Shark Heart: A Love Story


Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
9
Narrator
2
Release Date
August 8, 2023
Duration
7 hours 47 minutes
Summary
A New York Times Editors’ Choice
A USA TODAY Bestseller
A Booklist Editor’s Choice
A Goodreads Choice Award Nominee
A Massachusetts Book Awards Fiction Honors Selection
Shortlisted for the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize

A “beautifully written” (Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of All the Light We Cannot See) 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’s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with her college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds. Woven throughout this “heart-wringing” (Adam Roberts, internationally bestselling author of Salt) 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, gorgeous 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, humor, and heart.
Reviews
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Stacey L.

It wasn’t the worst book I’ve read, it’s probably closer to 2.5. I personally think the high rating was from the second half of the book, it really was the saving grace. Overall I just didn’t connect to it much part of it is due to my distaste for sci-fi and romance and the other was I wasn’t crazy about how the author went about their story. *side note I did want to interject and include it’s not heavy in romance or its not like a Harley Quinn romance or a skirt book- which I did appreciate. I can take that level of romance * I had my own assumptions based on the genres and the author went about it a lot different then I thought it would be. And the authors choice isn’t something I cared for I felt in general very indifferent or out of touch from the book like it didn’t garner any emotions until the Angela story line. I heavily sympathize with her and felt more attached to her then I did the rest of the characters, at least until then end. I also liked her love plot with George way more too The book had a weird start You jump in when the relationship is developed and you go backwards into each character past and how they came to be. But the way it went about bounced not only through pov but through timeline as well I had no attachment to main reaction ship of wren and Lewis. Possibly because how the author decision to deconstructing the relationship versus building. I also didn’t think they mesh well. I think they like the idea of each other more and even if the disease wasn’t a thing they would not have lasted since it seemed like they weren’t in the same page. Speaking of the flashbacks I wasn’t sure why it was occurring until mid way when I realized the truth behind wren trauma. For the most part the characters of wren and Lewis were not impressionable. I thought Lewis was a little foolish and it wasn’t until Ends that I started to like wren. Truthfully if the book was rearranged I’d probably like it more

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Jill K.

Still a little surprised that I could love a book so much when it’s about a guy who turns into a shark. But it’s a great story!

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