Fiction
Released January, 2012
337 Pages
Bottom Line: Skip it.

Plot Summary of The Art of Hearing Heartbeats:

When Julia’s father disappears from his successful New York life, Julia travels to his Burmese hometown to unravel the mystery of a love letter to a mysterious woman (Mi Mi) that was found among his belongings.

My Thoughts on The Art of Hearing Heartbeats:

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats came highly recommended by a great friend and I can absolutely see why many people loved this book (it was one of Amazon’s Best Books of February, 2012). However, I had trouble buying into the story. 

Before I talk about why I just couldn’t get into it, I will say that it was beautifully written and I found myself highlighting frequently. I was also interested in why a successful lawyer with a family would disappear out of the blue. I enjoyed the beginning of the story when Julia was piecing together what might have happened to her father and talking to her mother about their marriage. Who doesn’t like discovering secrets?! The problem is that this theme of the book does not last long.

My main issue with this book is the story of Tin Win’s upbringing and his relationship with Mi Mi, which comprises most of the book. It felt more like an allegory or legend that dragged on too long than the central story anchoring a 300+ page book. 

I had trouble believing in some of the major turning points of the story…mainly because the characters were basing critical, life-changing decisions on “what the stars said” (for example, it’s bad luck for a child to be born on certain days of certain months). This may be the custom in Burma half a century ago, but it was just not credible to me, so I had a hard time getting as emotionally invested as I was clearly supposed to be. This is probably a matter of taste, but I prefer things to be a little more rooted in reality and this was probably what made the story feel allegorical to me.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats is one of those books that some people probably call “beautiful” and/or “moving”…and Tin Win and Mi Mi’s story is moving if you can suspend realistic decision-making for awhile. I just couldn’t do it and found myself looking forward to being done with it.

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