Books like Strange Heart Beating

“It’s almost too embarrassing to mention the absurd nature of her death, given everything. So much, in fact, nobody mentioned it. I was constantly expecting to be asked about it. Isn’t it odd, they might have said, or, I hate to bring this up but, well. And I would have raised my eyebrows, or shaken my head, I would have made them feel so ashamed for mentioning it. But nobody ever did”. “She was an artist, a naturalist. She died in a boating lake of a local park, when one of the swans became alarmed at her proximity to its babies and attacked the boat, capsizing in and drowning Leda. It was a Wednesday afternoon and the weather was fine. The sky was blue and the water was blue. And cutting through it like a shaft of divine light what is the neck of that beast, the swan”. Seb, thirty-ish, from London. was grappling with the recent loss of hiswife, Leda....who was killed by a swan. After she died, he discovered a stack of letters from an unknown man, Olaf, a man whom Leda had never mentioned. We will read these letters along with Seb. They were a mixture of touching - puzzling - sweet -funny- and intimate. Often I felt an undercurrent sadness for Seb.Leda ( her real name was Leila) - Seb only discovered this after her death....had been barefoot on two ‘memorable’ occasions in her life. From Leda/Leila’s diary: “On the hot sand I was picked up and carried to the water by a handsome man who worked at a hotel. He picked me up and carry me because the sand was burning my feet. But he also picked me upbecause we were having a silent affair”. Honestly ...poor Seb! How could he read her letters and not ache? Seb decided to travel to Leda’s home village- Lativa- to investigate more into her past. “Even in death, why shouldn’t I get to know my wife?” He discovers more bizarre deaths among women in Leda’s family. As the reader - I was encouraged- ha - forced - to think about the strangeness of death - the fears - the loss - the unknown. Does humor help? Does a strange death make loss any less? There were many sentences to sit and ponder with... “Grief is the aggressive displacement of the self from a known universe to another: you may choose to be the lover of somebody, or to follow a course of action that delivers you into the arms of another, but becoming their widower is an event that happens in spite of you.It sets off a chain of transformation actions that one finds oneself performing almost unconsciously, like a child. It’s true that I’ve never felt so in need of care”. The death by a swan seems a little ‘cuckoo’....( an arbitrary ridiculously unlikely death)...but there are interesting, strange, and complex symbolism running throughout. Ultimately this book is a tale about loss, grief, regret, and love... at times funny, but always tender.... and thought-provoking. An introspective look into relationships ...this book is just under 200 pages. To loose a spouse - is one of the most painful thoughts imaginable to me. Devastating! I’m sooo sorry - sad - to my friends who just this past year lost husbands the love of their lives. I read this book with prayers for my friends...( I grieve along side ‘with’ them - ‘for’ them) I must mention the book cover...Isn’t it eye-catching..artistically gorgeous?/!!!Holding this little silky smooth book in my hands felt nice. The title of this book comes from a WB Yeats poem that describes the rape of Leda, The queen of Greek myth, by the god Zeus, who came to her in the name of a swan. The author was only 31 when she wrote it. It’s an impressive debut. Mature beyond her age. I finished this book just minutes after the New Year. Welcome 2020!New Year cheers with gratefulness - for LIFE -love to my sleeping husband, our daughters, our family and friends.... and to all the book lovers around the world