Shark Heart by Emily Habeck

​"Wren saw now how passion was delicate and temporary, a visitor, a feeling that would come and go. Feelings fled under pressure; feelings did not light the darkness. What remained strong in the deep, the hard times, was love as an effort, a doing, a conscious act of will. Soulmates, like her and Lewis, were not theoretical and found. They were tangible, built.” - Shark Heart, Emily Habeck

Shark Heart is a book that you'll either love or hate...and I absolutely loved it. It is modern magical realism that is both absurd and easy to accept. 

Imagine your first year of marriage. It's supposed to be wedded bliss, right? Not for Lewis and Wren. Lewis has just been diagnosed with a "Carcharodon carcharias" mutation which will cause his body to change into a shark while his consciousness remains intact.

This novel is broken into three acts with alternating timelines: during the mutation, after the mutation, and Wren's childhood. I have to admit, I was mostly interested in the mutation portion until the last 20 pages or so when all parts of the story came together in a heartbreaking and beautiful way.  This story is truly bizarre in how it explores change, illness, loss, love, and growth. I don't know *how* it works, but it certainly does. I finished this book nearly a month ago and I can't stop raving about it.

Not only is the structure of the novel unique, but so is the writing style. The chapters are short, allowing the reader to feel the abrupt changes that occur to Lewis' body in the same way they experience the story.  Sometimes the author chooses to have only a few sentences on a page.  It did feel like the author was trying a bit too hard to be meaningful and poignant by purposefully writing so little on the page in a few of the chapters. It reminded me of the classic moment in The Office:

Honestly, that would be my only complaint. I have never been a fan of magical realism, but Shark Heart has opened my heart up to trying more in this genre. Emily Habeck is a debut author and one I will certainly be keeping tabs on. I rated Shark Heart 5/5 shark fins.