Set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats is a rare novel. Telling the story of a young blind man’s journey through a world of auditory intensity, Jan-Philipp Sendker renews one’s faith in the possibility of real, pure love. I finished the book in tears.”—Shawna Yang Ryan, author of Water Ghosts

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats - the international bestselling

Sendker’s follow-up to The Art of Hearing Heartbeats…opens readers’ eyes to a history of buried atrocities…[and] takes pains to develop a realistic world…” —Publishers Weekly A masterfully told tale of enduring love, the twists of fate and the journey life takes us on to discover what is truly important.” —SCLS Reading Suggestions I'm also not crazy about characters who tell stories about things that they couldn't possibly know. Tin Win's story is told to Julia by U Ba, an old man that approaches her in a Burmese cafe. He doesn't just know facts, he knows emotions, inner thoughts, struggles, joys, intimate details of her father's relationships etc. I know I used the word fairy tale earlier so I tried to use that to justify this storytelling device...but I think that the book would have worked better for me if we heard this story either from Julia's father directly or from an omniscient narrator because then I wouldn't have to stop myself from thinking "He couldn't possibly know that!!!" I could not decide on which 'shelf' to place this book. Yes, it is fiction. But it reads as like a very good non-fiction or biography book would. Better, yet, I personally found gems of inspiration in the book - beautiful takeaways for daily life. Were I able to select more than one category, I certainly would! But Sendker did more than just excel in describing what any reader could see. He delved into the psyche of the Burmese and showed us folk tales, beliefs, habits, and ways of living. A novel is always suspect in what it reveals, but in this case we can understand as outsiders understand, a way into a South Asia culture that is so remote and so different from modern-day Western culture.This on audio was read very slowly and methodically, which seemed quite appropriate. The wrong voice, the wrong inflections could have made this too sweet to bear. And I just cannot imagine this being half as beautiful if read in its original German language. Ach, nein! Völlig frei von Kitsch, Klischee und plakativen philosophischen Allgemeinsätzen beschreibt Sendker dies in einer Art und Weise, die das Buch zu einem sehr nachhaltigen und nachdenklichen Leseerlebnis werden lassen. Trotz vieler trauriger Aspekte ist die Geschichte für mich ein Hoffnungsträger, Hoffnungsträger für jeden Leser, jede dahinterstehende Biografie und die Menschen dieser Welt.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats Quotes by Jan-Philipp Sendker The Art of Hearing Heartbeats Quotes by Jan-Philipp Sendker

Shooting will start in the fall of 2020 in New York, Myanmar and Thailand. One of the author’s fans from Myanmar, travel blogger Thiha Lu Lin, said, “After reading his book, I wanted to go to Kalaw immediately and find the house from the novel, and I did. It was there, and that feeling is special; I don’t know why. He can describe Kalaw in detail and he knew that city very well. I can’t wait to see my favorite novel as a film.”All this and I haven’t mentioned the novel is a love story. But not an ordinary love story—it tells of a love that any of us would be happy to call our own. Some reviewers may call this a fairy tale, but I would merely say it was an especially daring and insightful attempt to create a plausible story that works on many levels. And so it does. leise, warmherzig, entschleunigend, beruhigend, hoffnungsvoll, poetisch, spirituell, philosophisch, authentisch, wahr, mystisch, geheimnisvoll... Julia learns of two major events that blight her father’s childhood. First he is cast off by his superstitious mother who, after consulting the local astrologer, believes him to be “a harbinger of calamity.” Next, he loses his sight. Julia muses on that “catastrophic turning point, when the world as we know it ceases to exist. A moment that transforms us into a different person from one heartbeat to the next.” Blindness changes her father irrevocably. His urgent adaptations to these dual calamities – like his preternaturally improved hearing to compensate for his blindness – anticipate Julia’s own ongoing revisions of the image of her father. This overlap of adaptability, discovery and reformulation may be the book’s principal narrative charm. But it also presents certain problems.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats Series - Goodreads

I have often wondered what was the source of her beauty, her radiance. It’s not the size of one’s nose, the color of one’s skin, the shape of one’s lips or eyes that make one beautiful or ugly. So what is it? Can you, as a woman, tell me? Eyes and ears are not the problem... It is rage that blinds and deafens us. Or fear. Envy, mistrust. The world contracts, gets all out of joint when you are angry or afraid.” he did not merely read books but traveled with them,that they took him to other countries and unfamiliar continents, and that with their help he was always getting to know new people..." A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be... until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father's past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader's belief in the power of love to move mountains.Mi Mi closed her eyes. “Nothing,” she said, and laughed. Tin Win leaned over and felt her breath on his face. “I think it’s coming from you.” He crept closer to her and held his head just in front of her chest. This is the first review I have written and whilst I could give a plot summary, I feel no need as many others have done a brilliant job of this. I write factual and complex assessments as a part of my job, so feel no desire to analyze this book. I read primarily for enjoyment and relaxation and occasionally enjoy a challenging read. I chose this novel hoping that it would be perfect holiday read, something to savour and delight in, and I was not dissapointed. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats was an absolute joy to read. German journalist Sendker’s first novel, originally published in German in 2002, is a love story set in Burma and imbued with Eastern spirituality and fairy-tale romanticism.

Globetrotting - The New York Times Globetrotting - The New York Times

I'm not sure I would put it that way. When we get over something, we move on, we put it behind us. Do we leave the dead behind or do we take them with us? I think we take them with us. They accompany us. They remain with us, if in another form. We have to learn to live with them and their deaths..... Then, when I listen to my mother and read a book she insists that I simply must, I am never disappointed. The last book I raved about here: What Alice Forgot, was such a book. I read this book in 2012, and reread it now for book club. It’s a story of a daughter, Julia Win, who is a high-powered lawyer, coming to terms with her father and his past. Four years ago, Julia’s father disappeared without a trace. He took an airline flight to Bangkok and disappeared. Julia’s father is of Burmese decent, and has never discussed the first 20 years of his life with anyone, including family. Julia decides she wants to find him and learn why he abandoned his family.The choice for narrator, who had a soothing, monotone voice made it quite challenging to note shifts in storyline (especially when driving). Though it was to be a lovely escape and a melodious tale of first love, its mechanics made it confusing and the descriptive language unnecessary. The author would have used those words to develop the characters better, particular when describing daily living. Then Tin Win meets Mi Mi, who is also disabled and cannot walk, and who is also inspirational and magical, possessed of the most wonderful voice that is rumoured to preserve and prolong life, and a completely unnatural dignity and dirt-repelling charms, while she crawls (in a dignified way, f course) on all fours on the floor. Julia is in her late 20's and living in New York, has always had a loving father even if his and her mother's marriage was not perfect, and she believes her fast-paced life in the field of law is following in his footsteps. Then one day, her father just leaves, not to be heard from for the next four years. Julia is at a loss as to what could make him abandon her and she heads to Burma, her fathers homeland, in search of answers. Who was this man she thought she knew? Why has he never spoke of the first 20 years of his life in a small Burmese town? Why does he have secret love letters to a woman named Mi Mi hidden with his belongings? Does he still love her? What begins as a problem-solving quest becomes a journey of self-discovery, sure to resonate with anyone who has ever sought to reinvent oneself.”— Shelf Awareness