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The Art of the Heart
The heartland of America in 1965 feels like the end of the road for seventeen-year-old Zac Weston. After all, there’s nowhere to go when you’re shy, gay, and a virgin. A natural artist, inspiration strikes in the form of neighbor boy Rory, and Zac’s fantasies spill onto the pages of his notebook. When Zac’s secret is discovered, it might take more than wishes to magically make his world right.
61 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 25, 2014
15 people are currently reading
347 people want to read
About the author
Dan Skinner
20 books428 followersDan Skinner is a new author who hates writing bios. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri, and has been a book cover artist for seven years.
Visit Dan's deviantart profile for more works of art.
Visit Dan's deviantart profile for more works of art.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
July 20, 2014
4.5 chaste stars. Review posted July 7, 2014
A love story within a love story.
In a nutshell
Set in 1965 in rural Missouri, The Art of the Heart tells the story of shy, innocent and withdrawn yet very talented seventeen-year-old Zac. Zac with his stunning eyes and sensitive mind. Over the years, he’s secretly worshipping gorgeous farm boy Rory from afar. Rory boosts Zac’s creative mind tremendously and he’s also the endless source of Zac’s longing.
Absolutely amazing 61 pages of outstanding writing skills.
Dan weaves a beautiful and emotive story of self-discovery, longing, isolation, infatuation and first love. There’s poetry in writing and Dan commands it with such ease, it’s awe-inspiring. I'll always come back for more.
This sweet and chaste little read is pure beauty laid bare within few pages of soulful storytelling that will leave you drenched with a myriad of emotions and feelings. Dan gives a voice to a closeted teenager who didn't believe in himself. However, when Zac, reassured by Rory, had the courage to really look in the mirror, he recognized there could be a future beyond the confines of Sweetwater.
Why not five stars?
While the ending was lovely and somewhat unconventional, which I really did appreciate by the way, I wasn't ready to quit at only 75 %. I wanted to spend more time with Zac and Rory.
That's the art of storytelling accomplished by Dan Skinner. Folks, if you have loved Memorizing You, then I’m sure you’ll heart this wonderful short story.
Recommended read.
A love story within a love story.
In a nutshell
Set in 1965 in rural Missouri, The Art of the Heart tells the story of shy, innocent and withdrawn yet very talented seventeen-year-old Zac. Zac with his stunning eyes and sensitive mind. Over the years, he’s secretly worshipping gorgeous farm boy Rory from afar. Rory boosts Zac’s creative mind tremendously and he’s also the endless source of Zac’s longing.
Absolutely amazing 61 pages of outstanding writing skills.
Dan weaves a beautiful and emotive story of self-discovery, longing, isolation, infatuation and first love. There’s poetry in writing and Dan commands it with such ease, it’s awe-inspiring. I'll always come back for more.
This sweet and chaste little read is pure beauty laid bare within few pages of soulful storytelling that will leave you drenched with a myriad of emotions and feelings. Dan gives a voice to a closeted teenager who didn't believe in himself. However, when Zac, reassured by Rory, had the courage to really look in the mirror, he recognized there could be a future beyond the confines of Sweetwater.
Why not five stars?
While the ending was lovely and somewhat unconventional, which I really did appreciate by the way, I wasn't ready to quit at only 75 %. I wanted to spend more time with Zac and Rory.
That's the art of storytelling accomplished by Dan Skinner. Folks, if you have loved Memorizing You, then I’m sure you’ll heart this wonderful short story.
Recommended read.
August 29, 2016
*****4.5 StArS*****
A Beautiful Coming of Age ~ First Love Story
I could almost feel the crackling tension it was so wonderfully gorgeous.
Every WORD was like a slow caress from a lover's lips, exciting, slow, seductive, heady.....I was so drawn into this beautifully story between Zac and Rory....I didn't want that beautiful kiss to end.
Dan, you truly are an amazing writer...
*S*T*U*N*N*I*N*G*
A Beautiful Coming of Age ~ First Love Story
I could almost feel the crackling tension it was so wonderfully gorgeous.
Every WORD was like a slow caress from a lover's lips, exciting, slow, seductive, heady.....I was so drawn into this beautifully story between Zac and Rory....I didn't want that beautiful kiss to end.
Dan, you truly are an amazing writer...
September 28, 2016
Dan Skinner writes about coming of age as no other.
This reads as a typical Dan Skinner story.
Young men barely out of their teens, if at all? Check.
First discoveries and sexuality exploration? All in all, coming of age? Check.
Sense of doom filled with dreams struggling to come to the surface? Check.
1960s in the middle of nowhere setting? Check.
Poetical and intimate style? Check.
Raw feelings? Check.
Dan Skinner has the ability of giving me what I need and still leave me with utter longing. This is a little gem. With an aery feeling, emotions get out of your skin and become tactile and real.
And the ending is open to hope.
So I hope and have the perfect ending in my head.
Because I choose to believe.
*****
Story ends at 75%.
This reads as a typical Dan Skinner story.
Young men barely out of their teens, if at all? Check.
First discoveries and sexuality exploration? All in all, coming of age? Check.
Sense of doom filled with dreams struggling to come to the surface? Check.
1960s in the middle of nowhere setting? Check.
Poetical and intimate style? Check.
Raw feelings? Check.
Dan Skinner has the ability of giving me what I need and still leave me with utter longing. This is a little gem. With an aery feeling, emotions get out of your skin and become tactile and real.
And the ending is open to hope.
So I hope and have the perfect ending in my head.
Because I choose to believe.
*****
Story ends at 75%.
July 14, 2014
Beautiful, poetic, lyrical, The Art of the Heart is a coming-of-age story, a story of what it means to be different and desire someone who'll never be yours. This is not a romance, but it is a love story, a story of yearning, and of hope.
Unrequited love hurts, but it hurts more when you're gay and live on a farm in 1960s Missouri.
Zac, with a brilliant mind and an endless imagination, can only admire from afar, and Rory, handsome, friendly Rory, kissing on every girl in town, is the object of Zac's fantasies.
Zac escapes in his drawings, which haunt his dreams, until one stormy February night when his dreams spill open.
There's a beginning, and another beginning after that. Skinner blurs the lines between reality and fantasy, reminding us that hope dwells in the impossible, and that dreams are for the taking. Maybe if we dream it enough, we can have it.
I was blown away by the quality of the writing, the truth of the words. This one will stay with me for a long time.
Be aware that this story ends at 75 percent on the Kindle, and when it ends, you will cry.
Unrequited love hurts, but it hurts more when you're gay and live on a farm in 1960s Missouri.
Zac, with a brilliant mind and an endless imagination, can only admire from afar, and Rory, handsome, friendly Rory, kissing on every girl in town, is the object of Zac's fantasies.
Zac escapes in his drawings, which haunt his dreams, until one stormy February night when his dreams spill open.
There's a beginning, and another beginning after that. Skinner blurs the lines between reality and fantasy, reminding us that hope dwells in the impossible, and that dreams are for the taking. Maybe if we dream it enough, we can have it.
I was blown away by the quality of the writing, the truth of the words. This one will stay with me for a long time.
Be aware that this story ends at 75 percent on the Kindle, and when it ends, you will cry.
July 11, 2015
This was such a well-written short novella, full of loneliness and longing.
I normally avoid books that aren't set in present time, mainly because of the utter lack of acceptance, or even a vague sense of tolerance, which simply didn't exist until quite recently.
The story is set in 1965 and, as Zac's character witnesses, it was definitely not a time to revel in (or reveal) any differences from the rest of the "normal" people in small Missouri farming communities.
So the sad, shy and lonely boy retreats into a world of his own making, with his attentions set firmly, and quietly, on a slightly-older farm boy neighbor.
Rory is the type of boy that Zac idealizes as nothing short of perfection, so over the years Zac's unrequited love of the young man grows each time their paths cross.
And through the years, Zac uses his talent for drawing, along with his seemingly photographic memory, to enshrine Rory in his sketchpad, where Zac more or less lives when not working on the family farm.
I absolutely loved how, after accidentally discovering that he is the subject of Zac's very lifelike, sometimes homoerotic, artistic endeavors, Rory doesn't freak out on the horrified younger man. Instead, he offers Zac kind words and praise for his drawings.
And how at the end of the book, the (real or imagined?) interaction between the two boys gives Zac the courage to finally overcome the previously-unchallenged acceptance of the fact that he would grow old alone on the farm, having only ever known sadness and an unfulfilled desire to be who he truly is.
This book contains no happily ever after; however, what the story does provide is a ray of hope at its conclusion.
Not the conventional type of hope that most romance stories (which this was definitely not) have, but the type of hope needed to allow a person to dream of more. Need more. Accept nothing less than 'more.'
So 4.5 *welcome-to-your-OWN-flavor-of-normal* stars for this heart-felt and satisfying short read.
March 20, 2019
That thing when you fall in love with a writer's voice and want to roll around in it. And then proceed to inhale everything he's ever written.
July 2, 2014
I have read everything that Dan Skinner has written. He is so blasted talented I don't think he could write anything that I would think was anything less than spectacular. The Art of The Heart is no exception. I'm usually not one for short stories. This one I adore. Of course, he made me cry. I'll probably cry several times remembering this story. It touched my heart in a whole different way Memorizing You and the Price of Dick touched me. This reminds me of the insecurities in all of us and then someone, anyone finally seeing us, loving us and making us feel real for the first time. It broke my heart, it then made me hopeful. Everybody needs a few tears and a lot of hope in their life. So, I highly recommend you grab this book up and read it. It's another book that will never leave my heart. Thanks, Dan. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
December 6, 2018
It was so beautiful I can't even!
September 7, 2014
"These are for your dreams" he said, delicately pressing his mouth to each eyelid.
"This is to remember when you're awake", he cradled Zac's head between his palms.
Just delightful. Another quality read from Dan, and yet again I can only give it 5 stars. This story is a short fairy tale, which is set in Missouri in the 1960's and features 17 year old Zac Weston, an extremely lonely and innocent farm boy who has a secret....he's been in love with Rory, the eldest son on a neighbouring farm, since he was 13. Rory is completely unaware of Zac's childish infatuation, but treats Zac just as he does his own brother and sisters; however, one day he discovers that Zac draws comic book pages, and brilliantly too, and that Rory himself is the main character and hero.
Dan's prose in this lovely little short is just exquisite. The story took me back to a time when discovering you liked boys not girls must have been a really scary and frightening thing for a 13 year old, and the sheer hard work that went into farming for a living in those days meant that if you were born into a farming family, that basically was all you knew....no college, no other job, just farming, so to discover that you were really good at something other than farming was pretty much a waste of a great talent...or was it?? Enjoy this one, I certainly did.
A big smooch to all concerned....you know who you are!!
December 30, 2016
Oh my God.
I am so in love with this story <3
The beauty and purity of it left me enchanted.
I wonder what kind of strange magic a writer put on his words to leaves us bewitched.
This wonderful feeling of finishing a book under this magical spell is priceless.
Absolutely loved it.
September 29, 2014
Why the hell did it take me so long to read a Dan Skinner book? *smh* This is the second one I've read in a week and WOW!
This story is so damn good I just want to scream "FUCK YEAH"! It felt so real and packed with emotion....my heart literally ached at times. Again the ending freaking killed me but FUCK IT! This story was so original and so beautifully told, I'm giving it all the stars! ALL.THE.STARS!!!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
This story is so damn good I just want to scream "FUCK YEAH"! It felt so real and packed with emotion....my heart literally ached at times. Again the ending freaking killed me but FUCK IT! This story was so original and so beautifully told, I'm giving it all the stars! ALL.THE.STARS!!!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
December 22, 2014
Wow, just WOW...
Dan Skinner, I don't know how you do it but my emotions are all over the place after reading your books.
This book took me back to my first 'crush '...I can still picture him with his long hair wearing a green jumper...
Anyway ,
I loved David in Memorizing You
I loved Matt in The Bible Boys
But, oh my, Zac pulled at my heart strings, I actually didn't cry while I was reading this but after I had finished it and I went back over it in my mind
Just a beautiful story.Sometimes after reading a short story I'm left feeling a bit lost but I wasn't here, it's just stunning !!
Dan Skinner, I don't know how you do it but my emotions are all over the place after reading your books.
This book took me back to my first 'crush '...I can still picture him with his long hair wearing a green jumper...
Anyway ,
I loved David in Memorizing You
I loved Matt in The Bible Boys
But, oh my, Zac pulled at my heart strings, I actually didn't cry while I was reading this but after I had finished it and I went back over it in my mind
Just a beautiful story.Sometimes after reading a short story I'm left feeling a bit lost but I wasn't here, it's just stunning !!
August 29, 2016
I'm speechless! Indeed!
Okay, almost!
This is a beautiful coming of age piece of literature, masterfully drawn by a great storyteller.
After had finished reading this short story, I closed my eyes remembering those quiet Two-Tone eyes hidden behind long enough bangs, siting in a tight fit between Rory’s tanned legs. Rory, his muse, his Eros, his arrow for his friendless and lonely heart so that he can feel love. He is smiling. There is a hope. There is a path for an artist get caught in a farm boy’s body.
“His nearness made Zac’s insides flutter like a butterfly in a cupped palm.”
Okay, almost!
This is a beautiful coming of age piece of literature, masterfully drawn by a great storyteller.
After had finished reading this short story, I closed my eyes remembering those quiet Two-Tone eyes hidden behind long enough bangs, siting in a tight fit between Rory’s tanned legs. Rory, his muse, his Eros, his arrow for his friendless and lonely heart so that he can feel love. He is smiling. There is a hope. There is a path for an artist get caught in a farm boy’s body.
“His nearness made Zac’s insides flutter like a butterfly in a cupped palm.”
March 19, 2015
”There’s nothing to be afraid of”
An exquisite and tender short story about Zac - a shy and talented boy, who discovers how to dream big.
Zac keeps his love and dreams of Rory inside his drawings until a thunder storm allows the magic to leave the pages of his drawing book and make Zac believe in himself.
A beautiful fairy tail.
Recommended read.
July 3, 2014
After reading this short story, I have come to conclusion that D.w.Skinner should be required reading for the entire universe. I swear his stories, make your heart melt, your insides puddles of goo and your knees weak with their beauty.
This is a short story. I wish it wasn't. It's about coming of age, realizing that we all can find love and acceptance, even if it ourselves doing the accepting. Being comfortable in your own skin, is the best gift we can give ourselves.
Kudos Dan, another great experience. A million and 1/2 stars!
This is a short story. I wish it wasn't. It's about coming of age, realizing that we all can find love and acceptance, even if it ourselves doing the accepting. Being comfortable in your own skin, is the best gift we can give ourselves.
Kudos Dan, another great experience. A million and 1/2 stars!
September 28, 2014
A beautifully written bittersweet love story. This short story pulled at the heartstrings and left a smile on my face. Zac's love for Rory was pure if totally one sided. Rory was that one special love that we only get one time before our innocence flees and the real world barges in. This magical story shows that love has always been around even for a lonely boy in Nowhere, Missouri in 1965.
December 25, 2014
This one was 61 pages pure poetry. Loved it.
The Art of the Heart isn’t a sad story, so please don’t be scared… this beautiful short story is nothing like Memorizing You.
The Art of the Heart is a tale about a 17 years old boy learning to accept and love himself for who he is. It’s beautiful told, packed with emotions… and every single one of these feel real. It isn’t a romance, it’s a very special coming of age story, a glimpse into a life of a lonely boy who needs to get comfortable in his own skin… a boy with a very special gift who is finally starting to believe in himself.
One of the wonderful quotes:
“I didn’t believe in magic before, but I do now. Because it’s inside you, Two-Tone...Zac. Real magic is in you, and it reveals itself here...like this. In these drawings where you can change people, change the whole world; see things that no one else can see. I don’t think anyone else could ever have the ability to make someone feel about themselves the way you have made me feel right now. I don’t believe I even have the words in me to tell you. This is not something I will ever, ever forget.” He closed the book. “You make me wish I could be something like this, even if for only a few moments of my life.”
Spread your wings and fly away, Zac…
February 27, 2016
Omg I believe I can fly. Fly on the soft feather wings of love.
It touched my heart and the mark will stay there forever
What a beautiful delicate story. All the feelings....I just want to cry
This book is a piece of art
Read the blurb and that is what you get
It touched my heart and the mark will stay there forever
What a beautiful delicate story. All the feelings....I just want to cry
This book is a piece of art
Read the blurb and that is what you get
November 27, 2017
Such a beautiful story. Lovely things really do come in small packages.
August 5, 2014
A short, but stunningly beautiful, story. Every page, every word, every line is poetic...is art. The single-minded obsession of unrequited, first love, against the backdrop of a simple country town. It will make your stomach clench and your heart beat faster. Thank you so much J for the recommendation.
March 31, 2021
What happens when Cupid grows up? Eros, the Greek god!
Sweetwater, NO is not where you would expect superheroes to live, let alone farm. Few neighbors are close and things to do are even fewer and farther apart. But neighbors help each other out when needed. And take care of each other even if they do not know why. The farms are a trap for kids because the money is seldom available to escape to college.
Yet in this microcosm of life, things happen. Rory is a bit older, but not wiser. He womanizes just because he can and no one questions it. But the eyes are always watching and seeing.
The quiet boy that no one noticed is always aware. He records what he sees in his sketchbook that no one ever looks at. The artwork is excellent and detailed. But when Rory sees himself through another's eyes, it haunts him until on a dark, stormy night, the gods bring two lovers together when the arrow backfires.
Sweetwater, NO is not where you would expect superheroes to live, let alone farm. Few neighbors are close and things to do are even fewer and farther apart. But neighbors help each other out when needed. And take care of each other even if they do not know why. The farms are a trap for kids because the money is seldom available to escape to college.
Yet in this microcosm of life, things happen. Rory is a bit older, but not wiser. He womanizes just because he can and no one questions it. But the eyes are always watching and seeing.
The quiet boy that no one noticed is always aware. He records what he sees in his sketchbook that no one ever looks at. The artwork is excellent and detailed. But when Rory sees himself through another's eyes, it haunts him until on a dark, stormy night, the gods bring two lovers together when the arrow backfires.
September 28, 2016
First love, puppy love, forever love. Love comes in so many different forms but the most painful is unrequited love. Knowing that person who holds your heart in the palm of their hands doesn't return your feelings and never will...well is there really anything more painful?
Zac is in love. Which is not such a big deal...unless you're a young man growing up in a small town, living on a ranch with little hope of life offering much else and you're gay with a neighbour who is everything you dream about except for one thing he's not gay.
First love can be painful enough but to realize that your love will never be returned is heartbreaking. Zac turns to his drawing to console himself and ease that pain giving himself his own world to turn to when reality becomes overwhelming and in the end it is the world he has created within the pages of a sketchbook that offer him the comfort and hope of a life beyond his parents farm.
I loved watching Zac grow up and all the glimpses into his thoughts and feelings leading up to the dreamlike ending where like Zac, I was left wondering what was real and what was dream. My heart ached for this young man who had the potential to be so much more than the son of a farmer if only he could reach for it.
To me, The Art of the Heart wasn't a love story not in the traditional sense. It was about growing up, finding yourself and ultimately having the strength to believe in yourself.
Zac is in love. Which is not such a big deal...unless you're a young man growing up in a small town, living on a ranch with little hope of life offering much else and you're gay with a neighbour who is everything you dream about except for one thing he's not gay.
First love can be painful enough but to realize that your love will never be returned is heartbreaking. Zac turns to his drawing to console himself and ease that pain giving himself his own world to turn to when reality becomes overwhelming and in the end it is the world he has created within the pages of a sketchbook that offer him the comfort and hope of a life beyond his parents farm.
I loved watching Zac grow up and all the glimpses into his thoughts and feelings leading up to the dreamlike ending where like Zac, I was left wondering what was real and what was dream. My heart ached for this young man who had the potential to be so much more than the son of a farmer if only he could reach for it.
To me, The Art of the Heart wasn't a love story not in the traditional sense. It was about growing up, finding yourself and ultimately having the strength to believe in yourself.
August 30, 2015
This short work by Dan Skinner is realistic and magical. Northing actually magical happens, but the author sets a mood that moves from a kind of crisp Willa Cather realism to a climactic event that feels magical. I don’t know else to describe it.
We are in rural Missouri in 1965, in a small farm town that eerily recalls the setting of the classic movie of my teen years, The Last Picture Show (I’m sure this is no coincidence). Zac Weston is a solitary farm boy, neither bullied nor much loved by his classmates at the local school. Known as “Two Tone” for his different colored eyes, and assumed to be slightly “slow,” Zac is more or less left alone, which is his goal. Rory McHenry is a few years older, and lives on the neighboring farm with a brother and four sisters. He is everything Zac is not: confident, popular, and beautiful.
Skinner goes to great pains to set the stage: the town’s isolation, Zac’s isolation, the inevitability of farm boys ending up as farmers in an economy that doesn’t allow for college or for escape. We see Zac’s fixation on Rory emerge with his own puberty, and we watch from Zac’s lonely, self-abnegating perspective as he begins to fill a sketch pad with exquisite drawings, most of them involving Rory as an imaginary angel-like super hero.
There is so much that is familiar here, but Skinner breaks the mold by making Rory McHenry into something more than just Zac’s masturbatory fantasy. Skinner supposes that someone as popular and attractive as Rory might in fact also be more: a good man, able to see beyond the confines of his own world into the soul of another. There is no cliché revelation of hidden love here; but the surprise of a straight man who can see past social expectations and recognize the extraordinary where others see only what they’ve been taught to see.
We are in rural Missouri in 1965, in a small farm town that eerily recalls the setting of the classic movie of my teen years, The Last Picture Show (I’m sure this is no coincidence). Zac Weston is a solitary farm boy, neither bullied nor much loved by his classmates at the local school. Known as “Two Tone” for his different colored eyes, and assumed to be slightly “slow,” Zac is more or less left alone, which is his goal. Rory McHenry is a few years older, and lives on the neighboring farm with a brother and four sisters. He is everything Zac is not: confident, popular, and beautiful.
Skinner goes to great pains to set the stage: the town’s isolation, Zac’s isolation, the inevitability of farm boys ending up as farmers in an economy that doesn’t allow for college or for escape. We see Zac’s fixation on Rory emerge with his own puberty, and we watch from Zac’s lonely, self-abnegating perspective as he begins to fill a sketch pad with exquisite drawings, most of them involving Rory as an imaginary angel-like super hero.
There is so much that is familiar here, but Skinner breaks the mold by making Rory McHenry into something more than just Zac’s masturbatory fantasy. Skinner supposes that someone as popular and attractive as Rory might in fact also be more: a good man, able to see beyond the confines of his own world into the soul of another. There is no cliché revelation of hidden love here; but the surprise of a straight man who can see past social expectations and recognize the extraordinary where others see only what they’ve been taught to see.
January 7, 2016
Yea that's right 5 BIG ASS STARS I'd give more but there not allowing it at this time. I'll write more when I'm not on my kindle. If you haven't read this you need to. Like now go on over buy this baby and ill await all the beautiful feels it lets loose on you XO
December 16, 2018
Set in rural Missouri around the mid-1960s, Dan Skinner's The Art of the Heart is a short coming-of-age story infused with a sense of magical realism.
Focusing on the shy but secretly talented Zac, the novella chronicles his existence from childhood to young adulthood and paints him as a silent but deeply sensitive observer of the life going on around him in the small town of Sweetwater.
Besotted since being a child with the confident and handsome Rory, Zac - too solitary and fearful to approach him openly - builds around him a sort of graphic novel where Rory becomes the hero and main narrative focus.
It's this secret talent that Zac uses in such a personal and liberating manner (his drawings are the only place where he can really be himself) that will offer him a link to Rory and perhaps a way out from his safe but stifling existence in Sweetwater.
Despite its brevity and suspended finale, The Art of the Heart is a beautifully-constructed narrative that, despite some precise chronological references, seems to remain suspended in a sort of magical reality, a fairytale world enlivened by the vivid colours of summer and by the violent, thunderous storm that finally brings together the characters in an atmosphere that is neither fully real or fully dreamt.
Thanks to Moony Eliver for helping me push this title up my TBR list. It's been there for a while, a hidden gem, just like the beautiful drawings that Zac hides jealously in his drawing album.
Focusing on the shy but secretly talented Zac, the novella chronicles his existence from childhood to young adulthood and paints him as a silent but deeply sensitive observer of the life going on around him in the small town of Sweetwater.
Besotted since being a child with the confident and handsome Rory, Zac - too solitary and fearful to approach him openly - builds around him a sort of graphic novel where Rory becomes the hero and main narrative focus.
It's this secret talent that Zac uses in such a personal and liberating manner (his drawings are the only place where he can really be himself) that will offer him a link to Rory and perhaps a way out from his safe but stifling existence in Sweetwater.
Despite its brevity and suspended finale, The Art of the Heart is a beautifully-constructed narrative that, despite some precise chronological references, seems to remain suspended in a sort of magical reality, a fairytale world enlivened by the vivid colours of summer and by the violent, thunderous storm that finally brings together the characters in an atmosphere that is neither fully real or fully dreamt.
Thanks to Moony Eliver for helping me push this title up my TBR list. It's been there for a while, a hidden gem, just like the beautiful drawings that Zac hides jealously in his drawing album.
September 26, 2014
Every time I think Dan Skinner has plumbed the depths of his exceptional talent, he digs a little deeper and proves that he is nowhere near its bottom. This is a short story that Dan wrote a number of years ago. He thought it wasn’t worth publishing, so he set it aside. I, for one, am so glad he decided to give it another look.
The Art of the Heart is Zac’s story. Zac is quiet, shy and lonely in small town USA in 1965. His only companionship is found between the pages of the new (read: six months old) comic books his dad allows him to buy when they make a trip into town.
All the families in Sweetwater, MO are farm families. There just isn’t anything else to do. On a neighboring farm, the McHenrys are a large family compared to Zac’s own status as an only child. The oldest child in the McHenry family is Rory. He is three years older than Zac’s thirteen when we first meet him. Rory tags along on a trip Zac and his father take into town. Mr. Weston insists that there is enough room in the cab of the pick-up for Zac to sit on Rory’s lap. Zac discovers a whole new, exciting world that day.
Zac, in addition to reading comic books, has a photographic memory for everything he sees, and is able to pull those scenes out of his mind and draw them in minute detail later. He develops an attraction and fascination for Rory and wonders if he could draw his own comic book, with Rory in the starring role as the secret superhero.
The Art of the Heart, a title that so perfectly suits this amazing story, refers to that comic book. The love and loneliness that Zac feels in his heart, and his desire for Rory and for something more, is poured out onto the pages of his sketch pad. Zac knows that in that time, in that place, he won’t be allowed to be what he is. He yearns to be able to be himself and it is only on the pages of that pad that he is able to really express his truest feelings and desires.
This is a beautiful, heart-warming story of a boy coming of age and wanting what he knows he can’t have. It is a story of yearning and desire and need, all of which are felt by every teenager everywhere, ever. But in this case, those feelings belong to Zac Weston. He is more than your average teenager. He is sweet and talented, smart and good; all the things parents hope their children grow to become.
While heart-warming, The Art of the Heart also does what we are coming to expect from Dan Skinner. It makes us cry. For Zac’s loneliness, his rejection, his fear and anxiety about being found out. His pain just about comes off the pages in waves as he sees Rory with one girl after another. But then something magical happens. I won’t tell you what, because reading it will turn you into a big puddle of goo, and I don’t want to take that away from you.
Dan Skinner has done it again with The Art of the Heart. He has written something that touches every reader on such a soul-deep level, you remember what it was like when you were thirteen and found out for the first time what your dick (or clitoris) is capable of. The awe Zac feels, the confusion at his sexual awakening just…it really made me FEEL. There just aren’t the right words to describe it. Well, there are, and Dan used them! And the ones he used are just so, so… insert your choice of adjectives here. I can’t choose just one. The words Dan uses are just right. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with a heart.
The Art of the Heart is Zac’s story. Zac is quiet, shy and lonely in small town USA in 1965. His only companionship is found between the pages of the new (read: six months old) comic books his dad allows him to buy when they make a trip into town.
All the families in Sweetwater, MO are farm families. There just isn’t anything else to do. On a neighboring farm, the McHenrys are a large family compared to Zac’s own status as an only child. The oldest child in the McHenry family is Rory. He is three years older than Zac’s thirteen when we first meet him. Rory tags along on a trip Zac and his father take into town. Mr. Weston insists that there is enough room in the cab of the pick-up for Zac to sit on Rory’s lap. Zac discovers a whole new, exciting world that day.
Zac, in addition to reading comic books, has a photographic memory for everything he sees, and is able to pull those scenes out of his mind and draw them in minute detail later. He develops an attraction and fascination for Rory and wonders if he could draw his own comic book, with Rory in the starring role as the secret superhero.
The Art of the Heart, a title that so perfectly suits this amazing story, refers to that comic book. The love and loneliness that Zac feels in his heart, and his desire for Rory and for something more, is poured out onto the pages of his sketch pad. Zac knows that in that time, in that place, he won’t be allowed to be what he is. He yearns to be able to be himself and it is only on the pages of that pad that he is able to really express his truest feelings and desires.
This is a beautiful, heart-warming story of a boy coming of age and wanting what he knows he can’t have. It is a story of yearning and desire and need, all of which are felt by every teenager everywhere, ever. But in this case, those feelings belong to Zac Weston. He is more than your average teenager. He is sweet and talented, smart and good; all the things parents hope their children grow to become.
While heart-warming, The Art of the Heart also does what we are coming to expect from Dan Skinner. It makes us cry. For Zac’s loneliness, his rejection, his fear and anxiety about being found out. His pain just about comes off the pages in waves as he sees Rory with one girl after another. But then something magical happens. I won’t tell you what, because reading it will turn you into a big puddle of goo, and I don’t want to take that away from you.
Dan Skinner has done it again with The Art of the Heart. He has written something that touches every reader on such a soul-deep level, you remember what it was like when you were thirteen and found out for the first time what your dick (or clitoris) is capable of. The awe Zac feels, the confusion at his sexual awakening just…it really made me FEEL. There just aren’t the right words to describe it. Well, there are, and Dan used them! And the ones he used are just so, so… insert your choice of adjectives here. I can’t choose just one. The words Dan uses are just right. I strongly recommend this book to anyone with a heart.
August 26, 2014
Again I find I'm speechless after reading a Dan Skinner book.
This book is so well written and heart thumping good!
This book is so well written and heart thumping good!
July 5, 2016
A very sweet story. I wish it had been longer, but that's the way it goes--stories are as long as they're supposed to be.
August 26, 2016
“As you think, so you are. As you dream, so you become. As you create your wishes, so they create you.” ~ Wendy Garrett
Zac, of Dan Skinner's book 'The Art of the Heart', has known that he's different most of his life; but, because he thinks how he feels is wrong, he hides behind his shyness and stays to himself. He tries to be as anonymous as possible, hoping no one will be able to figure it out; but the gift inside of him has a life of its own and will not be denied. With encouragement from Rory, the man he's had feelings for most of his life, Zac is able to acknowledge and appreciate his beauty that lies within.
By hiding his desire for men Zac is also smothering his specialness; because in choosing to be plain, he's blind to how gifted he is. When Zac begins to draw, something deep in his soul stirs and cries for release. Even though he can't share it anyone, Zac is able to create his own fantasy world, one in which he can be anything or do anything he wants. Even with the evidence laid before his eyes in the glorious drawings he creates, he still doesn't fathom the extent of their magic. Zac can't internalize his talent so he can't see himself as being anything special. Until his idol, Rory, points it out to him, Zac doesn't realize he has an extraordinary gift, one that can save him from the boring existence which, before now, he's resigned himself to.
Rory has always liked Zac, but like everyone else, he didn't realize how special he was, because Zac didn't let anyone know him. With Zac being so shy, Rory thought he didn't want to be bothered, so he mostly left him alone. Rory has no idea that Zac watches him all the time and has memorized every expression, nuance, and movement that Roy makes. When Rory finally sees Zac's drawings, he's in awe of the boy's talent for detail and memorization and compliments him highly. Since Zac had never shown his work to anyone, the praise scares him. He knows that Rory will most certainly pick up on his secret, especially from the obvious sensuality in the drawings and will tell everyone. Rory doesn't do that though. He tells Zac that some things are private and no one else's business. Rory keeps the information in his heart, thinking about how special Zac sees him, waiting to show Zac that he is flattered, instead of being insulted, Rory tries to think of a way to repay Zac for immortalizing him in such a perfect light. When the opportunity comes, he makes sure that Zac knows, in no uncertain terms, just how very special he is.
It's not often a story comes along that I immediately want to read over again, but this is one of those times. There's a myriad of emotions played out in this modern fairy tale, which captivated my imagination and made my heart cry and sing. Although Zac's journey of self-realization was sad, I still had the feeling that something good was right around the corner; it was like electricity in the air. I was delighted in Rory's sensitivity and understanding and the part he played in Zac's evolution. It truly endeared him to me. I'd recommend this story to everyone with a romantic heart and a belief that if you wish for something hard enough, your dreams will come true. Thanks, Dan, for reminding us that we all have magic; it's just a matter of recognizing and putting it to good use.
NOTE: This book was provided by the author for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Zac, of Dan Skinner's book 'The Art of the Heart', has known that he's different most of his life; but, because he thinks how he feels is wrong, he hides behind his shyness and stays to himself. He tries to be as anonymous as possible, hoping no one will be able to figure it out; but the gift inside of him has a life of its own and will not be denied. With encouragement from Rory, the man he's had feelings for most of his life, Zac is able to acknowledge and appreciate his beauty that lies within.
By hiding his desire for men Zac is also smothering his specialness; because in choosing to be plain, he's blind to how gifted he is. When Zac begins to draw, something deep in his soul stirs and cries for release. Even though he can't share it anyone, Zac is able to create his own fantasy world, one in which he can be anything or do anything he wants. Even with the evidence laid before his eyes in the glorious drawings he creates, he still doesn't fathom the extent of their magic. Zac can't internalize his talent so he can't see himself as being anything special. Until his idol, Rory, points it out to him, Zac doesn't realize he has an extraordinary gift, one that can save him from the boring existence which, before now, he's resigned himself to.
Rory has always liked Zac, but like everyone else, he didn't realize how special he was, because Zac didn't let anyone know him. With Zac being so shy, Rory thought he didn't want to be bothered, so he mostly left him alone. Rory has no idea that Zac watches him all the time and has memorized every expression, nuance, and movement that Roy makes. When Rory finally sees Zac's drawings, he's in awe of the boy's talent for detail and memorization and compliments him highly. Since Zac had never shown his work to anyone, the praise scares him. He knows that Rory will most certainly pick up on his secret, especially from the obvious sensuality in the drawings and will tell everyone. Rory doesn't do that though. He tells Zac that some things are private and no one else's business. Rory keeps the information in his heart, thinking about how special Zac sees him, waiting to show Zac that he is flattered, instead of being insulted, Rory tries to think of a way to repay Zac for immortalizing him in such a perfect light. When the opportunity comes, he makes sure that Zac knows, in no uncertain terms, just how very special he is.
It's not often a story comes along that I immediately want to read over again, but this is one of those times. There's a myriad of emotions played out in this modern fairy tale, which captivated my imagination and made my heart cry and sing. Although Zac's journey of self-realization was sad, I still had the feeling that something good was right around the corner; it was like electricity in the air. I was delighted in Rory's sensitivity and understanding and the part he played in Zac's evolution. It truly endeared him to me. I'd recommend this story to everyone with a romantic heart and a belief that if you wish for something hard enough, your dreams will come true. Thanks, Dan, for reminding us that we all have magic; it's just a matter of recognizing and putting it to good use.
NOTE: This book was provided by the author for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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