read

"Wren's love was true but methodical, and for the first time in all his life, Lewis felt secure and accepting of his sensitivity and inner turbulence, because Wren loved him just as he was."

This book was both a poetic reflection on grief and loss and deeply weird.

Newlyweds Wren and Lewis struggle with his diagnosis of a mutation that will turn him into a great white shark. At first, I thought the book meant metaphorically, but I soon discovered that no, the book means it literally. Lewis is truly turning into a shark bit by bit, from his bones breaking down into cartilage to growing fins. The timeline meanders through the years, from Wren's early experiences with loss to meeting Lewis and both of their struggles to accept the diagnosis. Both of them struggle to let go of their dreams of a life spent together, and Lewis struggles with the loss of what he hoped to accomplish - both with his drama students and as an actor himself.

Losing someone in a way that you no longer recognize them speaks to many people's experiences with dementia or other illnesses. I think the author used the animal mutation as a device to make her reflections on these experiences lighter and easier to read. It added an uncanny speculative element to an otherwise thoughtful, sensitive and emotional book. ( )

This was a pleasant surprise, an unexpected gem, even. Honestly, I borrowed this because I thought the cover art was striking. I knew nothing* going into it and I think it probably was better this way. I probably would have skipped it had I known more.

Glad for the cold open because this was profoundly weird and wonderful, Impossible and relatable. Pretty sure it'll be one of my top reads this year.

Highly recommended--if you're open to offbeat, give it a chance.

*May be a partial lie. A couple of times, Kendra Adachi also likes weird books and there have been a couple of times that I forget where her newsletter book recos end and my readiscoveries begin. ( )

Exquisite. Brilliant, beautiful, glorious. Exceptional! ( )

It isn't the unique premise that makes this book so good, it's the devastatingly beautiful prose and how it transforms grief into love. Shark Heart isn't evenly written, especially near the end, but it's still simply magical storytelling. ( )