Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
UK Publication: August 2023
Reviewed by: Book Worm
Rating: [★★★★]

This ARC was provided by Quercus Books (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

Sounds Banana Pants but it totally works.

Synopsis from Goodreads: A gorgeous debut novel of marriage, motherhood, metamorphosis, and letting go, this intergenerational love story begins with newlyweds Wren and her husband, Lewis—a man who, over the course of nine months, transforms into a great white shark.

For Lewis and Wren, their first year of marriage is also their last. A few weeks after their wedding, Lewis receives a rare diagnosis. He will retain most of his consciousness, memories, and intellect, but his physical body will gradually turn into a great white shark. As Lewis develops the features and impulses of one of the most predatory creatures in the ocean, his complicated artist’s heart struggles to make peace with his unfulfilled dreams.

At first, Wren internally resists her husband’s fate. Is there a way for them to be together after Lewis changes? Then, a glimpse of Lewis’s developing carnivorous nature activates long-repressed memories for Wren, whose story vacillates between her childhood living on a houseboat in Oklahoma, her time with a college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds. Woven throughout this bold novel is the story of Wren’s mother, Angela, who becomes pregnant with Wren at fifteen in an abusive relationship amidst her parents’ crumbling marriage. In the present, all of Wren’s grief eventually collides, and she is forced to make an impossible choice.

A sweeping love story that is at once lyrical and funny, airy and visceral, Shark Heart is an unforgettable, gorgeous novel about life’s perennial questions, the fragility of memories, finding joy amidst grief, and creating a meaningful life. This daring debut marks the arrival of a wildly talented new writer abounding with originality, humor, and heart.

My Thoughts: This is a completely unique love story and you have to feel for Wren and Lewis as they tackle the unthinkable.

This is a world where animal mutations can occur and the sufferer has only a limited amount of time remaining as a human before they must be released (into the wild) or imprisoned (Zoo) for their own safety and that of those around them.

While the focus of the story is the love between Wren and Lewis it also explores other societal issues such as acceptance of those who are different, found family, alcoholism, domestic abuse and medical history.

For me the turning into a shark was an interesting way to explore progressive disabilities like Multiple Sclerosis, Cancers and other invisible illnesses where symptoms will continue to change and decline over time. It also explores the impact these illnesses have on ability to work; ability to function in society; independence and of course the impact on loved ones.

Anyone who says a love story about a man turning into a shark and his human wife can’t work needs to read this.

Who would like this? I would recommend this to anyone who appreciates a good love story, who doesn’t mind having their heart stamped on and anyone who wants to see what it means to love someone “in sickness and in health”.

We want to hear from you! Have you read this book? What did you think?