Shooting the Heart

by Paul Cody

A chilling, unforgettable literary novel by the author of So Far Gone journeys into the mind of Earl Madden, a former Boston schoolteacher committed to a state mental hospital, who struggles to deal with the idea that he may have killed his wife as he reflects on his unstable childhood, brief courtship and marriage, and obsession with serial killers. 20,000 first printing.

Genres: Fiction

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Susan L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I personally loved this book before I even started reading it, but I spent almost three years getting to the end. There are lots of reasons for this. First of all, the jacket is beautiful. It sums up the entire novel perfectly and sets the tone before you even open the book. The photo of the hallway that opens each chapter (and distorts and blurs in a different way each time) also serves as a great visual aid to the reader. It's a difficult book to read at times because of both the subject matter and the writing style. The segments that are most heavily fragmented are SO choppy and distracting that I had to put the book down for years before I picked it up again a few days ago and started over from the beginning. On a positive note, I would say that Cody definitely commits fully to his narrative and character, which is important in any book. He takes a huge risk in losing readers though. I will say that I found the book very beautiful most of the time, and very brave as well. Also, I have an obsession with serial killers so I found those passages very interesting. At the end, I wasn't sure exactly what happened to his wife and what was real and just in his mind, but for a novel like this I'm not entirely sure it matters. I'm very interesting in reading his other novels now; he seems to choose very tough topics and somehow writes about them with this rare, unflinching honesty and (to borrow from the books title) heart, no matter how difficult. I felt uneasy the whole time I was reading, until I wasn't just reading, I was experiencing something greater.

Grade: B+

[Iris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about a man that is in a mental hospital with manic depression and psychotic episodes. He thinks he may have killed his wife, but he's unsure. It was really hard to read, but it was really well written. That said, let me explain. Earl, the man, is the narrator and he tells the story as he remembers it, in flashes. Sometimes as a child, sometimes as an adult, sometimes in the hospital, sometimes with his wife, and sometimes reading about serial killers. I'm sure the author meant for this book to be this way, but if I wasn't such a dedicated reader and really wanted to find out what the heck was going on I wouldn't have finished it. So, I'm a little disappointed in the ending. All that combing through mess to get the answer. Well, that's what Earl and the therapists had to do, so bravo Mr. Cody, you succeeded, but I guess I wasn't really in the mood for that type of book right then. I am interested in at least seeing some of his other work, but if it's in the same style, I probably will not delve into it.

[˚✧₊⁎Goby⁎⁺˳✧༚ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Finished reading, but would not recommend. Book with no direction, predictable ending.
I feel like all the monologues were just not adding anything to the story, and the monologues make up 90% of this book.

[Adrienne · Rating 1 out of 5]

Full disclosure, I only made it to page 75 of this book. If I could have given it zero stars I would. Almost every sentence in that book was a fragment, which could be beneficial for emphasis but not for an entire novel. What made it worse, was that none of the fragments seemed to belong to each other. It was as if words are being pulled out of a hat and thrown together in a book. I gave it 75 pages of a chance, but found not one redeeming quality. Wish I had not wasted my life on those first 75 pages.

[Monica Copeland · Rating 1 out of 5]

Shame, for that inconclusive ending, Paul Cody. You had me with the guy in the mental ward trying to figure out his path and what happened to his wife. I even forgave your apparent (and common) confusion between multiple personality disorder and schitzophrenia. But that ending was nonsense. Nonsense!

[o · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well now. I have no idea what just happened. I mean, so much of this book is imagined by the protagonist or is the story of a serial killer that it's hard to discern what's actually real. To be honest, the writing is crazy and illogical, but reminds me of a half-rate Palahniuk novel. Entertaining, but not enjoyable enough for me.

[Andy · Rating 2 out of 5]

So far, this book has been fascinating but saggy at the same time. Sometimes you just wanna get to the good parts, but there is too much information which nobody cares to read.