Customer Reviews

The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Here's how good this book is: the second I finished it, I picked up the phone and called my brother, to whom I hadn't spoken in ten years! It moved me that much. Incredible.

The love between Charlie and Sam, their brotherly bond that literally defies death, is one of the most startlingly moving and beautiful relationships I've encountered.

And that's just ONE of the incredibly gorgeous and powerful relationships among the characters in this amazing book, only ONE of the zillion levels on which it works:

It's charming, funny, even quirky at times.

It gives such vivid descriptions of places I've never been, and now want to visit (hey Marblehead Chamber of Commerce: throw Sherwood a parade TODAY!).

It brought me into worlds I never knew I even cared about until now -- cemeteries, sailing, the Red Sox (this book made this diehard Yankee fan cry over some Sox fans -- now THAT'S saying something!).

It's just plain wonderfully written -- spare, light prose that sneaks up on you, and before you know it, BING, you're crying, laughing, the works.

I still recommend Sherwood's last book about the guy that eats the airplane. But now I have to recommend two books, because this one is a MUST READ!

Unforgettable.

Having read Sherwood's "The Man Who Ate the 747," I was looking forward to reading this novel. However, it was a bit too sentimental for my tastes and was not as good as the author's previous book. Charlie St. Cloud has a near death experience after getting involved in a car collision that kills his younger brother Sam. After this experience, he can see the deceased while their earthbound spirits have yet to pass into the next plane of the afterlife. The years pass, and Charlie meets with Sam's spirit every evening at sundown, honoring a promise to stick by his brother forever. They spend their time together playing ball and hanging out in the cemetary where Charlie works. Then Tess enters Charlie's life after she narrowly escapes a watery end at sea when her sailing ship founders during a storm. Charlie is now torn between loyalty to Sam and his love for Tess.

The story is populated with a series of interesting and endearing characters, but the relationship between Charlie and Sam is idealized to the point of incredulity. There are some well written passages that make the reader feel the sea spray in their face and see the beauty of sunset over a harbor town. The description of the afterlife is a comforting one, and the concept of love transcending the boundaries of life and death is inspirational. This is a ghost story and an emotional love story, but taken together it is too unbelievable to fully work for me. It is suspenseful, but the author's manipulation of the story line to keep the reader guessing is transparently deliberate. The plot reminds me of a cross between the movies "Field of Dreams," "Ghost," and "Sixth Sense," but not as well executed. If you enjoy heartrending love stories and books like "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" you will probably enjoy this book. Have your tissues ready when you read it, since it is a real tear jerker.

Eileen Rieback

I love Ben Sherwood. I admit that upfront. He is a wonderful writer and "The Man who Ate the 747" is one of my favorite books. That spirit of wonder and love has not left the quill (I doubt he actually writes with a quill, but so what?). Charlie St. Cloud is a tougher read in that it deals so openly with death, loss, and well, it is set in a cemetary. I finished the book in tears (as usual with this writer) and cried a couple of other times. I read the book in just two sittings. Sherwood's style is deceptively simple (he does have an impressive vocabulary however). What amazes is that this kind of story--with life, death, the afterlife, etc...is so deftly pulled off. It largely avoids being maudolin or cliched. It is something of a miracle that this story works so beautifully. In the hands of someone else, it might not. Sherwood is so upbeat about life and I wish more of us had his optimism and understanding. His stories are very special. This is the kind of book that you may read again and again, especially after a tragedy. I loved Ferrio too and how he connects the main characters.

Another note, if you read the source notes and afterward, you learn more interesting things. For example, as with "747" the locations in the book are real. I love that. It seems that this book will be made into a film and it will work--in the right hands. Nevertheless, the book is almost always better right? The acknowledgements are fascinating...if you are a media geek some names will pop out,a former head of NBC, a top screen writer, an entertainment journalist, and even the creator of Alias and Felicity. This guy has some darned interesting friends. My favorite? The last lines about his family and his wife. Their love story might make a great story too--if he hasn't already put in books.

Yes America, there is a heaven. Just ask Charlie St. Cloud, an earthly saint who secretly helps the dead's transition through the "in between," which waits after life and into the great beyond --- the next world, heaven, nirvana, whatever you may call it.

As caretaker of Waterside Cemetery in the harbor village of Marblehead, Massachusetts, Charlie is the sandy blond, freckle-faced prince of a simple life in the safest of places. He tends the cemetery, plays catch with his younger brother Sam, enjoys quiet evenings at his forest-side cottage, watches the Sox and has his coffee each morning at the docks. The serenity is a thin blanket for Charlie's one big mistake, the accident that changed everything thirteen years ago.

Though he throws a mean curveball and likes a swim in the pond, Sam St. Cloud is dead. But Charlie sees and talks to him because Sam is just like Charlie's other cemetery acquaintances, the others in the "in between," a place where the newly departed and a few spiritual hangers-on await their time to pass onto the next astral plane. Charlie is their gentle yet unofficial guide in that confusing time a soul may experience when it has left its earthly shell.

The literary gatekeeper of world records, true love, miracles and hope, novelist Ben Sherwood (THE MAN WHO ATE THE 747) steps into the pastoral landscape of Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN and Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life to explore the tortured lives of those who cannot let go and those who blame themselves for life's misfortunes. He describes Charlie's knowledge of the cemetery's spirits: "Folks often showed up bewildered ... Sometimes they didn't even comprehend that life was over and had to spend a few days figuring things out. Others knew right away what had brought them down and they screamed at God and the world from the moment they arrived. They were the ones who held on to friends and family as long as they could. And then there were the folks who had it the easiest of all, letting go quickly and moving on to the next realm."

A high school junior at the time, Charlie's wonderful life ended at the same moment as his little brother Sam's when the car they mischievously "borrowed" to go see a baseball game was struck by a drunk driver. But Charlie's time in the "in between" was brief as he was shocked back to life by fireman Florio Ferrente, a doomed character whose dedication and heroism brings to mind thoughts of New York and D.C., 2001. Charlie was saved to live with the guilt and pain of knowing that he should not have been driving that car and that they shouldn't have been on that bridge when fate knocked them out of this world. Over a decade of lost dreams and major sacrifices later, Charlie feels his sole duties in life are to advise the confused spirits that pass through Waterside and keep a sacred promise, a daily date for catch with his brother's innocent spirit.

A chance meeting with local sail maker Tess Carroll (and a most curious series of plot twists) sways Charlie with the power of the north wind. Transcendent in beauty and long on independence, Tess has a plan to sail around the world to prove her courage, to set a record, to remember the bold spirit of her recently deceased father and to find true love. Charlie finds that he must choose between the past --- living in the promise he made to his brother --- and the sparkling future he could have with Tess, a release, the gift of knowledge and freedom from the false Eden of the cemetery.

A modern day O. Henry, Sherwood conjures the timeless muse of John Lennon to deliver the strongest ecumenical message our country could embrace in this post-September 11th era, when many thousands are still hurting --- the dead speak to us in music, in the wind, like the moon, the stars and the sun, and we just have to listen and know that we are not alone. We all shine on.

--- Reviewed by Brandon M. Stickney

There is so much that can be said for a master of the written word who can, with a few sentences, make your eyes brim with tears over the loss of a young boy...and then, no matter how hard you fight it, makes you smile because of the joy you feel peering into the relationship between brothers Charlie and Sam.

Ben Sherwood is more than a writer. He is an artist that uses his incredible mind to paint unforgettable literary moments onto the canvas that is our heart. We ache for his characters. We cheer them. We long to know them...and in the end, when the story is over, we miss them. But it isn't truly the end, because long after the last page is turned and the book is put down, fleeting memories of the characters, the town, the love of two brothers creep back into everyday situations. Who, after reading this wonderful book, will ever again think that there is such a thing as a "simple game of catch"?

Ben Sherwood makes us laugh, makes us cry, makes us think. But most of all, he makes us feel, and there truly is no better gift than that.

Ben, as always, Thank You. XX

I was hooked by the time I finished the introduction. The story of Charlie St. Cloud is embracing, emotional, enchanting and so well written that I didn't want the story to end.

Charlie makes a promise to his little brother that he has trouble keeping but by the time you finish the book, you realize that no matter what else happened, Charlie kept that promise - to his little brother Sam and to his own destiny - and he met some interesting characters along the way with his special gift. You will love this story if you're a romantic or if you just love a good book. Charlie touches the lives of many people in his adventures along the road of his death and then his life.

Ben Sherwood will touch the soul of each reader with this book and they won't realize until later just how deeply. He has a rare gift of giving his all in his stories.

If you could imagine a deceptively simple story line which explores some of the most complex issues of the human experience, i.e., "what comes next?", and combines it with a wonderful, fabulous romance, then you have some idea of what is in store for you when you read The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud.
I have just finished this amazing book. It is set in my adopted hometown, Marblehead, Massachusetts. The author is Ben Sherwood, who also wrote The Man Who Ate the 747. Ben spent considerable time in Marblehead researching the town for his new book. He has captured, with sensitive and sometimes hilarious accuracy, the flavor of the town and the people of our beloved Marblehead. The names of the townspeople alone are worth the read.

This is truly one of the most unique books I have ever read. The romance between Charlie and Tess is improbably wonderful. The relationship between Charlie and his younger (dead) brother is endearing and very thought provoking. A lifelong skeptic, myself, I may have to delve into some of the resources cited in Mr. Sherwood's source notes.

I recommend you buy it, read it and enjoy a wonderful trip.

I find myself missing Charlie, Tess, Sam and all the unforgettable Marblehead characters. I hope Ben Sherwood is hard at work on his next book!

Having once been in the circus, I love watching writers take daring risks. "The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud" is a high-wire act of the most exciting kind: bold, mesmerizing, lump-in-the-throat exciting, a tad scary, and ultimately very American. Ben Sherwood sucks you in immediately with a charming tale where nothing is quite what it seems, tragedy is waiting just around the corner, and love triumphs when you least expect it. Who would begin a book with pain? Well, lots of people! Like "Lovely Bones" and "Five People You Meet In Heaven," great writers seem to have the ability to make us go through an unspeakable calamity in order to find a transcendent path to hope. There are lots of surprises here: baseball games you can't quite believe; sailing races that hold your breath, lots of quirky details about cemeteries (Edgar Allan Poe!), and great food. My wife fell in love with Charlie; I liked Tess. It only took each of us a day to read it; we haven't stopped talking about it since.

In 1991 in Marblehead, Massachusetts fifteen years old Charlie St. Cloud and his twelve years old brother Sam steal a neighbor's station wagon to go to the Red Sox game. They have a good time at the ball park, but on the way home while crossing the Saugus River, Charlie crashes the vehicle; both die, but the emergency crew revives the teen. Sam is buried in the Marblehead cemetery.

Thirteen years later, Charlie is the caretaker at the Waterside Cemetery where his sibling is buried. Every night the St. Cloud brothers play catch as Sam delays leaving for heaven. When Charlie and Tess Carroll meet at the cemetery they are attracted to one another. She plans to sail around the world solo, but soon after their terrific date, her vessel is lost at sea. Charlie realizes the rescue team has failed to save her as he watches her spirit fade away while wondering what he can do.

This is a reprint of an engaging character study that focuses on relationships after a loved one dies and how much the living is obligated to deceased loved ones; especially since the person left behind loses a bit of themselves, but more so when they are a catalyst in a tragedy. The first half is as terrific and insightful a tale as this reviewer has read this year. However, the plot takes a weird turn with a couple of unnecessary twists that add tension, but destroy Sherwoodian after life physics. Still this is a fabulous tale that focuses on the debt of those alive owe to those who have died as Charlie, Tess and Sam make a fascinating macabre triangle (even if the brothers are Red Sox fans as I am from the Bronx).

Harriet Klausner

This book was brought to my attention by one of my book club members who nominated it. She loved it and thought it would make for an enlightening discussion. After having read it, I am happy that it was not selected. I thought the book was a pleasant, touching read, but far from profound. It seemed to be a combination of the intriguing Sixth Sense and the awful Lovely Bones (Alice Seabold). The combination made for a book that I wouldn't recommend to a friend, but that I'm not upset I read. If you have nothing else to read and want a quick, light, read, pick it up--but if you're looking for something deep or thought provoking, look elsewhere.