The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud

Excellent story & very good writing. I have not read any books by this author & very few books of this type. His character development was excellent & that is the most important thing to me in any book. I highly recommend this book to everyone no matter that it isn't your type of book. It certainly wasn't mine but I really enjoyed it.

I love Ben Sherwood. I admit that upfront. He is a wonderful writer and "The Man who Ate the 747" is one of my favorite books. That spirit of wonder and love has not left the quill (I doubt he actually writes with a quill, but so what?). Charlie St. Cloud is a tougher read in that it deals so openly with death, loss, and well, it is set in a cemetary. I finished the book in tears (as usual with this writer) and cried a couple of other times. I read the book in just two sittings. Sherwood's style is deceptively simple (he does have an impressive vocabulary however). What amazes is that this kind of story--with life, death, the afterlife, etc...is so deftly pulled off. It largely avoids being maudolin or cliched. It is something of a miracle that this story works so beautifully. In the hands of someone else, it might not. Sherwood is so upbeat about life and I wish more of us had his optimism and understanding. His stories are very special. This is the kind of book that you may read again and again, especially after a tragedy. I loved Ferrio too and how he connects the main characters.Another note, if you read the source notes and afterward, you learn more interesting things. For example, as with "747" the locations in the book are real. I love that. It seems that this book will be made into a film and it will work--in the right hands. Nevertheless, the book is almost always better right? The acknowledgements are fascinating...if you are a media geek some names will pop out,a former head of NBC, a top screen writer, an entertainment journalist, and even the creator of Alias and Felicity. This guy has some darned interesting friends. My favorite? The last lines about his family and his wife. Their love story might make a great story too--if he hasn't already put in books.

There is so much that can be said for a master of the written word who can, with a few sentences, make your eyes brim with tears over the loss of a young boy...and then, no matter how hard you fight it, makes you smile because of the joy you feel peering into the relationship between brothers Charlie and Sam.Ben Sherwood is more than a writer. He is an artist that uses his incredible mind to paint unforgettable literary moments onto the canvas that is our heart. We ache for his characters. We cheer them. We long to know them...and in the end, when the story is over, we miss them. But it isn't truly the end, because long after the last page is turned and the book is put down, fleeting memories of the characters, the town, the love of two brothers creep back into everyday situations. Who, after reading this wonderful book, will ever again think that there is such a thing as a "simple game of catch"?Ben Sherwood makes us laugh, makes us cry, makes us think. But most of all, he makes us feel, and there truly is no better gift than that.Ben, as always, Thank You. XX

I was hooked by the time I finished the introduction. The story of Charlie St. Cloud is embracing, emotional, enchanting and so well written that I didn't want the story to end. Charlie makes a promise to his little brother that he has trouble keeping but by the time you finish the book, you realize that no matter what else happened, Charlie kept that promise - to his little brother Sam and to his own destiny - and he met some interesting characters along the way with his special gift. You will love this story if you're a romantic or if you just love a good book. Charlie touches the lives of many people in his adventures along the road of his death and then his life. Ben Sherwood will touch the soul of each reader with this book and they won't realize until later just how deeply. He has a rare gift of giving his all in his stories.

Yes America, there is a heaven. Just ask Charlie St. Cloud, an earthly saint who secretly helps the dead's transition through the "in between," which waits after life and into the great beyond --- the next world, heaven, nirvana, whatever you may call it.As caretaker of Waterside Cemetery in the harbor village of Marblehead, Massachusetts, Charlie is the sandy blond, freckle-faced prince of a simple life in the safest of places. He tends the cemetery, plays catch with his younger brother Sam, enjoys quiet evenings at his forest-side cottage, watches the Sox and has his coffee each morning at the docks. The serenity is a thin blanket for Charlie's one big mistake, the accident that changed everything thirteen years ago.Though he throws a mean curveball and likes a swim in the pond, Sam St. Cloud is dead. But Charlie sees and talks to him because Sam is just like Charlie's other cemetery acquaintances, the others in the "in between," a place where the newly departed and a few spiritual hangers-on await their time to pass onto the next astral plane. Charlie is their gentle yet unofficial guide in that confusing time a soul may experience when it has left its earthly shell.The literary gatekeeper of world records, true love, miracles and hope, novelist Ben Sherwood (THE MAN WHO ATE THE 747) steps into the pastoral landscape of Thornton Wilder's OUR TOWN and Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life to explore the tortured lives of those who cannot let go and those who blame themselves for life's misfortunes. He describes Charlie's knowledge of the cemetery's spirits: "Folks often showed up bewildered ... Sometimes they didn't even comprehend that life was over and had to spend a few days figuring things out. Others knew right away what had brought them down and they screamed at God and the world from the moment they arrived. They were the ones who held on to friends and family as long as they could. And then there were the folks who had it the easiest of all, letting go quickly and moving on to the next realm."A high school junior at the time, Charlie's wonderful life ended at the same moment as his little brother Sam's when the car they mischievously "borrowed" to go see a baseball game was struck by a drunk driver. But Charlie's time in the "in between" was brief as he was shocked back to life by fireman Florio Ferrente, a doomed character whose dedication and heroism brings to mind thoughts of New York and D.C., 2001. Charlie was saved to live with the guilt and pain of knowing that he should not have been driving that car and that they shouldn't have been on that bridge when fate knocked them out of this world. Over a decade of lost dreams and major sacrifices later, Charlie feels his sole duties in life are to advise the confused spirits that pass through Waterside and keep a sacred promise, a daily date for catch with his brother's innocent spirit.A chance meeting with local sail maker Tess Carroll (and a most curious series of plot twists) sways Cha

Having once been in the circus, I love watching writers take daring risks. "The Death and Life of Charlie St. Cloud" is a high-wire act of the most exciting kind: bold, mesmerizing, lump-in-the-throat exciting, a tad scary, and ultimately very American. Ben Sherwood sucks you in immediately with a charming tale where nothing is quite what it seems, tragedy is waiting just around the corner, and love triumphs when you least expect it. Who would begin a book with pain? Well, lots of people! Like "Lovely Bones" and "Five People You Meet In Heaven," great writers seem to have the ability to make us go through an unspeakable calamity in order to find a transcendent path to hope. There are lots of surprises here: baseball games you can't quite believe; sailing races that hold your breath, lots of quirky details about cemeteries (Edgar Allan Poe!), and great food. My wife fell in love with Charlie; I liked Tess. It only took each of us a day to read it; we haven't stopped talking about it since.