Scrooge encounters each spirit. My particular favorite is probable the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come because the book here is at it's darkest and had the biggest impact on me personally as a reader.
Probably, my only issue with the book is probably not to do with the book itself but more to do with the huge amount of adaptions for it, on the cinema screen in particular. Also, the fact the book has become a Christmas classic means most people who read it know already what will happen in the novel before even getting to the end. However, it is still great to go back to Dickens' original work and access the story from the original storyteller's eyes.
Verdict:
Overall, the book is still a Christmas classic - even if you have seen one of the many movie adaptions don't be afraid to give the original version a go as it is still really enjoyable today.
