Customer Reviews

When Crickets Cry

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What happens when you have a broken hearted man and a small child who is clinging to a thread of life and somehow, through an act of God, their lives touch and connect? This is the essence of this outstanding work by Charles Martin, "When Crickets Cry."
Annie has very little time to live, she has a heart problem, but she is a strong little girl, one determined to either win or go down fighting. Reese is a medical doctor who could not save his wife and keep her heart beating; his sorrow runs deep over the agony of losing her. He meets Annie while in town one day as he buys a glass of her lemonade; a drink she is selling to help pay for her medical bills. Suddenly a truck goes out of control and hits Annie right before Reese's eyes. Neither of their lives will ever be the same.

We watch this story and this relationship develop; two souls grabbing onto each other, almost like two drowning victims who fight to reach the surface and suck air into their deflating lungs. They become each other's air and God merges the two souls together
as a healing balm, one for another, in a way that neither knew existed.
The emotions in this read run deep, the storyline is captivating and the ending will surely bring a smile and a tear. Very well done Mr. Martin. Recommended.

When Crickets Cry is a book about the heart. It's a book about that funky-looking muscle in our chests that pumps the blood throughout our bodies. It's a book about that ephemeral thing we call the heart when we speak about love and passion. It's a book about the place where the two--that muscle and other thing--intersect.
It's also one of the best books I've been asked to review, and certainly the best one this year!
The Story
Reese Mitch is a guy who works on boats on a lake in Georgia. Expensive boats owned by rich people who can afford to pay someone else lots of money to refurbish what would probably look to most of us like an old tub. With his blind brother-in-law Charlie as his partner, Reese's skills are in high demand.
There's more to Reese than meets the eye, though. For one thing, he used to be married. And he used to be a phenomenal heart surgeon. But no one in this little corner of Georgia knows that (except Charlie, and he's willing to keep quiet). To them, Reese is just that strange, vagrant-looking guy ... until one day when he saves the life of Annie, a seven year old little girl who needs a heart transplant as is everyone's favorite lemonade saleswoman.
With flashbacks and details (about heart surgery, rowing, and boat repair), When Crickets Cry tells a story--the story--of the human heart and it's enormous capacity and resilience.
The Writing
The story starts slow, but still drew me along, rather like a slow fishing boat trying to pull a skier aloft. But that's just part of the overall motif. Like a diseased heart (and I mean that in the best possible way), this book starts slow, then builds to a fevered pitch as the heart beats harder and harder, faster and faster.
Southern writing, for whatever reason, generally involves a slower pace--if not to the writing, to the story telling. Like the southern guy at the campfire who can enthrall an audience for hours with a good story, Martin draws the reader in and, rather than pulling him slowly along behind the boat, eventually puts him in the seat right beside him, finally pushing the reader almost ahead of the writing.
My only quibble with the writing--and believe me it is extremely minor--on a few occasions Martins descriptions (of heart surgery theory, of competition rowing and of boat repair) go in for more detail than I, personally needed. They don't really distract from the book, but for this reader they could have been whittled down (or even excised) and the book would not have lost anything.
The Spiritual Content
The main characters in this book all have an unwavering faith in God and a wonder for his works that fuels them even when it would seem reasonable to give up. They all seem to have a better than average grasp of scripture (and Shakespeare and a few other quotable people). As a Christian, then, I read this story and see in it a parable for how God works on peoples hearts (physically and spiritually). It should be noted, however--and this is not criticism--that if a person is reading this book in hopes of finding God's love presented by a "pastor" or a church, she won't find it. All the Christians in the book carry out their ministry and the closest thing to a church in the story is a road-house (that's not a slam, either, you have to read the book to understand).
Give your heart a work-out and read When Crickets Cry.

In his latest novel, When Crickets Cry, Charles Martin offers fiction that examines Christian virtues. Haunted by his past as a former failed physician, Reese must overcome his own guilt and grief before he can perform the life-saving heart transplant operation needed by a little girl named Annie. The plot shifts between flashback and present, and between heartbreak and hope, leading up to a dramatic conclusion.

Martin has created highly developed characters, lifelike dialogue, and a well crafted story. He draws his readers along with just enough details, until the right time when the whole truth about Reese's past is revealed. When Crickets Cry is full of information about the heart, both as a muscle--the result of much research--and as the housing of our souls. Geared toward adults, this book is good reading for the story alone. However, because of its soulful insights, it also would make an excellent addition to any church library as a counseling tool. - Bridgette L. Oakes, Christian Book Previews.com

After a personal tragedy struck many years ago, Reese has taken up a hermit-like existence. Holed up in his lakeside home with only his friend Charlie to keep him company, Reese seems destined to live out the rest of his life as a bitter and isolated man. But one morning on a brief visit to town, he meets a little girl called Annie. Soon Reese is forced to confront his past and is slowly drawn back into the life he thought he left behind.

As might be expected from the subtitle, When Crickets Cry is indeed a novel of the heart. The book is devoted to both the physical and emotional kind of heart, specifically those that are diseased or broken.

That theme permeates everything from detailed descriptions about how a heart works (Martin obviously did his research), sentimental musings about how non-physical hearts heal, to the addition of calorie ridden burgers called Transplants at the local bar.
In the back of the book, there is even a page from the author about a When Cricket's Cry heart care fund.

On the plus side, Martin does populate his book with a cast of quirky characters. Shadowy Reese, garrulous Charlie, long suffering Annie, fiscally struggling aunt Cindy, and David Stipes, the owner of a Christian "bar" all help to keep the reader's interest and move the story along.

However, a collection of small issues kept me from fully enjoying in the book.

Martin tends to tell us how much pain the characters feel rather than show it. Or when they do show it, they do so in floods of tears. Cindy, in particular, spends half the book crying on Reese's shoulder on the verge of a breakdown.
They seem to stumble upon the answers to their problems rather than proactively seek them. Instead of truly getting a change of heart, Reese seems to rather be forced to change by circumstance.

We are filled in on Reeses's past in a series of flashbacks. The first few are informative but the rest tend to just add filler.
Unfortunately, all the time spend on the past shortchanges the ending which is resolved in a very anticlimactic and quick manner.

As a whole, the prose flows quite well but there was a tendency toward odd and unwieldy metaphors and similes.
For example, "then lightning lit the night sky like an angry woman shaking her fist",
"she cried and shook her head as though bees were stinging her face",
"if Annie had knocked on my city gate that day at the lemonade stand, then she'd just splintered it with the battering ram that was her heart."

Only recommended for staunch fans of inspirational fiction or sentimental drama.

Let me begin with a reminder that this is a work of fiction, a novel, to be enjoyed for its story, not for its factual detail. That said, there is a large part of this story that rings so true to life, with basis on the author's interviews with real heart transplant surgeons, that it may be hard to keep that in mind as the story gets so engrossing and enters the reader's own heart.

Author Charles Martin writes stories dealing with lives that come to life in the telling. In this about to be released (due out April 4th, 2006) new book about a recluse heart transplant surgeon, we come close to feeling the emotions and fears of such a doctor as he deals with three patients whose lives depend on receiving heart transplants through his gifted skills. They are not only patients but become connected to his own heart in ways that I cannot describe without giving away the storyline. Leave it be said their lives become intertwined as your own heart also in reading their stories. Be forewarned, this book quickly engulfs its reader such that I began the book as my plane left Philadelphia, and by the time it had landed 5 hours later, I had to finish it before I could continue with the business of my travels. Later, as we often do with really special stories, my wife and I read it aloud to each other, crying and laughing out loud, trading reading roles as our eyes filled with tears of joy and sadness, blurring our vision. Together we found the same engrossing experience, unable to put it down until the full story had unfolded, and then we fell back, emotionally exhausted with smiles on our faces. Her description of this book was in two words, "heart-filled and heartfelt." As a heart transplant recipient myself, it really touched my heart and with firsthand experiences it rang so true that I had to repeatedly remind myself this was a work of fiction.

Charles Martin did his homework, not just in the technical details, but amazingly in the emotions of both surgeon and waiting patients as the story unfolds and their lives come closer and closer leading to an ending that will leave you in both surprise and tears. The style of his writing reminds me of Nicholas Sparks, one of my all time favorite authors, so if you like the Sparks' books, this one will become a favorite too. How much did I enjoy it? Enough that I am buying copies as gifts for several special nurses, doctors and friends who helped when I faced my own heart transplant, and that says a lot!

I was especially touched, when, in answer to a question about a heart transplant recipient's concern for that new heart stopping again, we hear the surgeon offer very sincere and heartfelt advice and challenge that each of us could take to heart:

"Yes... but not until you're finished here. All hearts stop. What matters is what you do with it while it's still pumping

I was drawn to this book after hearing an interview on a Christian radio station with the author Charles Martin. His commitment to good story telling with characters that touch your heart and witness to you about God, Christ and Faith is very compelling to Christian readers and those who are still searching for God.

I did find some of the situations in the story to be almost too dramatic and coincidental. While they served to build up to a climax and added to the drama of the story, I wondered if the story could have stood well without them. Don't get me wrong, this is a very good read and few will get through this book without being touched by tears, laughter and a deep appreciation for life, family, love and God, the creater of all life.

People who love a good Medical drama will appreciate the attention to medical facts about our hearts and how the body relies on this magnificantly crafted organ. I am not able to speak to the total accuracy of the information, but I felt it rang true and that Mr. Martin did his homework on this one.

I read this after being away from my family on a business trip. I discovered the book while I was still away and ordered it to arrive when I got back home. A week later I was finishing the book in the hospital the day my second child was born. My wife was okay with this as we both had resting time while the staff took good care of both of us.

Bottom line? Buy it, read it and let the message of faith, God's love for us and the mystery of life sink in. I would tell you about the characters, but you can get a glimps of this online at [...]I will tell you that Annie will steal your heart forever.

Chris Williams

Charles Martin's maturation as a writer is clearly evinced through stronger prose and interesting characterizations in his third novel, WHEN CRICKETS CRY.

Like his first two Southern-infused novels, THE DEAD DON'T DANCE and WRAPPED IN RAIN, this is an emotional read. Little Annie Stephens is in the second grade, but if she doesn't find a donor heart --- and a surgeon with a specific set of "miracle" skills to do the transplant work --- she'll never see third. To earn money for her transplant, she raises crickets for bait and runs a lemonade stand under the watchful eye of her Aunt Cindy, who is caring for her after her parents' death.

While selling lemonade, Annie meets the shabby-looking "Reese Mitch" (Jonathan Reese Mitchell), who lives on Lake Burton just hours from Atlanta. He grieves the loss of his wife Emma, his childhood sweetheart, whose dicey heart birthed his now abandoned career. It doesn't take too many pages before the reader figures out just what his former career was --- and what will be required of him if Annie is to live. But does Reese have the nerve and desire to use his gifts, and to learn to love again?

WHEN CRICKETS CRY is full of passages such as this: "That afternoon many of the pieces fell into place, and it struck me that doctors can help people get well, even prolong their lives but they cannot heal them or make them whole. That's something else." The brief depiction of Reese's relationship with Dr. Ezra Trainer will give the reader goosebumps, and there are plenty of specific details about the heart that readers will find informative. Also, there's a gorgeous scene where Reese takes a late-night bath in the old claw-footed iron tub he and Emma used to share that crackles with poignancy and love. Many readers will appreciate such straightforward wisdom as when Reese says, "All hearts stop, Annie. What matters is what you do with it when it's still pumping."

Martin's good descriptions are occasionally marred by overwriting (as this reviewer found in the prologue) and he sometimes succumbs to listing things rather than letting them be a natural part of the story. ("When it's not being run over by the Jet Ski crowd, the lake is home to migrating mallards, buffleheads, mergansers, and loons. Come springtime, cardinals, finch and mockingbirds.") These are great details, but they need more nuance. Also, flashback chapters might have been more clearly identified as such rather than letting the reader begin each chapter not knowing whether they are in the past or the present.

But these small problems do not detract from the sheer pleasure of the story. The characters are engaging --- from the unprepossessing "Termite" (Termidus Cain) to the haggard Cindy (who has echoes of the love interest in WRAPPED IN RAIN). Rich details and Martin's uncanny ability to unfold just the right amount of information a little at a time keep the pages turning. You can't help but be struck at Martin's talent for telling a story well as this one draws to its inevitable conclusion, with some surprising twists.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby. Contact Cindy at phrelanzer@aol.com

Reece and Emma become close friends when they are children. Because Emma
has a diseased heart, Reece is determined to learn everything he can about hearts and heart surgery so that he can perform a life-saving operation on her when they grow up. When things do not turn out the way he expects, Reece turns away from his old life and retreats from the world. His new world is interrupted when Annie, a small child with a big heart problem, comes his way. This is a story of restoration, redemption, and forgiveness. As with all of Charles Martin's books, the reader is touched at an emotional level and is also challenged to think about the issues which Martin presents. This author can be counted on to provide a memorable and satisfying read.

don't expect to lay this one aside until you finish it! i am an avid reader and this one grabbed me in the first chapter. it has everything you would expect in a good southern novel and then some. it is hard to believe that the author is not a bonafide heart transplant surgeon--he certainly is a gifted writer. the characters are so well defined you will remember them long after you finish this fine book

At the risk of repeating some of the comments already made, be careful when you pick this book up especially at bedtime. It fills your head and heart. This book will have you laughing and crying. It will make you think and analyze your own relationships. After reading this book, I had to pick it back up several weeks later just because I wanted to go back over the emotional swings. This book, as his others, is well worth the time to read. You will not regret the time.