I received an advance reader’s copy (ARC) of Shark Heart by Emily Habeck. Since this version is just a proof and not the final version, I won’t quote directly and will keep my comments general.

In Shark Heart, Wren and Lewis are in love, only married a few weeks ago. But Lewis notices something strange happening to him, and gets a rare—though not unheard of—diagnosis. He has a carcharodon carcharias mutation, meaning he is slowly but surely transforming into a great white shark, though he will likely retain most of his memories even with the oceanic predator instincts. Wren struggles with what this will mean for their marriage and for her personally. She’s haunted by memories of her troubled childhood with her mother, as well as how she lost an ex-girlfriend she could have loved if she had allowed herself to. As Lewis’ transformation progresses, Wren is forced to make a choice about their relationship, while Lewis grapples with what all his work as an actor has meant if this is what his life will become.

This book… was weird. It’s magical realism, so I expected it, but I just wanted to say it. It’s weird.

Not that weird is bad (hopefully I myself am a testament to that statement). Firstly, I think that the love between Wren and Lewis is quite sweet. I also enjoyed the scenes that are from Wren’s mother’s perspective, as this gives a lot of context to Wren’s personality. Additionally, I liked the other characters, like Margaret and George. I don’t know that any of these characters feel realistic, necessarily; this book is literary, so it feels like the author wrote this with a focus on the poetic aspects of life rather than on making characters that come across as real people. They just feel like vessels Habeck is using to tell the story, if that makes sense.

This isn’t unique to this book, because I kind of get that impression with other more literary books, and it isn’t a bad thing. I was very intrigued by the characters and what was going to happen to them, particularly with Lewis. Watching his slow evolution was fascinating and odd, and made me very aware of what it feels like to be a person in a human body. It made for a bizarre reading experience, frankly.

I also think the emotions were very good, palpable without being overwhelming. There are some tough moments—the characters are dealing with various types of trauma and grief and mental health struggles, after all, so this isn’t an easy book. However, it isn’t gratuitously graphic either.

I do wish that the section from Lewis’ point of view after his transformation had been longer and explored more, though. Habeck likes short chapters, and often that works, but I really wanted to explore his new version of existence much more than we did. It was so weird and interesting, and I wanted to linger.

In the end, I don’t quite know what to make of Shark Heart. I am sure that if I studied this book in college, harnessing all my close reading English major abilities, I’d have been able to figure out what the point of this story was. As it is, those close reading skills are out of shape now, and I’m left slightly bewildered. There are certainly strong thematic elements—love, grief, coming together and letting go, family, etc.—but I still don’t know what the significance is that Lewis turned into a shark. Why a shark? What is the symbolism? That said, I don’t think I want these questions answered, because wondering is fun sometimes, and it was still a remarkable reading experience. This book, despite being about 400 pages, is a quick read due to the succinct scenes, with chapters sometimes written like a play. The characters are unique, the plot is memorable, and the emotions are vivid. I don’t have any idea how I’m going to explain it if anyone asks me about it in the wild, but this sure is an interesting book, and I’m glad I read it.

Shark Heart will be published on August 8th, 2023!