Love

Love is an important theme in the novel “The Art of Hearing Heartbeats” by Jan-Phillip Sendeker. As a theme, love can take many forms. In this novel, it assumes the roles of both familial and romantic love. Love is central to the plot and central to the lives of the characters of Tin Win, Mi Mi, Julia, and Judith.

When the novel begins, familial and romantic love are in question. Tin Win has abandoned his family and gone to Burma. The police suspect that Tin Win has been living a double life. Judith doubts that Tin Win ever loved her. She believes her entire marriage was a sham. She has always known that Tin Win has been in love with another woman. Judith feels that she has never been truly loved by Tin Win.

Julia, too, doubts her father’s familial love for her. She can...