A Hole in the Heart

by Christopher Marquis

Book Overview

"Midafternoon on a Tuesday, it occurred to Bean Jessup that she was forgetting her husband's face." So begins this smart and charmingly written debut novel about a young woman trying to start over amid the grandeur of the Alaskan landscape and the creaky confines of an isolated fishing village and its relentless and pungent salmon cannery. "A Hole in the Heart is the story of what happens when Bean arrives after accepting a last-minute elementary-school-teaching...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031230630X
• ISBN13: 9780312306304
• Release Date: August 2003
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 341 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A lovely book...

Some books, even if you like them, make you impatient for their end so you can go on to something else. This is because they are merely good, and not lovely. A Hole In The Heart is lovely, a book to savor. And Bean Jessup is a character to savor; flawed and hurt by life, but human like the rest of us with her own measured portions of hope and insight. As for the prose, I love it when a writer can stun you with a plain phrase, as opposed to extorting admiration through complication. Chris Marquis draws you in with his lovely readable sentences, then stuns you with, for example (not the best example, either, but just the first one retrieved): "She remembered coming home from school and slapping the rope swing dangling from the elm so that it convulsed wildly over a dirt path she had scuffed with her feet." Here he has grounded you in the action, revealed the character and a bit of her past, stunned you with his accuracy.

Wonderful story of a woman struggling with loss and life

In some ways, this book reminded me of "The Dive from Clausen's Pier": both books feature a female protagonist struggling to find herself after her relationship comes to a tragic end. When I read the former, however, I never connected with the main character, Carrie, who I couldn't help but to consider pathetic. The main character of this book, Bean, certainly has aspects of her life that could also be considered pathetic, but somehow, I related more easily to her behavior (eg, lying in bed eating Ben & Jerry's when her husband was away) than I could to the more amorphous actions of Carrie. Bean comes across as extremely real, from her ambivalence toward the various people in her life to her earnest search for direction and meaning. Here is a lost soul who you really root for; you want to see Bean triumph in the end. While the conclusion of the book isn't exactly uplifting--the author resists the ever-present temptation to tie everything up neatly--as you come to the end of Bean's story, you can easily imagine that she is on the path to a brighter future. A well-written, wonderful detailed, and refreshingly original work.

WOW!!

I just happened to pick this book up at the airport and absolutely loved it. I read it slowly so I could linger over the characters. No one I know has heard of it, but I think I've discovered a gem. The book is so vivid I constantly daydreamed of a movie being made from the novel...who would play the parts? What more to say? This is, without a doubt, one of the best books I've read in a long time. I found myself laughing out loud and a few paragraphs later had tears in my eyes. The writing flows so smoothly it's hard to put down. I think this one is going to be big.

I didn't want it to end!

I just loved this book and found it hard to put down. It's a beautifully told story of a young woman who had the courage to rebuild her life after a tragedy leaves her wondering what to do next. I'm so glad I purchased this book because I felt that the author had really created characters that were real and I could relate to. Marquis is an awesome writer who immediately captures your imagination and carries you along from start to finish. His perceptive understanding of the perils of living and loving will resonate with anyone. Don't miss this gem!

An incredible debut

I purchased this book on the advice of my local book store and was thrilled by it. Not only is it incredibly well-written, but the story draws you in right away and doesn't let you go. It's funny, sad and incredibly insightful all in one. I recommend it for anyone looking for a story that will leave you moved.