Author: Elizabeth ScottPublisher: Harlequin Teen
Publishing Date: January 28, 2014
Hardcover: 304 pages
Format: ARC
Rating: 3/5 stars
Heartbeat is the story of Emma, a 17 year old girl whose pregnant mother has been proclaimed brain dead. But Emma still has to deal with seeing her dead mother everyday - a pregnant woman strapped to machines whose body is being kept alive for the baby growing inside it. Though Emma used to be close to her stepfather, Dan, she cannot comprehend what made him choose to do this to her mother - especially without even asking her what she wanted. When she meets Caleb, a messed up boy who steals cars and does drugs, they strike up an unlikely friendship and Emma begins to live again.
I wasn't prepared for this book at all. It was a very emotional ride and there were plenty of parts which I would not like to read again. I almost didn't finish it (whew! but I kept on!) because I couldn't handle Emma's emotions and her anger and bitterness were eating me out alive. I can't like this book - I really can't -because I found it such a negative read. Never have I come across a more bitter and angry protagonist. Never have I encountered such a negative and hateful voice, it resonated across the book and it made me feel dark inside. I cannot recommend this to other people as it only made me feel bad and I tried really hard to find it moving, stimulating or at the very least hopeful, but there was almost nothing but just pure hatred.
Heartbeat is the story of Emma, a 17 year old girl whose pregnant mother has been proclaimed brain dead. But Emma still has to deal with seeing her dead mother everyday - a pregnant woman strapped to machines whose body is being kept alive for the baby growing inside it. Though Emma used to be close to her stepfather, Dan, she cannot comprehend what made him choose to do this to her mother - especially without even asking her what she wanted. When she meets Caleb, a messed up boy who steals cars and does drugs, they strike up an unlikely friendship and Emma begins to live again.
I wasn't prepared for this book at all. It was a very emotional ride and there were plenty of parts which I would not like to read again. I almost didn't finish it (whew! but I kept on!) because I couldn't handle Emma's emotions and her anger and bitterness were eating me out alive. I can't like this book - I really can't -because I found it such a negative read. Never have I come across a more bitter and angry protagonist. Never have I encountered such a negative and hateful voice, it resonated across the book and it made me feel dark inside. I cannot recommend this to other people as it only made me feel bad and I tried really hard to find it moving, stimulating or at the very least hopeful, but there was almost nothing but just pure hatred.
My problem with this book is the protagonist, Emma. I have read about sad and screwed up teenagers, and I almost always could relate to them - even The Bell Jar's Esther Greenwood. However, the character of Emma is a different thing altogether. I couldn't seem to connect to her. I couldn't relate and she felt as real to me as Santa Claus. To me Emma was a selfish and annoying character who just kept talking about her problems again and again all throughout the book. At some points of the story, I thought she had already realized how selfish she was but then she would just revert back to her old spiteful self and snap at her stepfather all over again. I don't mean to judge but it's hard to empathize with her, because the whole book she just complains - and it's not only til the last few pages does she realize her mistakes. Emma's character felt half baked, like I just couldn't seem to find a person underneath all that angst. For instance what does Emma like? Does she like poetry, painting, reading? What? We never do get a glimpse of anything about Emma except for the fact that her mother is dead but is kept alive for the baby and that she's currently flunking school. There's not much substance and we only get to see one layer of the Emma in this story- the angry, hurt and bitter Emma who just can't possibly be mature enough to understand that the baby is also her brother. There is much more to Emma beyond that, I had hoped, but sadly the book focused more on her anger rather than her journey to forgiveness and acceptance. Emma didn't come off as human to me, she was just angry.
- 11:30 PM
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