BOOK - THE ART OF HEARING HEARTBEATS by JAN-PHILIPP SENDKER (2002) - (NO SPOILERS)

Sometimes you find a book that just flows.......... easy reading, no need to look up vocabulary, not too many characters and you have a good feeling at the end of it. THIS is one of those books. I wasn't ready for it to end...... Even the TITLE is SOOTHING.

• Pg 128 - Only a few days earlier he had explained to her that he did not merely read books but traveled with them, that they took him to other countries and unfamiliar continents, and that with their help he was always getting to know new people, many of whom even became his friends.

Several years ago, JOANIE, a friend and Book Club member suggested that I read this. With her EYES WIDE OPEN and NODDING HER HEAD, she said "You will REALLY REALLY like it!" It took me awhile, but I finally picked it up and am SO pleased that she shared it with me. It's MY turn to share it with YOU.

VERY BRIEF SUMMARY - 

• After just graduating from law school, Julia's father disappears. She, her mother and brother were able to track down his travels to Burma - the place of his birth. But WHY did he leave? And WHY so abruptly, and WHY without explanation? Julia is determined to find out - by traveling to Burma  and delaying the start of her career.

I never like to share too many DETAILS of the book, hoping that instead, you'll pick it up and be just as surprised as I was throughout. It's truly a DELIGHTFUL story.

PASSAGES TO PONDER:

Pg 23

     And so there must be in life something like a catastrophic turning point, when the world as we know it ceases to exist. A moment that transforms us into a different person from one heartbeat to the next.

Pg 34

     "He wanted to explain it to me, but I didn't want to hear anything about it. It's odd, Julia, but a confession, a disclosure, is worthless when it comes at the wrong moment. If it's too early, it overwhelms us. We're not ready for it and can't yet appreciate it. If it's too late, the opportunity is lost. The mistrust and the disappointment are already too great; the door is already closed. In either case, the very thing that ought to foster intimacy just creates distance." 

Pg 77

     She hoped that Tin Win would learn what she had learned over the years: that there are wounds time does not heal, though it can reduce them to a manageable size.

Pg 115

     In essence, however, his principal aim was to pass on the lesson life had taught him: that a person's greatest treasure is the wisdom in his own heart.

Pg 124

     Tin Win didn't know what he was afraid of: it was almost always there, pursuing him like a shadow on a sunny day. 

Pg 125

     "We see that there is no place on earth where we can hide from fear, yet still we attempt to find one. We strive for wealth and power. We abandon ourselves to the illusion that we are stronger than fear. We try to rule - over our children and our wives, over our neighbors and our friends. Ambition and fear have something in common: neither knows any limits."

Pg 160

     "Be patient," he said. "Sit down and meditate. Then time will lose it's meaning."

JOAN