Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
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 her college ex-girlfriend, and her unusual friendship with a woman pregnant with twin birds.
For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #19: Has short chapters)
The Reason
We’ve talked about this book before and it made me curious, but more so recently when my friend said it was one of her top books of 2024.
The Quotes
“In their innocence, they failed to grasp the labor of losing a partner, how the tasks of simple existence would become logistical feats and one person’s burden.”
“In the rare hopeful hour, I tell myself this darkness has a purpose: to help me recognize light if I ever find it again.”
“Plants were probably the most sentient of all living things: rational, bloodless bystanders, witnessing the great horror of it all.”
“Lewis’s mutation was like the weather; they could prepare, but they could not control a thing.”
The Narrator(s)
Karissa Vacker, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Soneela Nankani. They were all great! I wholly enjoyed the listening experience, and it probably made me not even notice the purple prose.
My Thoughts
I mentioned purple prose, and just from the quotes included above, you get a glimpse of the language of the book. Normally I don’t like too much purple prose, but I didn’t feel like its use here was excessive. I felt it was more heartfelt and poetic and I enjoyed it very much. I must admit that perhaps one of the reasons I enjoyed this book so much is because I keep underestimating it. I thought it was going to be a light-hearted book with magical realism, but it turned out to be deeper than that, and more emotional.
Ultimately, it’s a story about loss and grieving, and how to be the person left behind. It hits hard, but in such a gentle way. It was not what I expected at all from this book. There are other hard-hitting topics covered as well, but I can’t talk about them without giving away spoilers. I might do a discussion post for this soon because there’s much to talk about.
This was a buddy read, and I also discussed it with my friend (and other friends) who read it and said it was one of her top books. A few of us have also read Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield and discussed the similarities, and differences, between the two books. There were a lot of great takeaways and the discussions really made me enjoy the book even more. As good as it is, it doesn’t quite hit the 5 star mark for me, but it’s a good solid 4 stars.
My Rating
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.
Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?
