| When Julia Win’s father disappears one morning without a trace, on the day after her graduation from law school, her family is left unsettled and confused. It’s not until a few years later that her mother finds a piece of the puzzle—an unmailed love letter to a Burmese woman named Mi Mi. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia puts her career and her life on hold to travel to the village where Mi Mi once lived. Her journey takes her to the small mountain village of Kalaw, where she is approached by a man who claims to know her father, and who seems to have an uncanny knowledge of Julia herself. Intrigued, she returns to meet him every afternoon and listen to his incredible tales of her father’s youth—of his childhood blindness, his education at a monastery, and, most of all, about his passionate relationship with a local girl. At first Julia is unwilling to believe that the romantic boy in this poignant story has anything to do with her reticent father, but soon she can no longer withstand the almost mystical invoking of mysterious past events, entwined as they are with the influence of the stars and with a love larger than life. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats is a magical and uplifting tale of hardship and resilience, and the power of love to move mountains My review: The story is beautifully portrayed. Julia on a quest to find her father after his sudden disappearance. Tin win and Mimi’s true love and respect for each other. Their love tenderly expressed. Emotions are great. But somehow and somewhere it doesn’t explain the rationale behind living life in USA for 50 years, having a family there and the sudden disappearance of Tin Win. Why didn’t he go back to his village in between and meet Mimi and his foster mother? A man who leads a quiet life and shutting away his wife and children. Not bothering to explain where he is going. When he was young he wasn’t given a choice but as he grew older he should have gone back to his village and explained. The foster mother is totally forgotten in the end. Touching story but doesn’t seem real. As a woman my heart goes out to both Julia’s mother and Mimi. |
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