Book Review: In a Heartbeat

Ellsworth, L. (2010) In a Heartbeat. New York: Walker & Company. 195 pages. $11.55

Young adult author Loretta Ellsworth released her new novel In a Heartbeat in February. The premise of the book is that two teens are linked through the donation of a heart. One teen is a high-level figure skater who has a difficult relationship with her mother. Eagan dies during a freak figure skating accident. Her parents make the decision to donate Eagan’s heart to a teen in Minn. who has had heart trouble most of her life.

Amelia is a good girl. She draws horses and dreams of running like them, but with her heart troubles, she can’t even walk up the stairs. When Eagan’s heart becomes available, Amelia is worried about the surgery and she hates that another girl died for her to live.

When she returns home with her new heart, Amelia has energy. She can walk up the stairs and her fingertips are pink. She’s feeling not just well, but athletic. Amelia has random thoughts that aren’t her own, different tastes, and a sass that the old Amelia never had.

Ellsworth alternates between both girls’ viewpoints to explore not only the idea of organ and tissue donation in her novel, but the interesting phenomenon that some organ recipients experience: cellular memory. Some organ recipients wake up with a new heart, kidney, or liver and experience thoughts they hadn’t ever had before, memories that don’t belong to them, different tastes in food, and different attitudes toward others.

You can see the motifs that Ellsworth employs to create a compelling young adult novel: death/rebirth, echoes from the past, young love/rebellion. It has a satisfying resolution and the sense that the world has been put into order again. It’s totally a teen read.

The small amount of figure skating in the book will be enough to lure a figure skater into reading the book. I think the mysticism element (cellular memory) and small amount of budding romance and rebellion will be enough to keep a teen’s attention until the final page.

Ice Girl and Ice Coach tell me that the figure skater’s manner of death is highly improbable. However, it’s clear that Ellsworth did her research. She credits the St. Paul Figure Skating Club and some of its skaters for giving her the background knowledge she needed to write the figure skating parts convincingly.

What I like is that Ellsworth works in organ and tissue donation as a main part of the plot without seeming preachy. The way that Eagan makes her decision to become an organ donor before her accident and how she had the conversation with her parents was both realistic and a good lesson. It’s not enough to put the organ donation sticker on a driver’s license. To be an organ and tissue donor, a person needs to have the conversation with family members. Tell them what your wishes are. Here in the U.S., to obtain consent for donation, the clinicians have to contact the family members – even if you’ve covered your driver’s license in orange donation stickers.

See how I shoved that message at you with no art? That’s not how Ellsworth does it. She weaves it into the story and shows her teen readers the recipient’s end of the donation. It’s nicely done.

Bottom line: 3 out of 4 stars. I recommend this book for teen or pre-teen readers. Ice Girl read it and liked it a lot and I think most figure skaters will find an instant connection with the book. The motifs will resonate with the teen crowd without being too angst-y or wandering into adult-rated conversations. As a mature reader, the book’s alternating viewpoint structure seemed forced, especially when it slowed me down during the very interesting rebellion sequence at the end. I confess: I skipped over some of those intervening chapters so I could stay with the plot and I went back to read them at the end. I would have preferred that the author weave the alternating viewpoints into the storyline instead of chopping them up into different chapters. (This was my criticism of 1997′s National Book Award winner Cold Mountian, too. If you liked Cold Mountain’s structure, this shouldn’t irritate you at all.)

What do you think? Have you read Ellsworth’s book? Did you or your skater like it? Can you recommend other books about figure skating?

Has anyone read Cammie and Alex’s Adventures in Skateland by Olga Jaffae? If you have, please find Marian’s comment below and respond. Thanks!

Do you have a question for Ice Mom or the Advisory Board? Fantastic! I need one for next week Friday, May 28! Do you have an idea for a blog post! Wonderful! I’m working on my June editorial calendar. Are you an expert and you’d like to appear on Ask the Expert some Wednesday in June! Contact me! We can make it happen! icemom.diane@gmail.com

Photo credits:
Icy heart: SashaW on Flickr.com Creative Commons
In a Heatbeat book cover: Loretta Ellsworth

Sk8nln

Thanks for another book to add to my reading list. Everyone should have this talk. Sk8nLane would not know her Grandfather if some giving family had not had this conversation, which allowed him his heart transplant 8 years ago.
Anonymous

I used to read the Silver Blades series by Melissa Lowell. They were more for pre-teen and young teen audiences (I would say 9 – 12). I think they are out of print now, but you can usually find them at used book stores or on Amazon. I guess there were 28 books in the series, although I really don’t remember reading that many of them. I thought the skaters advanced too quickly in the series (book 1: we can’t land a double flip, book 20: we are off to the Olympics…) but the characters did have to deal with life and growing up like normal teens, while dealing with strange things only figure skaters deal with (dating the pairs partner… or having your friend date your pairs partner… or life at skating summer camp…). They weren’t amazing works of literary fiction, but they were fun and I did very much enjoy reading them when I was younger.
invisiblesk8r129A

I used to read the Silver Blades series by Melissa Lowell. They were more for pre-teen and young teen audiences (I would say 9 – 12). I think they are out of print now, but you can usually find them at used book stores or on Amazon. I guess there were 28 books in the series, although I really don't remember reading that many of them. I thought the skaters advanced too quickly in the series (book 1: we can't land a double flip, book 20: we are off to the Olympics…) but the characters did have to deal with life and growing up like normal teens, while dealing with strange things only figure skaters deal with (dating the pairs partner… or having your friend date your pairs partner… or life at skating summer camp…). They weren't amazing works of literary fiction, but they were fun and I did very much enjoy reading them when I was younger.
http://twitter.com/RedShamrock Marian Cole

Last week a teen skater recommended Cammie and Alex’s Adventures in Skateland by Olga Jaffae to my 8 yo (although she thinks she is 16). I was thinking of getting it as a competition reward instead of flowers — any thoughts?
http://twitter.com/RedShamrock Marian Cole

Last week a teen skater recommended Cammie and Alex's Adventures in Skateland by Olga Jaffae to my 8 yo (although she thinks she is 16). I was thinking of getting it as a competition reward instead of flowers — any thoughts?
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Hey, Marian!

No, I haven’t read the book. Maybe someone else has? I’ll put it in the post and see if people find out.

Thanks!

Ice Mom
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Hey, Marian!

No, I haven't read the book. Maybe someone else has? I'll put it in the post and see if people find out.

Thanks!

Ice Mom
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Hey, Sk8nln.

What a blessing the gift of organ and tissue donation is – to both the grieving family and the donor recipient’s family.

The grieving family finds a purpose and a meaning in their loved one’s death. It helps them accept their loss.

The donor family also benefits from the gift for years to come.

Of course, as you know, families must have the conversation or the orange sticker means nothing.

Thanks for the comment!
http://icemom.net Ice Mom

Hey, Sk8nln.

What a blessing the gift of organ and tissue donation is – to both the grieving family and the donor recipient's family.

The grieving family finds a purpose and a meaning in their loved one's death. It helps them accept their loss.

The donor family also benefits from the gift for years to come.

Of course, as you know, families must have the conversation or the orange sticker means nothing.

Thanks for the comment!