Walter's Purple Heart [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Catherine Ryan Hyde (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2, 2002

From the author of PAY IT FORWARD and ELECTRIC GOD, a stunningly original and romantic story of a dead World War II soldier who reaches through time to touch the people he loved most. Michael Steeb is young and more than a bit lost, living a ramshackle life in California with few material possessions, little direction and no real goals, until Walter arrives. As the dead man's past becomes entwined with Michaels' own memories, this spiritual connection moves Michael's mind and transforms his identity and direction. Walter gives Michael a mission: to find Walter's old war buddy, Andrew, and tell him the truth about Walter's Purple Heart. Finally locating the sixty-year old man, Michael travels to Albuquerque to relay Walter's message. He arrives to a surprise: not only does he find Andrew, he also finds Mary Ann, the girl left behind after Walter was killed by a Japanese soldier. It seems that Andrew stepped in and took care of everything when Walter didn't come home, including his best friend's fiancee. While Andrew considers Michael to be deluded, or a conman, or both, Mary Ann falls in love with the young man as a way of reenacting her love affair with Walter. Together, the two explore the past and search for the future, despite the realities that may forever change their lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Though the much-hyped movie version of Pay It Forward sank into box-office doldrums soon after its release, Hyde still soars, turning out another heartwarming if melodramatic tale. In her fourth novel, the eponymous Walter is dead, killed by a Japanese sniper at Guadalcanal in 1942. Forty years later, his spirit comes back and declares, "Nobody in this story is going anywhere without me." By that, he means his high school sweetheart, a wartime buddy, and the very confused California marijuana farmer he chooses as his earthly host. Twenty-one-year-old pot enthusiast Michael Steeb unexpectedly meets Walter's spirit one day while fooling around with a Ouija board. Michael freaks out, and it takes Walter some time to convince Michael that his spirit is real and that Michael must help him unravel a 40-year-old mystery. Michael and Walter finally become friends, and Walter sends Michael to New Mexico to locate his wartime sweetheart, Mary Ann, and his old army buddy, Andrew. They have been married 38 years and each has powerful memories of Walter, but Walter has a few hard questions he wants to ask them. It's a bit disconcerting when Michael, channeling Walter, romances the 60-something Mary Ann, but the power of human emotion in its purest form wins out over physical barriers. Though she doesn't skimp on the schmaltz, Hyde has a sure touch with affairs of the heart. (Apr. 10) Forecast: It's hard to say whether the big-screen fate of Pay It Forward will help or hinder Hyde's latest, but her higher profile will likely attract at least a few extra readers.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Adult/High School-Reincarnation is at the core of this story that unfolds through the eyes of four characters. Walter was a soldier in World War II who died during battle and whose spirit is not ready to leave Earth. Andrew is Walter's best friend, and the one who convinced him to enlist in the war. Michael is his reincarnation, who 40 years later at the age of 21 is an aimless pot farmer in California. Finally, there is Mary Ann, Walter's fiancee, who married Andrew. One evening, Walter awakens Michael's perception of his former self by communicating with him through a Ouija board and asks for help with some unfinished business that he left behind. If the novel's premise seems complicated in soap-opera-like proportions, it is. Hyde, however, is a masterful storyteller. Thoroughly engrossing, the book does not allow for skipping a single page as she keeps the momentum up by surprising readers with new details about Walter's life throughout the story. They add to the mystery of why the young man's spirit remains earthbound and keep readers guessing about what it will take for him to cross over to the other side. Both sentimental and heartwarming, this novel delivers all the ingredients for a day of leisure reading.
Julie Dasso, Fairfax County Public Library, VA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (April 2, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684867230
• ISBN-13: 978-0684867236
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,120,679 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of 18 published and forthcoming books. Her newer novels are Becoming Chloe, Love in the Present Tense, The Year of My Miraculous Reappearance, Chasing Windmills, The Day I Killed James, Diary of a Witness, Jumpstart the World and the UK titles When I Found You, Second Hand Heart, and Don't Let Me Go. The US editions of Second Hand Heart and When I Found You are now available on Amazon.

Older works include the story collection Earthquake Weather, and the novels Funerals for Horses, Pay it Forward, Electric God, and Walter's Purple Heart.

Forthcoming is When You Were Older (Transworld UK, '12).

Pay It Forward was adapted into a major motion picture, chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than 23 languages for distribution in over 30 countries. The paperback was released in October 2000 by Pocket Books and quickly became a national bestseller. Love in the Present Tense enjoyed bestseller status in the UK, where it broke the top ten, spent five weeks on the national bestseller list, was reviewed on a major TV book club, and shortlisted for a Best Read of the Year award at the British Book Awards. Both Becoming Chloe and Jumpstart the World were included on the ALA's Rainbow List, and Jumpstart the World was a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards.

More than 50 of her short stories have been published in The Antioch Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train and many other journals, and in the anthologies Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts and the bestselling anthology Dog is my Co-Pilot. Her stories have been honored in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest and the Tobias Wolff Award and nominated for Best American Short Stories, the O'Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Three have been cited in Best American Short Stories.

For more information, please visit the author at www.catherineryanhyde.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE IMPORTANCE OF FORGIVENESS AND THE WASTE OF WAR, April 29, 2002

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Walter's Purple Heart (Hardcover)

With "Pay It Forward" (2000 ) Catherine Ryan Hyde displayed her talent for insightfully portraying human emotions. She underscores that gift with "Walter's Purple Heart" in which she not only tugs at heartstrings but deftly plays them while building to a poignant crescendo.

Related in alternate narrative voices, this is the story of a love unfulfilled and a life unfinished. We meet Michael Steeb, a young California pot farmer, an unambitious fellow who plays the sax and lives in an almost built farmhouse.

When unexplainable events occur, Michael turns to a Ouija board for answers. Instead of answers he meets Walter, the spirit of a young soldier killed some 40 years earlier. But in this case death isn't the end, as Walter explains, "Did you think I was gone? No chance of that. If death was the end of me, this story would be over."

It takes time and persistence for Walter to convince Michael that they are one and the same, that Michael is the reincarnation of Walter. Michael is conflicted enough without two personalities jousting within him, and Walter is unable to move on until some tough questions from his short life are answered.

Therefore, Michael reluctantly sets out for New Mexico to find Andrew, Walter's best high school friend and army buddy and Mary Ann, the fiancee who promised to wait. Now, Walter has promised Michael that he will know what to say when he finds Andrew. Not so. Not only is Michael dumbstruck but he finds that Mary Ann and Andrew have been married for 38 years.

"I can't believe you did it, Andrew," Michael snaps, "You married my girl."

Andrew thinks Michael is either crazy or a conman. Perhaps both. Mary Ann recognizes Walter in Michael almost immediately and the love affair that was ended by a sniper's bullet many years before begins again despite the vast difference in their ages.

Obstinate and obdurate Andrew cannot bring himself to believe that any part of Walter exists in Michael until, finally, during one harrowing night he becomes convinced.

As it turns out, that is only one of Michael's tasks. He also comforts Walter's mother who is near death in a nursing home and makes peace with Robbie, Walter's younger brother, who always followed Walter to school a good 20 paces behind.

Throughout the narrative Walter reveals insights into the lives of his friends and family, noting, "It's not even in what we say about ourselves, so much. It's in what we leave out." From an implacable, remote father, Walter has learned that "The most important moments of our lives are supposed to go without saying."

With this, her fourth novel, Ms. Hyde reminds us of the significance of forgiveness and the waste of war. At times, Walters memories may be reminiscent of the classic film "It's A Wonderful Life" in which scenes from a life are replayed to emphasize the significance of everyday events. And, some may question the physical attraction between a 21-year-old Michael and a 60-plus Mary Ann. Yet the story soars above these reservations.

It takes a perceptive and gentle hearted writer to create a Walter who says, "......there's nothing so remarkable about me. Except that I'm Walter. And I'm Walter in a way that nobody else ever has been before or ever will be again. And I honestly believe that Walter-ness counts for something."

Indeed, it does...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars With Compassion, September 3, 2002

By 

Clifford W. Chapman (Pismo Beach, Calif. 93449, California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walter's Purple Heart (Hardcover)

Catherine Ryan Hyde has brought you to the feeling that each author tries to achieve. Her characters have been so fully developed that you can relate in some way to all of them.

The feeling of love that Walter makes you proud to feel, is a real winner. Let yourself become one of the people and then you will become another and finally you will fill all the shoes.

This book will make you feel so wonderful, and will add to your faith in yourself.

This should be at the top of the best seller list.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Language of Undying Love, May 24, 2002

By 

Christian "Writer/Human" (Colorado) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Walter's Purple Heart (Hardcover)

In Catherine Ryan Hyde's last two novels (Pay It Forward, Electric God), she demonstrated her prowess in understanding human emotions and her brilliant use of the english language. In her newest novel, "Walter's Purple Heart", she cements her domination as an incredible storyteller and translator of the language of undying love.

"Walter's Purple Heart", a symbol for the love one man holds as a bright, shining beacon of hope, even after his own death, presents the reader with an interesting premise. Not unlike "Ghost", and reminiscent of "The Bridges of Madison County" in tone and flavor (only much, much better written), "Walter's Purple Heart" resonates with poetry and brilliance.

Walter is killed in Guadalcanal in 1942, but his soul is restless. It seems that he cannot "cross over" and leave his love unspoken for Mary Ann...nor his death a mystery for his best friend Andrew. He enlists the (at first) unwilling aid of Michael, a somewhat paranoid marijuana farmer in California (what other kinds are there?). By giving Michael bizarre dreams of his horrific and untimely death, Walter draws Michael into his reasons for returning, and urges him (or perhaps threatens him is more apt) to find his childhood sweetheart and his former best friend.

"How will I know what to do once I find them?" Michael asks.
"You'll know," Walter assures him.

Nothing is ever quite that simple. While Mary Ann recognizes Walter in Michael's eyes, and their decades-old relationship sparks anew (despite the glaring difference in age), Andrew is reluctant and bitter, refusing to believe that Walter has returned in the unlikely form of Michael.

With unerring brilliance, Hyde again displays her ability to make a phrase sing with wonder and beauty, drawing the reader in flawlessly and effortlessly. By presenting Walter's appearance in the story in a no-nonsense fashion, Hyde thereby avoids the "suspension of belief" issue of dealing with her narrator being a ghost, the sign of a great writer.

"Walter's Purple Heart" proves that Hyde is an author to be reckoned with, her storytelling capabilities destined to become legend, if they're not already!