Was there a lack of Sarah's perspective?

Discuss the October 2017 Book of the Month, Strong Heart by Charlie Sheldon.

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Re: Was there a lack of Sarah's perspective?

Post by jhollan2 »

I think there was. The most we get of her perspective is when she is someone else. I didn't feel like there was much character development for any of them, except maybe Tom,who I found to be an odd focus for the story. He was who we heard the most from and he was the least important character, in my opinion.
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Post by jonaya »

Post Number:#1
I feel the same and it was like she was un amateur in the woods unlike in the first place where she could do things on her own
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Post by Arushi Singh »

I feel like that character was extensively explored. There could've been more, but the novel focussed on Sarah well.
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Post by Javier Campos »

I felt there was a lack of Sarah, yes, but the story is more about what is happening around them and less about how they feel about it so I think it's okay. I wish there had been more Sarah-moments thought.
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Post by onixpam »

The book was mainly about her, and her perspective was not really necessary for the plot, but her point of view would have been an improvement.
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Post by VictoriaMcMillen »

I believe the lack of her perspective, in a way, was realism. A young, teenage girl does not readily expose her emotions to strangers. She did just meet all of them for the first time before she went missing. I believe the somewhat traumatic experience, of getting lost and going on a spiritual journey, may have also caused a great deal of silence on her part. Indicative of trauma, the victim's brain has a great deal to process and make sense of, she may not have much to say until she has processed enough to better express herself. I believe it also opens up for anticipation for the next novel, to see how much she becomes Strong Heart. Good, thought-provoking question.
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Post by KLafser »

I don't know if it would have added to this story, but I also wanted more from Sarah's point of view. I do think not knowing her so much here allowed the reader to kind of buy her rendition of the days lost without trying to assimilate it to the character. I hope that if this book does become a series we get more of her.
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Post by Van112 »

Salsabila wrote: 07 Oct 2017, 07:22
BoyLazy wrote:
Amagine wrote:I don't really think it was imperative to have her POV especially since the book was so heavily about her.
exactly she overshadowed the other characters.
I argue that her POV is very much important since she is the main character in the story. Had the story been in first person we might have delved deeper into Sarah's mind and understood her at a more deeper level.
I agree with you on this. I think having Sarah's POV would have helped us understand her more. Yeah the book is so much about her but it was told in a different view so we didn't really get a good view of her thoughts about everything that has actually happened in the story. And since it revolved around her, it would have been really nice.
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Post by Kibet Hillary »

She may have little to say from her own point of view but then the book mainly revolves around her and from this we can draw a couple of lessons about life from her and how she has been handling situations in her life.
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Post by 10mile72 »

Her perspective had to be inferred, but I think it was adequately represented.
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Post by Radhika_puri »

Sarah’s perspective was their throughout the story and I think for me it was more than enough to know what is going through Sarah’s mind.
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Post by Ebby Brown »

I think her perspective was average throughout the book. I would want to know more from her side.
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Post by Sarah Schmidt »

I would have liked more on Sarah, true. The number of other characters probably made including more about Sarah a little illogical, however. Her recounting of her journey didn't leave much room for more about Sarah herself.
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Post by CozyBookCorner »

If there had been more perspective from her I think I would have felt happier about the character development. As it was the characters were a bit flat, even Sarah.
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Post by Asja Šabani »

Absolutely, we lacked Sarah's perspective. Actually, we don't get to know how any of the characters feel (except that Will's feet hurt).
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