Synopsis "Scar Tissue of the Heart"
Awards & Accolades KIRKUS REVIEWSOUR VERDICT: GET IT!Harris' clear and direct writing has flashes of sarcasm and deadpan humor reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut. What readers may remember best about this quirky tale, however, are the occasional poetic gems. Kirkus ReviewsFROM THE DUST-JACKET: Dan receives an e-mail from a friend with a hyperlink and a cryptic message, "Thought you might find this amusing." Little does he know, but when Dan clicks that link his life will be forever changed. The link takes Dan to what appears to be someone's online diary. Dan is fascinated by the intimate details of the author's life, including his wife and daughter. After adding up all the clues, he finally realizes why he received this link. As fate should have it, Dan is reading the diary of the man who stole the heart of his first girlfriend. The more Dan reminisces about his first love, the more determined he is to find her. He sets out on a road trip, hoping to reconcile his past with his present. Along the way, Dan will find himself on an unexpected adventure involving a beautiful woman, helper monkeys, wishing rocks, a befuddled octogenarian, a secret garden and, of course, his first love.REVIEWS: SCAR TISSUE OF THE HEARTOne man's offbeat attempt to make amends with his past and find love in the present.Dan feels he's been drawn into a "literary peep-show" when his old friend Steve sends him a link to a blog written by the husband of Melissa, his high school sweetheart and greatest love. He had met Melissa in the summer of 1985 while living in the San Francisco area, and now, more than 20 years later, "the memory of Melissa had come alive" for Harris' quirky narrator. Reading her husband's blog, Dan voyeuristically catches up on her recent life, which feels like "peeking through the windows at night when someone forgets to draw the curtains." The posts rekindle his feelings for Melissa, and Dan hatches a vague plan to try to see her, which involves her parents in Spokane, Washington. "All I know is that I'm going to find myself in the Pacific Northwest and stop by to see the father of an old friend," he tells Steve. "If anything should lead from that, fine." On the way to Spokane from California, Dan impulsively picks up Claire, a hitchhiker, whose arrival challenges him to live in the present. In Claire's presence, Dan realizes he's changed during the trip: "I could now fully appreciate any time I was given to share with someone I loved." Dan speaks and acts in a way that's alternately neurotic ("Being a color-blind painter in need of analysis, I made the obvious decision, I became an Art Therapist") and Zen-like in its conviction that his plan could work out and he could live life in "that Parallel Universe" where his fantasies "had all come true." Harris' clear and direct writing has flashes of sarcasm and deadpan humor reminiscent of Kurt Vonnegut or John Barth. What readers may remember best about this quirky tale, however, are the occasional poetic gems. One arises when Dan sees a picture of Jessica, Melissa's daughter, and observes "a definite sadness in her forced smile," the kind felt by "someone who has reached a milestone in her life, with a millstone around her neck."
