From Publishers Weekly
Not even death can keep two brothers from meeting to play ball: it sounds like a sentimental TV movie, doesn't it? Actually, Sherwood's second novel (after The Man Who Ate the 747) is warmhearted but not maudlin, exploring the bonds between the living and the dead and the lengths to which we'll go for love. A secret jaunt to a Sox game ends in tragedy when Charlie St. Cloud, who isn't old enough for a driver's license, crashes the car he pinched from a neighbor. The hearts of Charlie and his younger brother, Sam, stop, but miraculously, Charlie is resuscitated. Thirteen years later, Charlie is 28 and working as the caretaker for the Marblehead cemetery where Sam is buried; he's also spending every evening playing catch with the ghost of 12-year-old Sam, who's putting off going to heaven for the game. Charlie's world gets shaken up, though, by feisty, beautiful Tess Carroll, a sailor who had plans to be one of the first women to circumnavigate the globe solo. They have a perfect date, and sparks fly. But then news comes that her boat is lost at sea, and Charlie, whose gift of seeing spirits has grown, realizes that her fading apparition is the result of a failing effort to rescue her. Sherwood tugs at readers' heartstrings throughout the novel, and the sentimentality mostly works. Charlie's final effort to save his lady love from ghostly oblivion strains credibility, of course, but isn't that the point of a tale about love triumphant?
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From Booklist
Charlie St. Cloud loves his kid brother, Sam, more thananything else in the world. So one day, he "borrows" their neighbor'scar and takes Sam to see a Red Sox game, never dreaming that theirescapade will end in a terrible accident that Sam does notsurvive. Thirteen years pass. Still keeping his promise to his brotherthat he'll never leave him, Charlie is the caretaker at Waterside, thecemetery where Sam is buried. Every evening, as soon as Waterside issecured for the night, Charlie goes to a hidden area of the memorialpark and plays catch with his brother. Meanwhile, master sailor Tessis ready to make a solo trip around the world even though she lovesthe "snug little village" of Marblehead, Massachusetts. But in spiteof her state-of-the-art vessel, her tip-top physical fitness, and thedrive of an adventurer, she barely survives a disastrous trialrun. Shaken, she visits her father's grave and meets Charlie, who isimmediately drawn to her. However, he believes that because he robbedSam of his life, he doesn't deserve love, but the more he's around theliving, the weaker his link to the dead becomes. Uniquely lyrical,Sherwood's story of a devotion so strong it transcends death ismystical, magical, and moving.
Shelley MosleyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
