Book Reviews
Deftly written with the help of Sarah Crichton, formerly an editor at Newsweek and publisher at Little, Brown, A Mighty Heart resists the obvious peril of falling into hackneyed sentimentality. Instead of playing the part of the helpless, hopeless weeping widow while "screaming inside," Mariane Pearl is both sharp-eyed and practical, and at some points even mordantly amusing.
Jane Mayer - Washington Post
Documentary film director and former French public radio and television journalist Pearl tenderly recounts the heartbreaking story behind the 2002 kidnapping and barbaric videotaped execution of her husband, Wall Street journalist Daniel Pearl, in this candid and inspirational audio recording. There's no mistaking the steel beneath Mariane's lilting French accent as she explains why she wrote this book—to defy her husband's killers-and how she distrusted Karachi, a decadent city where anti-American and anti-Semitic sentiments abound, from the start. Her telling of her husb—and's abduction and the frantic attempts to save him is dramatic and disturbing, but she tempers it with choice memories of her and Danny's first meeting, courtship, marriage and excitement over their impending baby. Details about the historical, social and political background of the Middle East help illuminate the area and its inhabitants, but ultimately, this is a loving, illuminating and movingly recounted tale of love and courage.
Publishers Weekly
Danny and Mariane Pearl felt that good reporting is essential to a person's understanding of the complicated relationship between regional politics and religions around the globe. They both knew and understood the risks in their line of work. Believing he was taking all the necessary precautions, Danny went to Karachi, Pakistan, as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal to investigate terrorist activity there. The Pearls believed in the ideals of truth, justice, and love; they thought they would be able to contribute to world peace and/or world understanding. When the news came of her husband's abduction, the author put her reporter's instincts and the network of connections she had accumulated during her time in South Asia to work in the hopes of finding and saving him. A global effort to locate him and his captors was also going on, but culture, politics, and language separated the American rescuers from the Islamic terrorists. Tragically, it was impossible to save Danny despite the many kind and brave people who helped Pearl in her search. For five weeks, the world watched and waited with her, then pregnant with the couple's first child. This is a complex and moving story, offering an intimate glimpse of a marriage built on idealism. Recommended for public libraries. —Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama
Library Journal