BuzzFlash Reviews

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS

Angelina Jolie is starring in the generally well-received movie version of "A Mighty Heart," based on the personal memoir of Mariane Pearl.

BuzzFlash is offering a 5-CD audiobook version of the original Mariane Pearl memoir, narrated by the author herself.

The book has been widely acclaimed for revealing a loving, savvy, poised (under the most horrifying of circumstances)wife and journalist as she tried to save her husband from the hideous doom that befell him.

Mariane Pearl is an individual of great depth and self-control, who maintained focused self-control amidst a chaotic effort to rescue Danny Pearl from terrorists.

Much has been written of the love story between the Wall Street Journal reporter and French journalist. She was pregnant with their first born when he was abducted and murdered.

Mariane Pearl speaks with a powerful, impassioned, self-reflective voice. She is a journalist reporting on a horror story in which she and her husband were at the center of the unfolding -- and ultimately tragic -- drama.

From Publisher's Weekly:

When Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002, his very pregnant wife, Mariane, was left to try to manage the search effort. In this memoir of the month between Pearl's kidnapping and news of his death, she is unflinching, revealing every emotional detail with such honesty that to call the book heart-wrenching is to minimize its power.

A journalist herself, Mariane is adept at detail and pacing, letting the events unfold as they happened, complete with their frustrating dead-ends and the tangle of Karachi's bureaucracy. She weaves in memories and thoughts about Danny, which give the book a keen poignancy. She describes how they first met at a party of her mother's, where he looked like "an elegant extra-terrestrial casting a delighted but somewhat perplexed glance at the earthly specimens." Later, after they were married and Mariane got pregnant, he would lean close to her growing belly and talk to the baby in a made-up language he was sure the baby would learn post-birth.

After the kidnapping, as she searched his computer for clues, Mariane stumbled upon quirky lists he made, like "Things I Love About Mariane." Such insight into Pearl's personality make the tragedy of his death even sharper. As Mariane deals with his murder and faces the birth of their son alone, she acts with the same sincerity and grace that brought her through the ordeal of the kidnapping. It's not difficult to see why, on the list of things he loved about her, Pearl included: "Has incredible ability to see herself and others with clear perspective."

From an online reviewer:

The universality of this autobiographical account of coping with the barbaric slaughter of a beloved husband and father-to-be is mirrored, in microcosm, in its author's mixed Hispanic, Chinese, Black, and Caucasian lineage. It is a triumph of the universal human spirit that Mariane Pearl has courageously risen above bitterness and hatred in reaffirmation of the challenges and joys of living. Her moving memorial of her late husband's personal and professional achievements has elicited tributes from world figures and ordinary citizens on all continents, and is itself a testament to the indomitability of love and faith in a world that increasingly resembles a theater of the absurd.

From another online reviewer:

What is most moving about this story is not the actual story itself, but how Mariane Pearl dealt with her husband's murder with grace and dignity that should be an example to all. Mariane does not point fingers; she does not judge and most surprisingly she does not condemn his murderers, at least not outright.

This story unfolds as a mystery novel with all the usual twists and turns that a fiction novel has, yet what makes it haunting is that it is real. Mariane is fairly passive when writing; she describes the events, and sometimes slips in how she felt during that time, but this book all around feels a little removed. What is that kind of grief/fear/anxiety like?? How is she so composed?? How is she so calm??? But I believe that these are questions that perhaps Mrs. Pearl doesn't know the answer to. I believe that however we act in a moment doesn't necessarily determine what we wanted to do; we merely do it because we knew we had to. Mariane knew that she could not hate, even though most would; she knew that she could not attack violence with violence.

She is an inspiration. This book is heartbreaking and as a reader I would like to believe that this novel was fiction and that Daniel Pearl (who sounds like he was such a remarkable man) was still alive. We have to remind ourselves that he isn't--even after the book is finished. "Danny is dead, right?"

But he isn't. He is alive because of his wife's book. He is alive because of his parents' work with the Daniel Pearl Foundation. He is alive through his son, who is now 5.

I recommend this book to all, with the knowledge that the ending is bittersweet. (emphasis on the bitter) It is also a reminder of the misunderstanding, hatred, and anti-semitism that exists in this world today.

Remember, this is the original 5-CD audiobook version, read by Mariane Pearl.

BUZZFLASH REVIEWS