What do You think about Secret Heart (2009)?
I should finish my second reading of this amazing book today.David Almond is one of my favorite authors, and this is one of--if not the top of my list--my favorite novels of his. The emotional tone is simply astounding. And he shows how beautiful writing can be, even without sentence variety. He starts so many sentences with "Noun verb blah blah blah." Normally, this writing style gets old, but in Almond's hands it's nothing short of gorgeous. If you read only one of his books, most should probably sitck with Skellig, but this is the one I'd recommend.THIRD READ:Apparently, I had already read this twice. No wonder it seemed so familiar. However, it's no less beautiful. Almond's words are the best kind of simple: gorgeous and clear. You're never lost. You're never confused. And you're always enchanted.Please, if you haven't read a David Almond book, do yourself a favor and pick one up. You'll be hard pressed to go wrong.
—Chris
I guess I didn't get it.(view spoiler)[It started off with a good premise, but as it went on… I suppose it wasn't my style. The plot is thin-- Joe has to bring the spirit of the tiger into the wilderness? And he can feel the spirits of the animals inside him, especially the tiger./sigh/But. So many things aren't resolved? But maybe that's the point: that Joe exists to bring resolve to the circus and not everything else in his life. But those problems don't just go away… So then what happens? Joe's got a truancy officer breathing down his neck, some creeper gets lost in the woods, that girl's mother is still in Russia. Like.The tiger thing was cool but what about everything else?I'm just way too lost after this book to even write a coherent review.I love Skellig and My Name is Mina, but this one fell short. Just couldn't get onboard with his brand of fantasy in this one or his storytelling. (hide spoiler)]
—Tasia
I couldn't wait to finish this book - didn't get into it at all and didn't feel anything for any of the characters. The main character a lad called Joe lives most of his life inside his own head as in the real life he stammers and not very clever and hasn't many friends. He thinks he catches glimpses of creatures (just out of his eye sight) and feels like he is in another skin at times. A circus comes to town and a tiger who used to work there left his spirit in the circus tent. This winds itself inside his head. It's his job to lead him back to the wilderness.
—Den
