Heart's Delight [Paperback]

Per Nilsson (Author), Tara Chace (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2005

Heart’s Delight opens with a 16-year-old boy poised over a desk. He is alone in the room, going through the left over items of a relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Ann-Kathrin. As he systematically destroys each object, he replays a scene from their relationship that relates to it. By the end of this moving story, he has gotten rid of everything; he’s torn up the bus pass from the station where they met, blown the unused condoms into balloons and set them adrift from his balcony, and dropped the pot of lemon balm tea she gave him from the balcony, too. Along the way, Per Nilsson carefully traces their tumultuous relationship, from their first hopeful meeting, to the boy’s loneliness when his family was away and she never called, to her betrayal of him with a rival. Nilsson’s skill in revealing the innermost thoughts of a teenage boy at a vulnerable time in his life made this an award-winning book in Europe.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 9 Up-A 16-year-old boy suffers the agonies and ecstasies of first love in this sometimes melodramatic but ultimately engaging novel. The unnamed narrator ponders memorabilia from his relationship with Ann-Katrin-a bus pass, unused condoms, old movie tickets, a plant she gave him-and relives their courtship. He remembers his infatuation with the red-haired stranger on his bus route, and his joy when they first spoke. He recalls the night they started a sexual relationship. He also broods over the signs he missed, signs suggesting that all might not be well. In one scene that rings true, the narrator shoplifts condoms because he is too embarrassed to buy them. The sex scene is sweet and realistic without being graphic. The teens do not, however, use the contraceptives, because Ann-Katrin claims she can't get pregnant when the moon is full, a move that apparently has no dire consequences. Things do fall apart, however, when he arrives home early from a month in Massachusetts and discovers that Ann-Katrin has been sleeping with someone else. Devastated, he plans to commit suicide if she doesn't call him. The cover, which shows a blown-up condom on a string, isn't very appealing. However, the novel's melodrama reflects the ups and downs of a first love and first breakup, and readers who want to experience a romance from a male point of view will find it appealing.
Miranda Doyle, San Francisco Public Library
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 9-12. "This is no gushy, sentimental, happy teenage love story," warns the nameless 16-year-old narrator of this moving, truthful novel, originally published a decade ago in Sweden. After returning from a visit to America, the teenager discovers that a dizzying romance begun before his departure has abruptly ended. He forces himself to relive the relationship as he creatively disposes of his keepsakes ("It took him four minutes to eat the Swedish folk song 'Uti Var Hage'"). Finally, only two items remain: a razor and a bottle of pills. Nilsson tells the tautly structured story in alternating chapters that toggle between past and present, and his precise, measured prose (jealousy is a "sharp-toothed rat gnawing at your heart") builds suspense. Adding dimension is an honest treatment of teen sexuality: the couple consider the rhythm method as an appropriate level of sexual caution, even though "kids learn in junior high how good condoms are." A conclusion touched with magic realism provides a measure of closure that avoids both bleak fatalism and preachy earnestness. If its European honors are any indication, this searing portrait of a teen caught unawares by the transience of love may well become the Forever of a new generation. Jennifer Mattson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 178 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (May 31, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689876777
• ISBN-13: 978-0689876776
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,748,455 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful, Meaningful book, nto your usual teen love story, April 20, 2005

By 

A. FERRER "booklovingrrl" (MIAMI, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Heart's Delight (Hardcover)

By far, the best book ive ever read. Not your usual sappy teen love story where girl meets guy and they end up happily ever after, or the typical drama of a teen couple having sex and getting pregnant. this novel is unique and lovely, beautiful ,yet sad love story, it will make you cry. i especially reccomend it to all you girls who think that boys have no emotions. wonderful story, anyone who has a true love, or has had a true love and lost it, should read thsi book. Nilson writes beautifully without being overabundant with words, he used the right amount and the right words, great writing style, has even inspired me to begin writing.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Heart's Delight -- I'm Not Creative, April 20, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Heart's Delight (Hardcover)

Heart's delight is the name of a plant. It's also called Lemon Balm, and it gives off a faint hint of-- you guessed it-- lemon. It is also the nickname the young man in this book gives to the girl who he thinks is the love of his life. Ever since the young man first saw her he has been in love, but now he only wants to get her out of his mind. To do this, however, he must first destroy every bit of her she has left in his life.
"Heart's Delight" is a story about love and falling out of love. I recommend this book to anyone who needs to feel really sad. This is not the sort of book that will leave you satisfied with the world.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Heart's Delight Review, February 26, 2006

By 

Sarah "Sarah" (OH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Heart's Delight (Hardcover)

A bus pass
A postcard
A German grammar book
A potted plant
A packet of seeds
A page from a songbook
A record
An empty plastic box
A package of condoms
A wadded-up sheet
A frayed American flag
A black notebook
A wrapped package with a curly ribbon
A movie ticket
A razor blade and a bottle of blue pills

What could a sixteen-year-old Swedish boy have to do with all those objects? You'd be surprised.
This book is told by a teenage boy. Is he a boy? He has loved before, but he has yet to get his license or experience the "real world". He goes nameless throughout the entire story, which adds to the constant question of manhood or childhood. And what does a movie ticket and a wrapped package with a curly ribbon have to do with it?
The book starts with him spending a night alone, reviewing the past year in his mind as a movie starring himself and a girl. The girl. Like most teenage boys, he has fallen in love. She, however, was not in love.
The novel focuses on this boy and the objects that still connect him to his past lover. He feels a burning desire to rid himself of those memories. What to do with the bus pass? The record? The sheet?
This book will keep you up at night. You'll be wide awake at 3 a.m., gnawing at your fingernails. Why did he have to destroy the that? Why did he need to get rid of it? Every obstacle this boy goes through will have an impact on your entire day. Why? Why won't he listen? Why won't he move?! WAKE UP!