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Summary: Risky, Charming, Heart-stopping, and Ultimately Triumphant
Review: Having once been in the circus, I love watching writers take daring risks. "The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud" is a high-wire act of the most exciting kind: bold, mesmerizing, lump-in-the-throat exciting, a tad scary, and ultimately very American. Ben Sherwood sucks you in immediately with a charming tale where nothing is quite what it seems, tragedy is waiting just around the corner, and love triumphs when you least expect it. Who would begin a book with pain? Well, lots of people! Like "Lovely Bones" and "Five People You Meet In Heaven," great writers seem to have the ability to make us go through an unspeakable calamity in order to find a transcendent path to hope. There are lots of surprises here: baseball games you can't quite believe; sailing races that hold your breath, lots of quirky details about cemeteries (Edgar Allan Poe!), and great food. My wife fell in love with Charlie; I liked Tess. It only took each of us a day to read it; we haven't stopped talking about it since.
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Summary: Sherwood strikes again...somehow, someway...
Review: I love Ben Sherwood. I admit that upfront. He is a wonderful writer and "The Man who Ate the 747" is one of my favorite books. That spirit of wonder and love has not left the quill (I doubt he actually writes with a quill, but so what?). Charlie St. Cloud is a tougher read in that it deals so openly with death, loss, and well, it is set in a cemetary. I finished the book in tears (as usual with this writer) and cried a couple of other times. I read the book in just two sittings. Sherwood's style is deceptively simple (he does have an impressive vocabulary however). What amazes is that this kind of story--with life, death, the afterlife, etc...is so deftly pulled off. It largely avoids being maudolin or cliched. It is something of a miracle that this story works so beautifully. In the hands of someone else, it might not. Sherwood is so upbeat about life and I wish more of us had his optimism and understanding. His stories are very special. This is the kind of book that you may read again and again, especially after a tragedy. I loved Ferrio too and how he connects the main characters.Another note, if you read the source notes and afterward, you learn more interesting things. For example, as with "747" the locations in the book are real. I love that. It seems that this book will be made into a film and it will work--in the right hands. Nevertheless, the book is almost always better right? The acknowledgements are fascinating...if you are a media geek some names will pop out,a former head of NBC, a top screen writer, an entertainment journalist, and even the creator of Alias and Felicity. This guy has some darned interesting friends. My favorite? The last lines about his family and his wife. Their love story might make a great story too--if he hasn't already put in books.
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Summary: Two words: Cemetery and romance. Mutually exclusive? No.
Review: If you could imagine a deceptively simple story line which explores some of the most complex issues of the human experience, i.e., "what comes next?", and combines it with a wonderful, fabulous romance, then you have some idea of what is in store for you when you read The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud.
I have just finished this amazing book. It is set in my adopted hometown, Marblehead, Massachusetts. The author is Ben Sherwood, who also wrote The Man Who Ate the 747. Ben spent considerable time in Marblehead researching the town for his new book. He has captured, with sensitive and sometimes hilarious accuracy, the flavor of the town and the people of our beloved Marblehead. The names of the townspeople alone are worth the read. This is truly one of the most unique books I have ever read. The romance between Charlie and Tess is improbably wonderful. The relationship between Charlie and his younger (dead) brother is endearing and very thought provoking. A lifelong skeptic, myself, I may have to delve into some of the resources cited in Mr. Sherwood's source notes. I recommend you buy it, read it and enjoy a wonderful trip. I find myself missing Charlie, Tess, Sam and all the unforgettable Marblehead characters. I hope Ben Sherwood is hard at work on his next book!
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