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The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 7,387 ratings · 1,408 reviews

A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present. When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be…until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago, to a Burmese woman they have never heard...more

Paperback, 325 pages

Published January 31st 2012 by Other Press (first published 2002)

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Oct 03, 2012 Kate rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemp-fiction

God, this could have been SO good! I wish Sendker's writing abilities matched his imagination, because this would have been an awesome book. As it was, it was okay. There is a beautiful love story in the center of the book, but it comes to an extremely trite conclusion. Throughout the novel, he relies on some extremely hackneyed devices that, with just a little effort, could have melted away into masterful writing. First device: relying on long (and I mean REALLY loonnnggg) monologue soliloquy t...more God, this could have been SO good! I wish Sendker's writing abilities matched his imagination, because this would have been an awesome book. As it was, it was okay. There is a beautiful love story in the center of the book, but it comes to an extremely trite conclusion. Throughout the novel, he relies on some extremely hackneyed devices that, with just a little effort, could have melted away into masterful writing. First device: relying on long (and I mean REALLY loonnnggg) monologue soliloquy to give backstory--he has Julia's mother gas on and on about her husband. And she speaks, not in her own voice, but in the voice of the narrator, as if the narrator is saying "See Reader? This here's the BACKSTORY, and the only way I can figure out how to communicate it is by having Julia's mother basically just blather on about the whole thing in monologue." After the mother relates this, she pretty much disappears from the novel, because the only reason she was in the book in the first place was to act as freakin' Greek Chorus. Stupid. Good writers are supposed to create the plot through action and not explain it, so he fails here. Really annoying. Second device: throughout the entire novel, he voices questions that the characters are thinking, one after the other. Reminded me of old-fashioned announcer voice-overs of "cliffhanger" moments at the end of a daily 1950's soap opera. "Did Sam turn left because he loved Lucinda? Did Sam turn right because he wanted to ignore Abigail? Or is Sam simply directionally challenged? Tune in tomorrow to find out on 'As the World Turns'!!!" (organ music swells and fades. Cut to Brillo Pad commercial). Third, the evil uncle's name was U Saw, and he's the guy who gives main character Tin Win (whom I kept wanting to call "Win Tin" as in "Win Tin Tin!") his sight back. Get it? U SAW helps Win Tin Tin SEE!!! nyuck! nyuck! nyuck! Fourth, Sendker forgets that he has another character relating the central story, which involves bits that there's no way he could have known. Finally, Sendker's ending was Sooooooo melodramatic and sappy! The love story in the middle was lovely, but, I'm sorry, it should have ended better. So, there you have it. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats gets a two from me.(less)

15 likes · like · see review

Jan 16, 2013 Julie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Essentially a fairy tale so sweet that at times I had to lick the syrup from my fingertips before turning the page. Tin Win and Mi Mi were beautifully rendered, though I felt their story was hampered by the clumsy structure of the book. Julia, the daughter searching for her father, was altogether frustrating as a narrator. The author frequently resorted to long-winded lists of unanswerable questions, such as, "What do we know about our parents, and what do they know about us? And if we don't eve...more

4 likes · like · see review

May 21, 2012 Trish rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asia, audio, buddhism, fiction

The heart of this novel is set in Burma, pre-WWII. The author Sendker was correspondent in America and Asia for Stern, the weekly German news magazine, for some years. This is his first novel. Sendker was successful and very clever in his choice of subject. In making the setting a mountain province of Burma, a country not much opened to the outside and stuck in a pre-WWII lifestyle, things had not changed significantly since the 1950s and if they had, very few English-speaking eyewitnesses would...more The heart of this novel is set in Burma, pre-WWII. The author Sendker was correspondent in America and Asia for Stern, the weekly German news magazine, for some years. This is his first novel. Sendker was successful and very clever in his choice of subject. In making the setting a mountain province of Burma, a country not much opened to the outside and stuck in a pre-WWII lifestyle, things had not changed significantly since the 1950s and if they had, very few English-speaking eyewitnesses would be able to refute it.

In addition, Sendker gave his main character a disability, blindness, which gave Sendker the latitude to describe through the voice of another person what the main character was meant to be seeing. Not only does this help us, but it helps the author, in that readers are a little like blind men: the author must describe everyday things giving focus to sounds, smells, colors. If the reader has any experience in a Southeast Asian country, the descriptions trigger unforgettable memories.

But Sendker did more than just excel in describing what any reader could see. He delved into the psyche of the Burmese and showed us folk tales, beliefs, habits, and ways of living. A novel is always suspect in what it reveals, but in this case we can understand as outsiders understand, a way into a South Asia culture that is so remote and so different from modern-day Western culture.

All this and I haven’t mentioned the novel is a love story. But not an ordinary love story—it tells of a love that any of us would be happy to call our own. Some reviewers may call this a fairy tale, but I would merely say it was an especially daring and insightful attempt to create a plausible story that works on many levels. And so it does.

Special kudos go to Other Press, for republishing this story at this time of the opening of Myanmar to the outside world (2012, originally published 2002), and to Blackstone Audio for making a very good audio version of the title with American-accented Cassandra Campbell. I have to admit the Americans in the novel were so much less spiritual, likeable, and accepting than the Burmese that one can see the stark contrast in our approaches to the world. Let’s hope these differences do not keep us apart. We’d all do better if we had just a little more influence on one another.
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Dec 04, 2012 Alice rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: gravity, relationships, picturesque

There was a day when I would have deeply loved this book. It is a modern-day fairy tale and a solid work of literary art. The story follows Julia, a lawyer from New York looking for clues as to her father's sudden (not accidental) disappearance. When her mother gives her a love letter her father had once written to someone -- someone named Mi Mi -- a long time ago, Julia decides to follow the address all the way to her father's hometown in Myanmar. There she encounters U Ba, who tells her the st...more

10 likes · like · see review

Mar 17, 2012 Walker Doermann rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

24 likes · like · see review

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Amy Koren I really liked most of the book, including the fairy tale love story. My biggest hang up was trying to figure out the message. It seems like TinWin wa...more
May 03, 2013 07:17pm

Lisa I agree and empathize with these feelings "What about his wife who he committed to be with forever? Are we supposed to overlook the fact that he did a...more
Jun 09, 2013 10:26am

Aug 09, 2012 Liz Crowe rated it 5 of 5 stars

I think I've mentioned that for me "reading" has become a luxury the likes of which I sometimes even avoid. Not sure why really, except maybe anger at myself for spending so much time on bad books--badly written, lazily edited, simply or more likely horrifically plotted--I've gotten to where I just don't want to bother anymore simply not to run the risk of feeling like it was time wasted.

As a writer myself, I see the puppet strings, the skeletal framework, and at times feel the sweat and tears t...more

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Oct 12, 2012 Kristine rated it 3 of 5 stars

Two worlds + the universal language of love = an international hit.

Translated from Jan-Philipp Sendker's German by Kevin Wiliarty.
***The author is working on a sequel to this.******
.....................

BURMA (1950s onward):

Tin Win.
(A boy. He can't see very well, but he can walk!)
Mi Mi.
(A girl. She can see, but she can't walk!)
U Ba.
(A man. He can talk and he weaves a wondrous tale.)
Myi Myi.
(A mother. Her beliefs are strong, but they blind her heart)
U May.
(Head monk -- he is b...more

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 22, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: asia, family, love, aging, loss-and-grief, special-need

This book is about love.

I usually do not read books about love, unless the writing captivates me and the words/phrases in the book make me think. This book drew me in from the first page until the end. The book was written in a narrative, story-telling style that is very intriguing and mythical. Having the majority of the story taking place in Burma also added to the allure.

The story begins when Julia Win arrived Burma, looking for her Father who left suddenly without a trace 4 years ago, leavin...more This book is about love.

I usually do not read books about love, unless the writing captivates me and the words/phrases in the book make me think. This book drew me in from the first page until the end. The book was written in a narrative, story-telling style that is very intriguing and mythical. Having the majority of the story taking place in Burma also added to the allure.

The story begins when Julia Win arrived Burma, looking for her Father who left suddenly without a trace 4 years ago, leaving her Mom and two children. She met an older man in a tea house who asked her a question:

"Do you believe in love?"
"Of course I am not referring to those outbursts of passion that drive us to do and say things that well will later regret, that delude us into think we cannot live without a certain person....a feeling that impoverishes rather than enriches us because we long to possess what we cannot, to hold on to what we cannot."
"No. I speak of a love that brings sight to the blind. Of a love stronger than fear. I speak of a love that breathes meaning into life, that defies the natural laws of deterioration, that causes us to flourish, that knows no bounds. I speak of the triumph of the human spirit over selfishness and death."

Thus this unforgettable story begins, a love that transcends 50 years, from Kalaw to New York and back; a love that defies time and distance. The descriptions of Asia and mythical practices and beliefs were very accurate, though unbelievable for most westerners. The ending was quite satisfactory in my point of view. Although I would love to hear more about Julia and his Dad's life in New York, as well as more descriptions of everyday life in Burma, since this story captivated me so. I guess I just didn't want it to end...

I do have a question remain after finishing the book:
Is the bond of romantic love is ultimately stronger than the familial one, or are the two incomparable? Can they be exclusive? If they are, which one would you give up?(less)

3 likes · like · see review

Feb 25, 2012 Carol rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: advanced-reader-copy, a-reread, book-club

This is a love story and a fairy tale with Buddhist undertones. I loved this book.
A New York lawyer inexplicably disappears. His daughter Julia, also a lawyer, goes searching for him in Burma based on an old letter he had written which her mom gave her as part of his belongings.
Julia meets a man who has been waiting for her to come, a man who had met her father 4 years ago and has a story to tell her.
The story is about two who met when young, a young boy who was blind and a young girl who was un...more

4 likes · like · see review

Oct 21, 2011 Jade Eby rated it 3 of 5 stars

Originally published at my blog Chasing Empty Pavements

The Good: Julia's mother is such a familiar character- a woman who thinks that her love will change a man. Ladies, let's be honest... there is just some dreamy idea that if a man knows just how much we love them, perhaps our love can make them change. If they love us enough, maybe they will change. I feel bad for her, but at some point she needed to realize it just wasn't going to happen. I enjoyed Julia's visit to Burma to find the truth ab...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 06, 2012 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: recent-reads, quick-reads

this is a poignant story about love and loss.

as an adult, julia's father tells her he is leaving for boston on business never to be heard from again. four years later, julia's mother gives her a box of her father's belongings. in this box is a letter her father wrote to a woman named mi mi. this begins julia's journey to burma (her father's birthplace) where she picks up the trail of not just her father, but the first twenty years of his life, which have been shrouded in secrecy.

the love mi mi a...more

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May 07, 2013 Michelle rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Everyone

Shelves: booktopia-2013, 2013-read

I read The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker for the Booktopia Bellingham weekend. The book is about Type-A, New York Lawyer, Julia and her quest to find her father who has been mysteriously missing for 4 (or 5) years. She flys to Burma, his native home to see if she can discover clues from his childhood and possibly find him as well.

Mr Sendker did a great job pacing the story and balancing the father's childhood with the Julia's search for him. I do not want to spoil anything abo...more

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Jun 15, 2013 Russell Habermann rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker for my book club, and so I approached it with little knowledge of the story. However, after reading it, I find that this book is definitely a masterpiece, in its plot specifically.

The beautiful story of Tin Win and Mi Mi is truly one for the ages, a symbiosis that represents the longing of the human heart; this plot in itself makes this book a must-read. The prose and pacing of the novel was a bit fragmented at times, which is understa...more

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Jun 11, 2013 Fernanda rated it 5 of 5 stars

A arte de ouvir o coração é o livro a primeira ficção em língua inglesa do alemão Jan-Philipp Sendker, autor de talento inestimável. Tocante e envolvente, o leitor se vê preso ao mistério narrado da primeira a última linha. O livro nos conta duas histórias: tudo começa quando o pai de Julia, um advogado birmanês bem-sucedido simplesmente desaparece sem justificativas aparente. Quatro anos depois do sumiço, a mãe de Julia entrega a filha uma carta de amor de seu pai encontrada e destinada a outra...more A arte de ouvir o coração é o livro a primeira ficção em língua inglesa do alemão Jan-Philipp Sendker, autor de talento inestimável. Tocante e envolvente, o leitor se vê preso ao mistério narrado da primeira a última linha. O livro nos conta duas histórias: tudo começa quando o pai de Julia, um advogado birmanês bem-sucedido simplesmente desaparece sem justificativas aparente. Quatro anos depois do sumiço, a mãe de Julia entrega a filha uma carta de amor de seu pai encontrada e destinada a outra mulher, uma birmanesa chamada Mi Mi. Numa tentativa de entender o que aconteceu e de tentar descobrir onde o seu pai está, Julia vai à busca da única informação que tem em mãos, o endereço de Mi Mi. A partir deste ponto, acompanhamos Julia na descoberta da segunda narrativa da trama: a história de seu pai.

Ao chegar à Birmânia, Julia estava cheia de dúvidas e planos. Advogada como o seu pai, a garota havia traçado uma estratégia de pesquisa e estava com a cabeça cheia de questionamentos que buscavam suas repostas: por que o pai sumira assim, sem mais nem menos? Será que ele não a amava? A angústia e a pressa a acompanhavam, até que ela conhece um senhor: U Ba, que está disposto a contar a parte da história de seu pai, Tin Win, que a família desconhecia, os seus primeiros 20 anos.

Julia passa a conhecer um outro Tin Win, seu pai passa a ganhar novas formas. Em meio ao sofrimento dele, Julia é despertada para ver o mundo de uma maneira nunca vista por ela antes: com o coração. O amor entre Tin Win e Mi Mi deixa de ter cor, de ter distância, de ter interesses pessoais. Enquanto a superstição, os costumes e os mais variados sentimentos ditam o destino dos amantes, Julia é moldada por uma paz interior nunca vista. Sem dúvida, A arte de ouvir o coração é de uma sensibilidade jamais vista.

A cultura birmanesa – com seus templos budistas, seus monges, seu clima e sua pobreza – é descrita de forma primorosa. Os detalhes faz com que os leitores se sintam lá, ouvindo U Ba narrando cada vírgula, cada pormenor. É interessante como o autor apresenta um ponto de vista que foge do senso comum (da pobreza como algo feio), retratando não apenas as belezas naturais, mas a beleza de espírito da população residente em Kalaw, Rangum e adjacência. A simplicidade é uma dádiva, não um peso. A família, como é visto ao fim, é um compromisso, não um fardo. (É na simplicidade e na honestidade que entendemos, inclusive, o porquê da capa ser cheia de insetos de variadas espécies)

É claro que, para entender toda a narrativa e, consequentemente, a razão da separação entre Tin Win e Mi Mi, temos que estar abertos às divergências culturais entre a nossa cultura – muitas vezes baseadas no ter e no imediatismo – e passar a outro ritmo: temos que sentir a cadência de nossos próprios corações. Falando assim, parece clichê; mas, definitivamente, a história está longe disso. De qualquer maneira, Sendker foi prevenido: colocou em Julia a reação e o provável ponto de vista que nós, pessoas com a vida corrida da cidade grande, teríamos. Vale ressaltar que, assim como acontece com Julia, o autor envolve o leitor de tal forma que acabamos nos rendendo a tal arte de ver o outro como pessoa com sentimentos genuínos.

Mais que um livro de amor – quase utópico – A arte de ouvir o coração é uma história sobre os seres no mundo. Sem dúvida, vale muito à pena, não só pela descoberta que fazemos junto com a Julia, mas pela viagem que fazemos dentro de nós mesmos.

Ah! Sobre o final, quando ele parece óbvio, descobrimos, nas últimas linhas, mais uma informação surpreendente!(less)

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Jun 06, 2013 Linda rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker. First let me say, that if possible, I would have rated this book 4 1/2 stars.

The story is about a woman, Julia Win, whose father, Tin Win, disappeared under mysterious circumstances the day after her law school graduation. Her mom was American and her father was Burmese.

After going through some of his things, a couple of years after his disappearance, Julia finds an old love letter that he had written to a woman in Burmese, but had ne...more I loved The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker. First let me say, that if possible, I would have rated this book 4 1/2 stars.

The story is about a woman, Julia Win, whose father, Tin Win, disappeared under mysterious circumstances the day after her law school graduation. Her mom was American and her father was Burmese.

After going through some of his things, a couple of years after his disappearance, Julia finds an old love letter that he had written to a woman in Burmese, but had never mailed. His daughter takes the address from the letter and goes in search of the truth.

The story alternates between the present-day search and her father's past. Julia is learning, for the first time, about her father's life that he refused to share, his childhood blindness, education at a monastery, his heartbreaks, and the profound love he had for a young girl named Mi Mi. Through the help of a wonderful character named U Ba, Julia gets to truly know her father.

The reason I did not give the novel a 5 Star review is because there were some parts about the father's Burmese life that were a little too lengthy. Additionally, there was not enough about the father's feelings about his life and family in America. The reader certainly comes to understand Tin Win's intense emotions and love for Mi Mi, but there is no revelation about how he truly felt about his wife and children in the United States. Maybe the character is supposed to be limited in this regard because of all that he endured. However, knowing that Tin Win was conflicted and the expression of his love for his American family would have made the story perfect. Maybe the author did not want it to be the perfect story. Maybe being frustrated about not knowing things about Tin Win was exactly what he wanted to bring out.

I wanted to hear more from Julia's mother. She could have revealed so much about Tin Win, and I think it was a mistake not to give Julia's brother a voice.

There was also Su Kyi who was such a generous character; she loved Tin Win with all of her heart. I would have liked to have felt Tin Win's enormous love for her. The reader knows that he loves Su Kyi in his own way, but she deserved much more than he showed. Again, perhaps that was the point. Tin Win's reserve spoke volumes about who he was as a character and what he endured.

Minor characters such as Mi Mi's mother and father, Tin Win's mother and father, and U Saw, Tin Win's uncle, added to the story immensely. Tin Win's relationship with U May was meaningful and touching.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats was a fulfilling read. Don't miss it.(less)

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Jun 03, 2013 Christina George rated it 5 of 5 stars

Recommended to Christina by: my nephrologist!

Shelves: favorites

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats is unlike any other story I have read. The tale carries the reader through the life of a family man living in New York to his roots in Burma. It is told in such a way that I was perhaps more anxious than the character listening to the story about him to discover how it would unfold!

I could not decide on which 'shelf' to place this book. Yes, it is fiction. But it reads as like a very good non-fiction or biography book would. Better, yet, I personally found gems of i...more

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May 16, 2013 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

As I was reading this book I was fully engaged and enjoying the story, the Burmese setting, the fairy tale quality to the narration....but as soon as I finished and started to reflect on it, the whole thing imploded like a house of cards. As much as I really wanted to like this book, it hit several of my hot buttons:

I have a real problem with books that are about unrealistic love - the "our love is better/stronger/more meaningful than anyone else's love" kind of love. If Tin Win was so in love w...more

1 like · like · see review

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Jennifer Hi Anna - please, no apologies needed!! I really do think Goodreads is great to show the different reactions. There have been books that I loved and c...more
May 30, 2013 08:52am

Lisa I didn't see it as something we should all aspire to and I think it was extremely sad for Mi Mi, Su Kyi, his wife and Julia. I think the author create...more
Jun 09, 2013 12:04pm

Mar 27, 2013 Kaitlin rated it 3 of 5 stars

I chose this book on a whim without prior knowledge of the book or author. Perhaps that enabled me to form an opinion without disappointment. I started reading this book on Saturday afternoon and finished it last night, faster than my usual read-through. The first part was absorbing, and I had trouble putting it down. The enchantment was lost in the second part, and I have some theories as to why: for one the daughter and mystery angle are rarely mentioned, and the daughter is not very like-able...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Claudia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: letteratura-tedesca

Quando Julia Win decide di andare in Birmania per risolvere il mistero della scomparsa di suo padre, non immagina quando l'incontro con U Ba, un restauratore di libri locale, cambierà la sua vita.
Tin Win, il padre di Julia, è scomparso da New York 4 anni prima e da allora la famiglia non ha più avuto notizie. La polizia americana si è prodigata nella ricerca, ma le tracce si perdono dopo l'acquisto di un biglietto aereo per la Birmania da parte di Tin Win. E' allora che Julia decide di andare ne...more

Quando Julia Win decide di andare in Birmania per risolvere il mistero della scomparsa di suo padre, non immagina quando l'incontro con U Ba, un restauratore di libri locale, cambierà la sua vita.
Tin Win, il padre di Julia, è scomparso da New York 4 anni prima e da allora la famiglia non ha più avuto notizie. La polizia americana si è prodigata nella ricerca, ma le tracce si perdono dopo l'acquisto di un biglietto aereo per la Birmania da parte di Tin Win. E' allora che Julia decide di andare nel Paese nativo di suo padre per capirci di più. Per Julia, cresciuta a New York, è difficile ambientarsi nel caldo afoso della Birmania e in una sala da tè incontra U Ba, un signore con tanta voglia di parlare. U Ba racconta a Julia una storia, una bellissima storia, che ha come protagonisti un ragazzo cieco, con un udito fenomenale che gli permette di sentire i battiti del cuore della gente, e una ragazza disabile con un grandissimo animo: Tin Win e Mi Mi. Julia fatica a credere che quel Tin Win sia davvero suo padre, ma ascolta lo stesso la storia di U Ba.
Rapita man mano dal vortice degli eventi, grazie alle abilità narrative di U Ba, verrà condotta in un altro tempo e un altro luogo, dove regna l'amore tra i due giovani birmani. Un amore che, come sempre avviene nelle favole, è ostacolato da uno zio malvagio che vuole per Tin Win una vita migliore che un matrimonio con una storpia... Julia scopre così la verità sui primi anni di vita di suo padre, sui quali Tin Win aveva sempre taciuto.
Una cosa è certa: Julia, dopo quel racconto, troverà suo padre e non potrà che guardare la vita con occhi nuovi.

"I nostri sensi amano ingannarci, e gli occhi sono i più ingannevoli di tutti. Ci inducono ad avere troppa fiducia in loro. Crediamo di vedere solo quello che c'è intorno, ma quello che percepiamo è solo la superficie. Dobbiamo imparare a comprendere l'essenza delle cose, la loro sostanza, e per fare questo gli occhi ci sono più di impedimento che altro. Ci inducono a distrarci, e noi ci lasciamo abbagliare. Chi si fida troppo dei propri occhi trascura gli altri sensi, e non intendo solo le orecchie o il naso. Parlo di quel l'organo che è dentro di noi è per il quale non c'è un nome. Chiamiamolo la bussola del cuore."
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Mar 14, 2013 Book Concierge rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club, concierge, love, strong-women, culture, sfe, own

A prominent Wall-street lawyer disappears shortly after his youngest daughter graduates from law school. Ostensibly headed for a business appointment in Boston, he leaves his New York City apartment never to be heard from again. Four years later his daughter, Julia, discovers a few personal papers, including a faded letter addressed to a woman in a small village in Burma, her father’s birthplace. First puzzled and then infuriated by her mother’s seeming indifference, Julia leaves her job, puts h...more A prominent Wall-street lawyer disappears shortly after his youngest daughter graduates from law school. Ostensibly headed for a business appointment in Boston, he leaves his New York City apartment never to be heard from again. Four years later his daughter, Julia, discovers a few personal papers, including a faded letter addressed to a woman in a small village in Burma, her father’s birthplace. First puzzled and then infuriated by her mother’s seeming indifference, Julia leaves her job, puts her life on hold, and heads to Burma to find her father. What she finds is a story of a love that endured decades of separation.

I really wanted to love this book, and feel so disappointed, although I did like it. The central love story is tender, touching and endearing. The story of Tin Win and Mi Mi and how they find one another and overcome each other’s handicaps to be fully realized individuals is just so life-affirming and uplifting.

However, it’s nested within a story of a daughter’s search for her father, and it becomes obvious that she knew little or nothing about him. Her mother is barely mentioned and comes off as an unfeeling shrew. We learn little about Julia, herself, other than that she is determined to find her father and learn his story. I never felt any connection to Julia. Although I did understand her perplexed response to Burmese culture; it was the antithesis of the hard-driving, career-minded, success-seeking American way of life she knew.

I wondered whether part of the issue might be the translation, but I doubt that’s it. I had the opportunity to meet the author during his very limited book tour. He commented that when he read the translation he was surprised at some of the passages – they seemed so much better than what he remembered writing in his native German. More likely, the disconnect has to do with a difference in style. Whatever the reason, for me the book just fell short of expectations. I liked it, I didn’t love it.
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Mar 11, 2013 Darryl Mexic rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: overrated

Although I found the story to be unrealistic, it held my interest, and I considered parts - Tin Win's and Mi Mi's love for one one another prior to their separation - to be inspiring. And for that reason, the book rates a third star. However, the author 's continuing assertion that the love was so strong that their separation produced no sadness, the lack of receipt of any responses to their daily letters to one another - none reaching its intended target - did not diminish that love or produce...more

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Feb 15, 2013 Amy rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker spans both continents and decades, and takes readers on a remarkable journey of love. Part fairy tale, part love story and part mystery, readers will be immediately drawn into the story. When a successful lawyer Tin Win, suddenly disappears, his wife and daughter Julia realize how very little they knew about him, until they discover a love letter he had written to a woman named Mi Mi, in his native Burma. Julia travels to the village where Mi...more

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Feb 07, 2013 Pat Wootton rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book - excellently translated from the original German - reads almost like poetry in prose, the language is so well utilized. And that is just one reason to give this one a read.

Following a plot that takes us from modern day New York City to pre-WWII rural Burma, the narrative is complex yet enthralling, and although your mind will be frantically trying to put all the pieces together to come up with the overall picture, it's really best to sit back and exercise some patience while the book...more

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Jan 21, 2013 Kerry rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jan-Phillips Sendker’s The Art of Hearing Heartbeats (translated from German) is a heart-warming and yet heart-wrenching magical tale. Julia, who has recently graduated law school in New York, travels to Burma to find her father who went missing. With the help of her mother, who feels betrayed, Julia finds herself in the small Burmese town Kawal where she meets UBa, an elderly local, who tells her the story of Mimi and Tin Win. The story reveals to Julia some truths about her father and the rest...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Stefanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

If there could possibly be a perfect book for me at this precise moment in my life, having just lost my father who was very precious to me, this was it. Set in Burma, it reads like a fairy tale that is real enough you don't have to completely suspend disbelief but magical enough to draw you into all of the beautiful hidden messages that hover just below the main plot of the story. As I read ... slowly so as to savor it and not finish too soon ... I found myself thinking about love, loyalty, imag...more

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Jan 13, 2013 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Do you ever read a story that makes you believe in the power of love? I'm not talking about love at first sight, or tortuous and tormented love, but the love that transcends time and requires sacrifice. The love that doesn't breed doubt, but instead builds a person up.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats makes me long for a love like that. The story of Tin Win and Mi Mi is powerful and heartbreaking. These two characters have a strength and tranquility that can only arise from sacrifice. Throughout the...more

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Dec 16, 2012 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Not a book about cardiology, but a wise, beautiful story about the power of love to conquer fear. Four years after Julia’s father disappears, she goes in search of him in his native village in Burma. Here she learns about his life from an old man, U Ba. For me, this exchange is the heart of the book:

“’What are you afraid of?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘You would have no reason to worry. You are his daughter. Why do you doubt his love?’

‘He left us.’

‘Does one thing exclude the other?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why? Love has so m...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Holli rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-group, literary-fiction, spirituality

Sometimes I hate giving stars. I waffled between 3 and 4 on this one. Based on the title and a review I read, I wanted this to be one of my favorite books of all time. Unfortunately, the writing didn’t sing for me. But since it is a translation, I am giving Sendker the benefit of the doubt and assuming that it would have if I had been able to read it in German.

The reason I am being so lenient is because I think this book has an important message for us Westerners. In several of the other Goodrea...more Sometimes I hate giving stars. I waffled between 3 and 4 on this one. Based on the title and a review I read, I wanted this to be one of my favorite books of all time. Unfortunately, the writing didn’t sing for me. But since it is a translation, I am giving Sendker the benefit of the doubt and assuming that it would have if I had been able to read it in German.

The reason I am being so lenient is because I think this book has an important message for us Westerners. In several of the other Goodread reviews, readers use the word “fairytale,” but I’m wondering if this isn’t more of a parable, or maybe even a koan. Can Tin Win really hear heartbeats? Is it possible for two people to stay that committed over that long period of time when they’re so far apart? These are questions that our rational minds ask, but maybe the point in this story is to read with our hearts rather than our minds, with our intuition rather than our reason.

This is one of those situations where I would really like to talk to the author and ask some questions. I know that Mr. Sendker has visited Burma and that he fell in love with the country. I wonder if he would say that the Burmese have a different way of looking at reality. I wonder if they see the world in a more seamless way, that they see themselves as part of a greater whole rather than as being separate. This comes across in the relationship between U Ba and his mother when he is willing to give up his career to take care of her. And as he explains to Julia, this is the norm in Burma.

Also, in an interview I read, Sendker said that it wasn’t necessary for Tin Win and Mi Mi to be disabled for the story to work. But in this case I don’t see their conditions as disabilities. I see them as differences that give them a deeper perspective on the world and allow them to see connections that the rest of us ignore. They have a beautiful, symbiotic relationship where he becomes her legs and she becomes his eyes. As MiMi says, “There were things a person who walked through the world on two sound feet simply couldn’t understand. They believed that people saw with their eyes. That footsteps overcame distances.” P. 171 Perhaps this really does deepen their bond in a way that most of us can’t understand.

I don’t have it all figured out yet, but my hunch is that the point of the book is not that hearing heartbeats is necessarily magical realism or a special talent that Tin Win has because he is blind. I think that Sendker would say that we all have the capacity to hear heartbeats; we just don’t know it.

The main reason I am going with 4 stars is because it occurred to me one day while I was out walking, thinking about the book, to juxtapose this love story with the story of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet who could not be together because of family differences and we all know what happened to them. Tin Win and Mi Mi also couldn’t be together because of family relationships and their story turned out very differently. Wow, I wondered to myself, how would the world be different if this was the classic love story? What if love wasn’t bound by close physical proximity? What if romantic love was understood as U Ba describes it to Julia:

“Of course I am not referring to those outbursts of passion that drive us to do and say things we will later regret, that delude us into thinking we cannot live without a certain person, that set us quivering with anxiety at the mere possibility we might ever lose that person—a feeling that impoverishes rather than enriches us because we long to possess what we cannot, to hold on to what we cannot.
No, I speak of a love that brings sight to the blind. Of a love stronger than fear. I speak of a love that breathes meaning into life, that defies the natural laws of deterioration, that causes us to flourish, that knows no bounds. I speak of the triumph of the human spirit over selfishness and death.” P. 11

Below are some of the quotes that I might want to refer back to at some point. Any book that gives me quotes like these is worth 4 stars. (All page numbers refer to the large print edition.)

When U May and Tin Win have a discussion of who is blind: “The true essence of things is hidden to the eye . . . We must learn to divine the true nature of things, their substance, and the eyes are rather a hindrance than a help in that regard. A person who relies too heavily on his eyes neglects his other senses—and I mean more than his hearing or sense of smell. I’m talking about the organ within us for which we have no name. Let us call it the compass of the heart.” P. 127

In answer to Julia’s question, why does love have to be so difficult? U Ba replies, “Because we see only what we already know. We project our own capacities—for good as well as evil—onto the other person. Then we acknowledge as love primarily those things that correspond to our own image thereof. We wish to be loved as we ourselves would love. Any other way makes us uncomfortable. We respond with doubt and suspicion. We misinterpret the signs. We do not understand the language. We accuse. We assert that the other person does not love us. But perhaps he merely loves us in some idiosyncratic way that we fail to recognize. P. 245

Julia asks U Ba how long it took him to get over his mother’s death. “Over it? I’m not sure I would put it that way. When we get over something, we move on, we put it behind us. Do we leave the dead behind or do we take them with us? I think we take them with us. They accompany us. They remain with us, if in another form. We have to learn to live with them and their deaths.” P. 315

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Aug 28, 2012 Shari Dolinsky rated it 4 of 5 stars

Written by a reviewer on Amazon...This book is a wonderfully special treasure. A book about the strength of love, and the pull it has, over distance and over years, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats captivated me from the start and didn't let me go, and now I can't stop thinking about it. Don't you love books like that?

Just shortly after her graduation from law school, Julia Win's steadfastly reliable father, a successful attorney in his own right, disappears without a trace. Although he told his fa...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Kathie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I never give books 5 stars but I can't seem to imagine any flaws or way this author could better tell this tale and get his message across. The book is a short,fairytale-like story of the uplifting power and possibility of true love where physical challenges and human flaws become unimportant.

Julia Win's father, Tin mysteriously disappears after her graduation from law school. Her search for him takes her to Burma, the place of his birth and the home of MiMi, the burmese woman named in an unmai...more

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About Jan-Philipp Sendker

Jan-Philipp Sendker, born in Hamburg in 1960, was the American correspondent for Stern from 1990 to 1995, and its Asian correspondent from 1995 to 1999. In 2000 he published Cracks in the Great Wall, a nonfiction book about China. The Art of Hearing Heartbeats is his first novel. He lives in Berlin with his family.

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“I have often wondered what was the source of her beauty, her radiance. It’s not the size of one’s nose, the color of one’s skin, the shape of one’s lips or eyes that make one beautiful or ugly. So what is it? Can you, as a woman, tell me?
I shook my head.
I will tell you: It’s love. Love makes us beautiful. Do you know a single person who loves and is loved, who is loved unconditionally and who, at the same time, is ugly? There’s no need to ponder the question. There is no such person.” — 15 people liked it

“And so there must be in life something like a catastrophic turning point, when the world as we know ceases to exist. A moment that transform us into a different person from one heartbeat to the next.” — 11 people liked it

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