Clara's Heart

Rating:
Summary: Heart-warming
Review: After the death of his baby sister, David's parents struggle to maintain their marriage, and hire on a Jamaican housekeeper named Clara. As his parents separate and divorce, David befriends Clara and sees her as the one person he can count on, but even she isn't spared from his misbehavior. Clara is hiding a secret about the death of her own son back in Jamaica, and David is determined to find out what it is before he loses her from his life. "Clara's Heart" is a big-hearted story that has great moments of comedy that nearly get lost in the maelstrom of melodrama. Clara is the only likeable character, and it's rather bewildering why she stays with this family, even though she says she's staying to help David. "Clara's Heart" isn't a terrible book, but neither is it the greatest. It was made into a movie starring Whoopi Goldberg.

Rating:
Summary: Powerful enough to overcome images of the movie
Review: Having seen Whoopi Goldberg as Clara in the movie version of Clara's Heart, I assumed that when I finally got around to reading the book, I would keep thinking of the actors from the movie. This was not the case.

David, Clara, Bill and Leona are all deeper and more vivid characters in the book. Though I loved the movie version, the written words prove to be much more compelling. As usual, the movie edits out the incredible words written by Olshan. Though parts of the movie are taken word for word from the book, much of the story and significant passages are missing in the movie.

Having owned the movie for many years and after repeated viewings, I really wasn't too enthusiastic about reading the book. But once I started reading the novel, I couldn't put it down. It was as if I was reading something totally new, even though I assumed I would find it completely familiar.

It's no surprise the novel is far superior to the movie, though as movies go, the movie version isn't bad. If you can have only one version of Clara's Heart....take the book!