Heart with Joy
is a coming of age story centered around fifteen-year-old Julian Hale. His mother, a writer, has just left is father to manage her family's hotel in Florida. Julian knows there is more to the separation than a hotel though, and he plans to move to Florida with his mother at the end of the school year. In the meantime he has to take care of his father and becomes obsessed with cooking delicious meals for them and watching cooking television. In the process he learns more about his father and discovers that he is not the bad guy his mother made him out to be. Julian also gets to know his elderly next door neighbor, a woman who loves bird watching and her garden, and the cute cashier at the grocery store who loves to cook as well. Through all of these experiences Julian discovers who he is and who is going to be.
Hearth with Joy is sweet. Every page contains a softness that I haven't found in any other book. Steve Cushman is great at shaping characters we can know and love. Julian is a little quirky, he's a modern teenager but doesn't care about the Internet or television much, which at first I found impossible and ended up finding endearing. Julian truly cares about everyone he meets, which makes you really love him. He's not perfect though, he's idealistic about his parents' relationship and particularly about his mother. He is trusting when he, perhaps, should not be.
I adored his neighbor, Mrs. Peters. The relationship between Julian and Mrs. Peters made me want to start bird watching and forced me to rethink my ideas about aging. Their unlikely friendship was my favorite part of Julian's coming of age.
The writing wasn't as great as the story, and there were a few moments where it kind of stumbled. Julian rides his bike alongside his father while he runs and says he could keep up with him. As someone who rides her bike a lot I can say I always pass up runners, and have no problem keeping up with them, so this comment made me put the book down and try to figure out what Cushman was trying to say. This is nitpicky, but it was distracting as I was reading.
Overall Heart with Joy is a book worth reading. It will put a smile on your face and give you drive to work towards what you want. I know that Julian is a character that will stay with me for many years.
I'm giving Heart with Joy a B.
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