Tin Heart 
When Marlow gets a heart transplant and. Second chance at life, all she wants is to thank her donor's family. Maybe then she'll discover who she is, if she's no longer 'The Dying Girl'. But with a little brother who dresses like every day is Halloween, a Vegan warrior for a mother and an all-out war with the hot butcher's apprentice next door, Marlowe's life is already pretty complicated. And her second chance is about to take an unexpected turn...
Author: Shivaun Plozza
Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia
Release date: March 2018
Pages: 310 pages
R.R.P: $19.99
My review
Thoughts on the book: Tin Heart is the new novel from Shivaun Plozza, author of Frankie a critically acclaimed, award winning novel. Tin Heart is based around seventeen, soon to be eighteen, year old Marlowe who until recently has been very sick with a heart condition that nearly killed her. If it wasn't for a doner heart that she had recieved she never wouldn't have been alive now. Before she was always the sick girl and now that she is healthy she doesn't know who she is supposed to be. Marlowe tries to get in touch with the family of the donor so she can learn a bit about what he was like, beside the basic information that she recieved such as age and sex, and so maybe she can make sense of who this new heart belonged to. But the family don't want to get in contact with her at this stage and this is devistating for Marlowe, she now feels like half a person. With the help of a new friend and an unexpected crush Marlowe learns who she is and grows into her new self.
Thank you so much to Tina from Penguin Teen for sending me a surprise copy of Tin Heart for review. I'm so glad that you did because I really enjoyed it. Shivaun Plozza has a way of creating dynamic characters, who are in such unique situations, continue to grow and shine throughout the book. Take Marlowe for instance, her family are very ecsentric with her mother being a vegan warrior who opens up a vegan shop next to a butchers and is constantly protesting anything that needs protesting. Next there is her younger brother Pip, who reminds me of a drag queen really, who has constantly been creating different costumes to make Marlowe smile since she got so sick and worships David Bowie. Then there is Marlowe who now is not the dying girl and basically doesn't know how to exist in the real world so needs to readjust to life which would be amazingly hard with the crazy family she has. How these characters alone work together in one family unit is beyond me but Shivaun has somehow made it work.
The whole concept behind the story of trying to work out who you are now that you aren't sick and have some random strangers body part inside you was quite interesting. I never would have thought about that side of the donation of the organ before but clearly Shivaun has. I suppose it would be quite weird not knowing where a new part of you had come from, whether the person who you recieved it from was healthy or lived a happy life until it was suddenly cut short. It certainly has made me seriously think about it all and I think if I was in Marlowe's shoes I would be doing everything I could to let the donation's family know that I was going to give this second chance of my life and their donated organ everything I had and would hope not to disappoint them with the paths that I have chosen since reviving it.
I can't wait to read more from Shivaun after enjoying both Tin Heart and Frankie.
Rating: 4/5
Comments
Post a Comment