Charlie St. Cloud - Softcover

Sherwood, Ben

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0307742377 ISBN 13: 9780307742377

Publisher: Vintage Books, 2010

Synopsis

Uno de esos excepcionales libros que revelan los misterios invisibles del mundo que nos rodea
 
“Charlie St. Cloud no era el mejor ni el más brillante muchacho del condado de Essex, pero sí, sin duda, el más prometedor” comienza este extraordinario libro. Pero cuando Charlie y su hermano pequeño Sam toman “prestado” el auto de un vecino para ir a un partido de los Red Sox en Boston, la noche acaba en tragedia. Al principio, se cree que los dos hermanos han muerto, pero la insistencia de uno de los bomberos consigue revivir a Charlie. Mareado y confundido, Charlie se da cuenta de que tiene un compromiso que guardar, una promesa hecha a su hermano en los breves momentos en que estuvo muerto.
 
Trece años más tarde, Charlie está a cargo del pequeño cementerio donde está enterrado su hermano. El otrora chico más prometedor de Marblehead, Massachussets, trabaja cuidando el césped, lavando monumentos y consolando a los dolientes. Pero Charlie tiene un secreto, una habilidad extraordinaria que adquirió en ese accidente años atrás. Charlie puede ver, hablar y hasta jugar con el espíritu de Sam. A este mundo mágico llega Tess Carroll, una bella e independiente mujer a la que el destino conduce a la vida de Charlie. Su hermosa conexión les llevará a una carrera contrarreloj y a tener que decidir entre la vida y la muerte, entre el pasado y el futuro, entre aferrarse a ciertos sentimientos y dejarlos marchar —y al descubrimiento de los milagros que pueden ocurrir si simplemente abrimos nuestros corazones.

About this title

Review:

The eponymous hero of The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud is a good boy; an American teenager who works hard at school, is good at sport and loves his mum and his little brother Sam. And then one terrible day, tragically, he finds himself responsible for Sam's death. Charlie dies too for a brief moment but is brought back to life by the skill of a paramedic. From that moment on, Charlie makes a sacrificial decision to live his life in the past. Until that is, he meets tough but beautiful yachtswoman Tess and he has to rethink life and death.

Ben Sherwood's novel is an unusual love story set against a background of bereavement and grief. Sherwood is a former TV news producer and journalist so not surprisingly this, his second novel, is perfectly well written, has attractive characters and a compelling story line. Yet, disappointingly, it feels one-dimensional, wholly predictable and ultimately, unsatisfying.

Rights to the film version were sold even before The Death and Life of Charlie St Cloud was published and perhaps herein lies the answer. It is easy to visualise on celluloid: a feel-good, light romance with equal measure of tears and smiles, not too demanding. Tess could have been written for Julia Roberts.

Maybe it wasn't written as a film script, but what's missing is what could have made this a great book. After all, the central theme affects us all: what happens after death and, perhaps far more importantly, what happens to the living, left behind to mourn and cope? If you're looking for meaningful insights and serious answers, this is sadly not the place to find them. --Carey Green

Review:

'This is a story of life and death, beautifully written with a gentle simplicity which lends it great emotional power...' -- Daily Mail Paperbacks review, Friday 21st May 2004

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0307742377
• ISBN 13: 9780307742377
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 287