Emily Habeck

Newlyweds Wren and Lewis are just starting to settle into married life when Lewis begins to notice changes taking place in his body. His nose becomes more flexible, he begins to feel a constant, unquenchable thirst and, alarmingly, new, razor-sharp teeth are starting to come in. Alarmed, Lewis makes an appointment with a doctor and eventually receives a diagnosis: Carcharodon carcharias mutation. He is turning into a great white shark.

This sounds like it's going to be a delightfully wacky show more story, and at first it is. But just a few chapters into Lewis' diagnosis the mood becomes much more serious. Reactions from family, friends and colleagues are not, "But that's impossible!" but rather, "Oh, how terrible. I'm so sorry." In this world, mutations like this are clearly a known, devastating phenomenon. There are heartbreaking conversations surrounding what Lewis hopes to do with the time he has left and preparations to be made before he will inevitably have to be "released" into the sea, making the story feel very much like a metaphor for any number of terminal illnesses. Once that realization hits, the story becomes deeply reflective and gut-wrenching. show less

My heart was not ready for this! When the description of the book tells the reader to expect a man to slowly morph into a shark, you don't anticipate crying your bloody eyes out. I certainly didn't. I was intrigued with the weird concept, that in this world, some people are born with a condition that mutates them into animals. Sometimes it doesn't happen until they are older, sometimes it happens to children. Some animal species can take humans decades to evolve into - other species (like show more sharks) can take only a few months. Wren and Lewis have recently wed and they have their whole lives ahead of them. Lewis is an eternal optimist, a high school theater director, fun and loud. Wren is his opposite, small, quiet, tidy, and orderly - always thinking two steps ahead. When out of the blue Lewis is diagnosed with the ultra rare diagnosis - transforming into a great white shark - they have to figure out how to proceed. How long does he have? Will their love endure? AMAZING STORYTELLING! I can't stop thinking about this book. The format is amazing - it alternates characters, is sometime told in the form of a scene in a play, sometimes just a thought. It's gorgeous. Definitely one of my top picks for the year! show less

What a wild and beautiful book. The summary sounds so strange, but if you accept the premise and just lean into the lyrical writing it's lovely. It’s less about a mutation that can turn you into an animal, and more about how love and loss often shape who we become. Parts are written like a play and just when I wasn’t sure where the story was going next, the book took a turn into a different character’s story. It was perfectly done to give the reader a better understanding of the main show more characters.

“Wren became soft and young when she was learning.”

“As they say in the theater, suspend your disbelief. Otherwise, the reality of this world is very much like yours and mine.”

“Lewis would learn the difference between loneliness and being alone.”

“So maybe love wasn’t an unwieldy accessory in times of peril. Maybe it was the key to survival.” show less

Shark Heart by Emily Habeck manages to take an incredibly strange premise and turn it into a story about the universal themes of love, loss, and family. Wren and Lewis have only been married for a short time when he finds out he is mutating into a shark. Through a series of flashbacks we learn family histories as Lewis — and their relationship — morphs into something else. Habeck masterfully works a variety of structures — prose, poetry, script, footnotes — into the book making it show more irresistibly interesting for me. Definitely not for everyone, but readers willing to suspend reality and jump into this strange book will not be disappointed. show less