3 out of 4 stars
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Strong Heart, written by Charlie Sheldon, tells the story of a young, sullen teenage girl and her experiences with the culture of the Native American people.
The story begins with Tom, William, and Myra, who are planning to embark on a long trip across the Olympic Peninsula to visit the grave of Tom’s grandfather. However, a knock on the door of their house reveals Ruth, Tom’s ex-wife, and Sarah, a sullen, grumpy teenager. Ruth tells Tom that Sarah is his granddaughter and that he is now responsible for looking after her, and abruptly leaves, never to be seen again. With very few options available to him, Tom reluctantly brings Sarah with him and his friends across the peninsula, where she immediately begins to wander off. She returns with a drawing of a short-faced bear that she claims she saw, but nobody believes her tale, as the bear she drew has been extinct for thousands of years. Shortly afterwards, she goes missing from the group, and when she returns, she is badly injured and exhausted. However, she returns with a tale about her adventures with an ancient group of Native Americans that will forever change her and the beliefs that she and her new family hold dear.
Overall, I enjoyed following Sarah and her newfound family as they explored the Olympic Peninsula. The author’s writing style provided a lot of detail about the landscape and the places the characters travelled, and the beautiful descriptions of the wilderness definitely helped me connect more with the story. The story started off slow, which made it difficult to get invested in at first. However, as the story goes on, it slowly reveals a very compelling narrative, and I genuinely did not know where the plot would go in some parts. I personally enjoy books that stray away from the predictable routes in order to keep you guessing, and this book did not disappoint in piquing my curiousity.
The story reveals a second plotline about a third of the way through, where we follow the character of Strong Heart and her travels across the water and land. I enjoyed this story just as much as the primary story of the book. The journey of Strong Heart and her fellow Native Americans, as well as all the challenges they face due to their harsh environment, was very compelling and kept me interested from beginning to end. This plotline also helps greatly with contributing to the theme of mysticism, because everything about the Native American culture in this plot, from the society’s naming conventions to the lore and beliefs that drive the characters, is established excellently.
One flaw that Strong Heart has is its lack of characterization in the case of some of the main characters. William and Tom especially suffer from this, as they ended up being completely unmemorable to me, and I even found myself confusing the two of them while I was reading. Myra also starts out as a weaker character, and it especially annoyed me at the beginning that the other characters around her explained her personality traits, rather than the author showing us her personality traits through her actions. However, she improves drastically once the character of Sergei joins the team. I liked the feud that the two of these characters had, with Myra’s strong belief in her ancestors contrasting with Sergei’s belief in science and hard evidence as the two of them argue over how long the Native Americans had lived in the region. Both of the characters have very valid reasons for believing what they do, which I found very compelling. However, beyond Myra, Sarah, and Sergei, most of the other characters in this book are not very compelling. I feel like the story could have benefitted from an extra chapter in the beginning where the characters of William, Tom, and Myra, as well as the pride they all hold in their heritage, are better established before Sarah is thrust into their hands.
I also did not care for the ending of this story. The book end so abruptly that I swore I had accidentally skipped a chapter during my first read. The last few chapters felt like they were building up to something important in the narrative, where the characters would say something or do something that would tie together the story’s loose ends and end the book on a positive note. I had especially hoped that Sarah and Tom would have one final moment that cemented how much the two characters had come to understand and love each other throughout the course of the story. However, the actual ending of the book was very abrupt, and, though the story seemed like it was attempting to create this last bonding moment between the two characters, I do not believe it succeeded.
I rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars. This book truly has an interesting narrative and style to it, with a story that kept me invested most of the time. However, I could not overlook the characterization problems or the rough beginning and ending that it had. I would recommend this book for teenagers and adults, since portions of the story do get a bit too violent for children. Readers who enjoy stories about ancient civilizations, mysticism, and nature will definitely enjoy Strong Heart, as these are some of the strongest themes within the narrative.
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Strong Heart
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