The Death & Life of Charlie St. Cloud

The Death & Life of Charlie St. Cloud
Written by Ben Sherwood

"Trust your heart, If the sea's catch fire (and live by love, though the stars walk backward)"

About the Author

Ben Sherwood worked as a producer and associate producer for ABC News from the year 1989 to 1993. Sherwood has worked on Non-fiction writing for many years, and has been published in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Parade Magazine and many other newspapers.

The Story
After a horrific car accident causes Sam St. Cloud to pass away, his older brother Charlie goes through everyday life with a heavy weight on his shoulders. When Charlie St. Cloud was only fifteen years old, he took his brother and his pet beagle, Oscar, to a Red Sox game. However on the return home, they crash into a lorry driver and fall over the side of a bridge, causing them both to pass on to the afterlife. Upon being found in the crushed car wreckage, Charlie is saved by the paramedics. Unfortunately However Sam is not. As Charlie grows up, he realises that thanks to his near death experience, he now has powers to see the deceased, and begins to work in the cemetery that Sam was buried in, and every evening at sundown, Charlie goes to see Sam and play catch with him. This goes on for a while, before Charlie is introduced to Tess Carroll, a young sailor on the verge or sailing around the world by herself. Tess soon comes to meet Charlie, and they hit it off straight away, until tragedy strikes and neither of them know how to handle the situation.

Characterisation
The novel has a small group of characters, the following three are our main characters in which our story revolves around:

• Charlie St.Cloud - Our main character, the story is centred around his experiences and told from his point of view
• Sam St. Cloud - Charlie's younger deceased brother
• Tess Carroll - The main female character and Charlie's love interest

Charlie is a bright and sweet 28 year old guy who wants nothing more than to just get on with his life as the days go by. He spends his days working at the Waterside Cemetery, burying the deceased residents of the town, whilst working alongside his good friend, Joe the Atheist. After a long day’s work digging up graves and filling them in again, Charlie might decide to cut the grass or trim some bushes, but never forgetting that every evening at exactly sundown, he must go to meet with his brother Sam in the Forest of Shadows at the edge of the cemetery and spend the first few hours of darkness playing catch. Charlie has kept up this same routine for the past thirteen years, never breaking the promise he made Sam when they were in the afterlife.
Being a twelve year old in the afterlife cannot be easy for Sam.
He loves being able to spend time with his brother in the evenings, but during the day he is nothing but a wondering spirit. We only ever encounter Sam in the story if he is being met by Charlie. Sam seems happy where he is, even though he may be lonely at times, but he always knows that Charlie will be along soon to meet him.
Tess is our young lead female in the story. She is a strong willed and strong hearted character and will stop at nothing to make sure that she can do what she wants to do, whether that be getting her
own way with her friend Tink, or sailing solo in an around the world race. Tess meets Charlie unexpectedly, and a bond is immediately created. Tess may have finally found the one she has been looking for.
Other characters mentioned throughout the story include, Tink, Tess's good friend who works on Tess' boat with her, Joe the Atheist, A friend of Charlie's who works in the cemetery, and Grace, Tess' mother.

All characters in the story seem to have things worked out for them. Tink has decided to work on boats, Tess wants to sail to world solo, and Sam just wants to spend the rest of his dead life experience making sure his brother lives a full life. Charlie however, doesn't quite seem to know what he wants to do. He was given a second chance at life when he was brought back from the dead, and he has not seemed to have found what it is he was meant to do in life.


Plot Lines
In this story I noticed a few plot lines that I liked, whilst there were others I didn't quite like as much. To start, I liked the idea of Charlie being able to visit his dead brother in the cemetery every evening at sundown. That made me happy because everyone wants to know that their loved ones are happy, or in a better place when they pass, but Charlie is actually able to see his brother and spend time with him. The bond between Charlie and Tess after Tess finds out she is a ghost is quite wonderful. You see romance bloom in many different forms in movies and TV shows, but I have not come across a ghost and human connection. A plot line that I did not quite enjoy however, was when Tess finally finds out she is a ghost. After being shown around by Sam on the workings of being a ghost, she goes back to see Charlie in his cottage, and there Charlie takes Tess up into his bedroom and the two engage in intercourse. My main question is how? It has been made clear in the story that Charlie is able to touch Tess and Sam in the afterlife, as they have not yet crossed over to the other side. They are technically caught in the "Middle Realm" which is between life and death. But yet it baffles me how the two are able to do what they do. It made the story predictable from here on out and it made the story quite difficult to read.

OVERALL

Story: 6/10
Characterisation: 7/10
Re-readable: No
Recommendable: Yes

Overall I rate this book: 7/10

In the past I have read many novels. Many different genres, whether they be supernatural, sci-fi, romance and many others. I have read a lot of romance novels, and I would say “The Death & Life of Charlie St. Cloud” fits the genre nicely. There is a deep connection between Charlie and Tess which at first I liked a lot. Their bond made me want to know how the situation they found themselves in was going to affect them, but then all of a sudden within a page turn, I was bored of it. At first I was shocked at the revelation that Tess was what she was, and Charlie was just walking around as if he did this sort of thing every day, but as the bond grew between Tess and Charlie, I came to find that it was getting predictable. The novel itself has thirty-seven chapters, but by the time I got around the chapter twenty-five everything became predictable. I knew how the story was going to go in the following pages and how the story would end. This made it hard to read and I found it hard to continue, as if pushing my way through forcefully.

Theatrical Poster (2010)

The novel was made into a film adaptation in 2010 starring teen heart-throb Zac Efron. Much of the film has been changed, as all film adaptations of books are, but the start of the movie has a completely different beginning. Charlie appears to be a different age, and has a different reason for driving.

I enjoyed the book to a point, but it did start to become predictable. I would however, recommend it to others as a one-time read.

I would recommend this book to fans of Romance.



Other books by Ben Sherwood:

1. The Man Who Ate the 747
2. The Survivors Club - The Secrets and Science That Could Save Your Life