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Garcia's Heart
A searing debut novel told with the dexterity of Graham Greene, the moral complexity of Ian McEwan, and the tension of a thriller.
Dazzling new fiction writer Liam Durcan blends his knowledge of the intricacies of neuroscience with a literary ability for riveting, layered storytelling. In García’s Heart , neurologist Patrick Lazerenko travels to The Hague to witness the war crimes trial of his beloved mentor, Hernan García, a Honduran doctor accused of involvement in torture. Driven by his own youthful memories of the man and his family, Lazerenko is determined to get to the truth behind the shocking accusations, even as the prosecution and a relentless journalist suspect Patrick of hiding information. The defense has its own ideas for Patrick, hoping to use his latest research to help vindicate García. As Patrick struggles with his conscience, and the pressures from the neuroeconomics company he abandoned in Boston, he must also contend with seeing García’s daughter, his former lover, and the surprising influence a shady advocacy group seems to have over her, and with the fact García himself is refusing to speak, to anyone.
Taut, probing, highly intelligent, skillfully written, García’s Heart delves into the central issues of today, from terrorism to bioethics, and the age-old dilemmas of loyalty and betrayal.
Dazzling new fiction writer Liam Durcan blends his knowledge of the intricacies of neuroscience with a literary ability for riveting, layered storytelling. In García’s Heart , neurologist Patrick Lazerenko travels to The Hague to witness the war crimes trial of his beloved mentor, Hernan García, a Honduran doctor accused of involvement in torture. Driven by his own youthful memories of the man and his family, Lazerenko is determined to get to the truth behind the shocking accusations, even as the prosecution and a relentless journalist suspect Patrick of hiding information. The defense has its own ideas for Patrick, hoping to use his latest research to help vindicate García. As Patrick struggles with his conscience, and the pressures from the neuroeconomics company he abandoned in Boston, he must also contend with seeing García’s daughter, his former lover, and the surprising influence a shady advocacy group seems to have over her, and with the fact García himself is refusing to speak, to anyone.
Taut, probing, highly intelligent, skillfully written, García’s Heart delves into the central issues of today, from terrorism to bioethics, and the age-old dilemmas of loyalty and betrayal.
392 pages, Hardcover
First published April 10, 2007
5 people are currently reading
83 people want to read
About the author
Liam Durcan
4 books8 followersLiam Durcan was born in Winnipeg where obtained his MD from the University of Manitoba.He has published short fiction since 2000 in a variety of Canadian and American Journals. His short fiction has won the 2004 Quebec Writers Federation/CBC prize and he work has been shortlisted 3 times for the CBC National Literary Awards. He lives in Montreal with his wife and children and is working on a new novel.
Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best First Novel (2008): Garcia's Heart
Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best First Novel (2008): Garcia's Heart
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews
June 29, 2012
Abandoned at p 170. It has something, but its floundering. The idea is lost in the descriptions and careful prose that says, "Look, here's a good line." But it is coy about the reason for the story. About the reasons for the anguish etc.
Time to move on.
Your time is up.
Time to move on.
Your time is up.
December 31, 2008
SUCH A DOWNER. I've read about war criminals in Latin America before, but...this was just miserable to read.
October 10, 2012
Meh. Just meh. Kind of disjointed, and honestly the plot was a bit pointless.
January 14, 2022
Garcia’s Heart is a story about a man named Patrick, but he is not a Garcia. After verbally abusing them and vandalizing their store, he pays his dues by working in the family store. Soon, he wants to be with the Garcia family more than his own, eventually loving each member of the family in different ways.
In a rich tapestry woven through time across continents, this a beautifully written story about the nuances of good and evil, love and indifference. It culminates with the trial of Hernan Garcia at The Hague, and explores the age old question of what really is the truth.
In a rich tapestry woven through time across continents, this a beautifully written story about the nuances of good and evil, love and indifference. It culminates with the trial of Hernan Garcia at The Hague, and explores the age old question of what really is the truth.
December 12, 2017
A good idea for a book, but poor, boring writing.
Want to read
November 27, 2019Synopsis: neurologist Patrick Lazerenko travels to The Hague to watch the war crimes trial of his mentor. He's determined to get to the truth.
January 2, 2021
Couldn't get into the storyline enough to make this as meaningful as the lead up.
June 12, 2024
I really enjoyed this novel—- the prose was beautifully written.
You’d out of the blue be sent travelling back to a characters origins story with little to no warning, but it was so seamless and intriguing that it kept you pushing through.
This book really made me think a lot about the multitudes that people contain, and I was so pleasantly surprised to actually really sympathize with what nowadays seems like the “flawed anti-hero, hero” trope.
Highly recommend!
You’d out of the blue be sent travelling back to a characters origins story with little to no warning, but it was so seamless and intriguing that it kept you pushing through.
This book really made me think a lot about the multitudes that people contain, and I was so pleasantly surprised to actually really sympathize with what nowadays seems like the “flawed anti-hero, hero” trope.
Highly recommend!
September 24, 2011
With the publication of Garcia’s Heart by Liam Durcan, yet another Canadian doctor throws his hat into the ring. Who knew there were so many with literary aspirations?
In this debut novel, Durcan dances across the corpus callosum, proving that the combination of medicine and literature – the left and right brain – make for good fiction. Garcia’s Heart tackles difficult moral conundrums, like the nature of good and evil, innocence and culpability. It also, to a lesser extent, delves into the responsibility of the individual in an increasingly amoral corporate world. Durcan serves up these meditations in a topical exploration of the vagaries of the World Court, and not without a smattering of mystery.
Patrick Lazerenko, an expat Canadian living and working in Boston, learns that his former boss and mentor, Hernan Garcia, is to stand trial in Den Haag for crimes against humanity. He is accused of aiding and abetting the torture of political dissidents in his homeland of Honduras during the turbulent 1980s. Patrick leaves his job – a company he founded – during a critical juncture in order to attend the trial and discern the truth about the man he so well respected.
Complicating matters is the possibility the Patrick might be subpoenaed by either side of the case. The defence wishes to employ his unique expertise as a neuroscientist to discuss Hernan’s ability to judge right from wrong, while the prosecution suspects Patrick withholds damning testimony.
Ah, yes. Did I mention that Hernan’s daughter, Celia, is Patrick’s former lover?
The plot requires much telling to unravel the truth. But it is sufficiently compelling to keep the reader interested. The character of Patrick is also a well-crafted invention, vacillating, pondering, and loving unrequitedly in a very believable fashion.
However, when dealing with highly technical and specialized fields such as neuroscience and law – let alone juggling both in a single novel – an author runs the risk of losing his reader in the minutiae. As affirmed by the novel’s protagonist, "any interesting job could be reduced to a series of bureaucratic functions." Garcia’s Heart stumbles in and out of this mire on a few occasions.
The diction and sentence structure here can also reflect the cumbersome topics. Appositives, subliminal interjections, multiple clauses, and dense vocabulary can combine to create some tricky prose from time to time:
"He was also, despite his designation as protege, miserable in the office where his recent arrival and prepubescent appearance combined with the insecurity of the business-types to bleed credibility from him...with a bit of supportive psychotherapy and an implied challenge to his intelligence – motivational tactics Patrick had mastered as a thesis supervisor – he agreed to stay."
Ultimately, these are small quibbles. Garcia’s Heart is a confident debut novel that will leave you wondering "what had to happen for a life to double in on itself, for separate trajectories to form and diverge, and if living this lie took as great a toll as another having to discover it."
In this debut novel, Durcan dances across the corpus callosum, proving that the combination of medicine and literature – the left and right brain – make for good fiction. Garcia’s Heart tackles difficult moral conundrums, like the nature of good and evil, innocence and culpability. It also, to a lesser extent, delves into the responsibility of the individual in an increasingly amoral corporate world. Durcan serves up these meditations in a topical exploration of the vagaries of the World Court, and not without a smattering of mystery.
Patrick Lazerenko, an expat Canadian living and working in Boston, learns that his former boss and mentor, Hernan Garcia, is to stand trial in Den Haag for crimes against humanity. He is accused of aiding and abetting the torture of political dissidents in his homeland of Honduras during the turbulent 1980s. Patrick leaves his job – a company he founded – during a critical juncture in order to attend the trial and discern the truth about the man he so well respected.
Complicating matters is the possibility the Patrick might be subpoenaed by either side of the case. The defence wishes to employ his unique expertise as a neuroscientist to discuss Hernan’s ability to judge right from wrong, while the prosecution suspects Patrick withholds damning testimony.
Ah, yes. Did I mention that Hernan’s daughter, Celia, is Patrick’s former lover?
The plot requires much telling to unravel the truth. But it is sufficiently compelling to keep the reader interested. The character of Patrick is also a well-crafted invention, vacillating, pondering, and loving unrequitedly in a very believable fashion.
However, when dealing with highly technical and specialized fields such as neuroscience and law – let alone juggling both in a single novel – an author runs the risk of losing his reader in the minutiae. As affirmed by the novel’s protagonist, "any interesting job could be reduced to a series of bureaucratic functions." Garcia’s Heart stumbles in and out of this mire on a few occasions.
The diction and sentence structure here can also reflect the cumbersome topics. Appositives, subliminal interjections, multiple clauses, and dense vocabulary can combine to create some tricky prose from time to time:
"He was also, despite his designation as protege, miserable in the office where his recent arrival and prepubescent appearance combined with the insecurity of the business-types to bleed credibility from him...with a bit of supportive psychotherapy and an implied challenge to his intelligence – motivational tactics Patrick had mastered as a thesis supervisor – he agreed to stay."
Ultimately, these are small quibbles. Garcia’s Heart is a confident debut novel that will leave you wondering "what had to happen for a life to double in on itself, for separate trajectories to form and diverge, and if living this lie took as great a toll as another having to discover it."
February 19, 2017
I picked this book up at random at the Ottawa Public Library. The opening grabbed me quite quickly. I took the book home. For a while, the book really had me. The tone, the mood, was incredible. A really intense feeling. Nostalgia and self-loathing, playful and sad. I was really enjoying it, totally sucked in.
Then, at around page 280, I was bored out of my mind. What happened? I don't know. It's hard to tell if it was me or the book. One of us lost focus. I blame the book. There was a shift in the plot, and suddenly things were depressingly predictable and out of tune. Things got back on track near the end, but it was too late. It was ruined for me.
It's still a really great book. There's a lot going on in it, and when it's working right, it's a beautiful read. The style of it is simple and clean. Very well written. Literary, but never pretentious. Perhaps a bit formulaic in construction, with flashbacks to fill in details of the present, but that worked well for me.
I would read other works by this author.
Then, at around page 280, I was bored out of my mind. What happened? I don't know. It's hard to tell if it was me or the book. One of us lost focus. I blame the book. There was a shift in the plot, and suddenly things were depressingly predictable and out of tune. Things got back on track near the end, but it was too late. It was ruined for me.
It's still a really great book. There's a lot going on in it, and when it's working right, it's a beautiful read. The style of it is simple and clean. Very well written. Literary, but never pretentious. Perhaps a bit formulaic in construction, with flashbacks to fill in details of the present, but that worked well for me.
I would read other works by this author.
November 22, 2015
I haven’t read a legal thriller in quite some time so was looking forward to this – set in the Hague, an international narrative I didn’t know, all with a touch of medical mystery thrown in – very promising. I did thoroughly enjoy the pacing of the work and the unique take on the setting, but I was somewhat disappointed in the role of medicine in the work, especially trying to prove a medical reason for behavior. It just seemed too far fetched and wasn’t made enough of to make it convincing. I also wish there was more on the accusation itself. I wish the author had taken the position that readers were entirely unfamiliar with happenings in Honduras and give us more of what happened there, a bit more of a history lesson. Overall, this was a fun read but nothing that will stick with me.
July 24, 2012
The dilemma - would a man you admired do the terrible things he is accused of? Hernan Garcia is on trial for war crimes in Honduras, accused of participating in the torture of political prisoners. Is this the same man who nurtured a teenage boy when he needed it, and set him on his path to becoming a doctor? This is a bit hard to read as there is very little action and a lot of introspection on the part of Patrick Lazarenko, the doctor, who has come to observe the tribunal in The Hague and try to make sense of what is happening. Lots of questions and perhaps answers by the end of the novel.
October 12, 2008
Garcia's Heart (Liam Durcan)--beautifully written book about a man's (Patrick), struggle with trying to understand how the most influential man in his formative years--a Honduran immigrant who was a cardiologist-turned-family-grocer--could be accused of crimes against humanity. Garcia refuses to talk to anyone about his involvement in the torture of political prisoners--not his family, lawyer, and certainly not Patrick. Lots of tumultuous emotions, and a great mystery to solve--why won't Garcia talk to anyone? Recommended!
August 25, 2009
Curiously satisifying. There is no knock out punch, no startling revelation about if he did/didn't do what he was accuse of. Really was a book of human emotions. I loved the undercutting of past and present. I also liked how each character wasn't likeable all the time. I didn't have an affinity to anyone of them yet was drawn to them. Much like real life.
February 23, 2015
A story about the reflecting on the past, analyses made and reconsidered.
This had been on my "to read" list for a long time, and I'd attempted but abandoned reading it in the past. Decided to tackle it.
it's an okay story.
This had been on my "to read" list for a long time, and I'd attempted but abandoned reading it in the past. Decided to tackle it.
it's an okay story.
April 13, 2008
It's not everyday you find a neurologist protagonist, so thank you Prof. Durcan for 'Mopito', who has a knack for dissecting good and evil as they run together in life's sinews. Mentorship, corporate research, romantic relationships, genocide and depanneurs are neatly pinned down in this book.
September 25, 2012
I wanted to like this book more. The first half was really good, compelling me to read to find out what happens. The second half seemed to bog right down and instead of answering the questions that I thought it would, the story seemed to move in a direction that tried too hard to be "artsy".
February 17, 2009
It took about 40 pages to understand what was going on, but now that I'm into it, it's pretty darn cool.
Read
July 28, 2011I really enjoyed this book. It took me a while to get into it, but was definitely worth it.
August 2, 2011
I thought this was a great book. It deals with a struggle to reconcile someones awful past with the person you know today. Very compelling read.
August 7, 2011
A sophisticated exploration of our current moral/ethical world bound in a compelling story. The protagonist is one you love to hate, and compellingly authentic as a result.
October 22, 2011
2.5 stars
March 6, 2013
An intricate, highly intelligent novel. A mix of international law, human rights, neurological science, marketing, family drama and human weakness. Loved it.
June 18, 2013
Unappealing protagonist, downer plot, amazing writing. Absolutely amazing writing.
February 24, 2014
I liked it. The story was not what I was expecting, but still really good.
December 17, 2008
Waht a strange twist but interesting
Displaying 1 - 26 of 26 reviews