Incredible! The writing of Bruce Brooks in this story is something beyond simple greatness. It is a turbocharged rocket moving with speed and dexterity beyond what the average human can comprehend. It is a living thing, a dynamic creature bursting with pure verve at its every seam, descriptive beyond what one could ever expect from a novel and flowing with a potent and challenging immediacy that is more a thing of beauty than just about anything else I've ever seen from a book. The writing of Bruce Brooks in What Hearts literally, and I mean literally, stole my breath away and left me in amazed wonderment. The narrative reads, really, like four distinct stories loosely built around the life of a quietly luminous boy named Asa Hill, four different snapshots taken at progressive points during his childhood. These moments might not seem terribly important in the big scheme of things, but in truth they help to define who Asa is. More than that, these happenings in his life reveal to Asa himself the person he is and the person he is becoming, letting him see the things he can change, the things he can't change, and the things from both of these ends that he doesn't want to change.What Hearts is, in my experience, a totally unique book. It can be difficult to tell what is real and what parts are products of Asa's fertile and indefatigable mind. A lot of this leads to questions that dot the narrative all the way through, some of which are answered, some merely hinted at, and others that are never addressed at all. The end product is a book that feels astonishingly like real life and not like a fabricated story at all, no matter how skillfully rendered such a story might be. What I take from this book most of all is its shockingly sharp perception—a degree of perception that made me feel as if Asa and I were as one, sharing a soul with all of its nuances and complications that I thought only I could see—and the pulsating, glowing use of language that Bruce Brooks puts on exhibit from page one. This is the kind of very rare book that reminds me exactly why I write, why I read, why I allow characters and the writing of others to influence me so strongly. It's because when an author like Bruce Brooks comes along, so very uncommonly, it makes it all worth it. Consuming his breathtaking writing is like eating the most wonderful food in the world, and having it nourish both my mind and stomach. What Hearts is a tour de force in the strongest and truest possible sense of the word, and I deeply loved every minute of it. I loved it to my innermost core.
1993 Newbery Honor BookThis book shows the story of Asa's childhood in four separate stages. In stage one, Asa comes home from his last day in first grade to find that his parents are divorcing and he leaves with his mother to meet her boyfriend Dave. Dave is not a nice guy and is mean to him. In the second stage, Asa goes to his first day in fourth grade. This is his second fourth grade class because apparently he moves a lot. By this time, Dave has married his mother but he's still mean. The third stage deals with baseball and sports which is where the book lost me because I don't like sports writing. The last stage deals with his first love.
What do You think about What Hearts (1999)?
What Hearts is divided into four sections each dealing with a turning point in Asa's life - events such as his parents divorce as a young boy and learning to fit in at school after school as he moves multiple times with his mother and stepfather. During the entire story, we are in Asa's head and so only get to see things from his perspective. I actually found this to be quite interesting and very readable. Much more than I expected! My favorite segment was called "Not Blue" and told of Asa pairing up with a boy in his class to present a poem at a class Show Night. This won a Newbery Honor in 1993.
—Luann
This book had a very different style of writing than what I usually read. Because of this, and a few disturbing scenes, it wasn't a very 'light' read. However, I thoroughly enjoyed it. 'What Hearts' is about a young boy, Asa, who's Father and Mother get divorced. After this heartbreaking change, Asa moves away with his Mother and his new Stepdad. Sadly, Asa never can really love his Stepdad and this produces endless troubles. Although there is not a very happy ending, things do work out for Asa. I would highly recommend this book!!
—Sarah Beth
Continuing the July YA challenge, and making a dent in the Newbery award-winning books, the latest read is an insightful 1993 honor winner titled What Hearts by Bruce Brooks.At the risk of redundancy, I've mentioned often that young adult books, including some of the later Newbery winners, are not fluff, and in fact deal with some particularly difficult life situations. This book is no exception!Young Asa's life is suddenly uprooted when he returns home on the last day of first grade to learn that the house is empty and he and his mother are moving. Leaving behind his father, whom his mother states she no longer loves, Asa's mother selfishly immediately thrusts Asa into a life with a new boyfriend and living arrangement.Lacking a transition time, precocious, sensitive Asa adjusts as best as possible. Astutely he grasps the knowledge that his new "father" is not a kind man and doesn't want the baggage of a little child.The first night, Asa is taken to an amusement park, placed on an adult ride wherein he is suspended high up in the air for a long period of time while the ride violently shakes the small child. This is the beginning of cruel taunts and actions at the hands of a man who borders on malevolence.While the subject matter is deep, there is also hope and a strong theme of spunkyness and resiliency.Segmented into four separate sections, each dealing with the meaning of love, the definition of forgiveness, the power of friendship and the ability of the human spirit to somehow transcend difficulty, this is an incredibly powerful book.Highly recommended.
—Linda Lipko
