The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

The child of subsistence workers in Kalaw, Mi Mi is born at around the same time as Tin. Though Mi Mi is born with club feet, her mother Yadana perceives her only daughter, the youngest of her children, as special. As a child, Mi Mi possesses a “healing” voice that is sought out for celebrations. At some point, she abruptly “retires” her voice, saying she will wait for the right time to use it again. Beautiful, bright, and patient, Mi Mi accepts the hardships of life without bitterness. She travels by waiting for her brothers to carry her from one place to another.

Mi Mi learns of Tin from one of her brothers, who is also a novice monk. The pair meet when Tin first hears her heartbeat and finds himself drawn to the sound. Tin becomes Mi Mi’s “legs” and Mi Mi becomes his “eyes”. They form an inseparable bond over the course of four years. On their last night before Tin’s move to Rangoon, they make love for the first and final time. U Ba is the result of their union.

After Tin leaves Kalaw, Mi Mi earns money by wrapping small cigars called cheroots that, for some reason, taste better by her hands. Known for her beauty, Mi Mi resists the entreaties of many suitors and waits for Tin, always believing he will return.

Julia is the daughter of Tin and his American wife, Judith. She is the initial, first-person narrator of the novel. A New York City attorney like her father, she decides to walk away from her legal practice in order to track Tin. Julia makes this decision after finding an unsent letter that Tin wrote to Mi Mi, which provides an address in Burma.

Despite being a narrator, Julia is a mysterious figure to the reader. Her appearance and other characteristics are never mentioned, apart from her half-brother U Ba saying she is beautiful. She describes herself as skeptical, someone who trusts her intellect over her intuition. At first, she impatiently questions the veracity of U Ba’s stories. But as the narrative progresses, she comes to accept U Ba as a person and later discovers he is her half-brother.

U Ba is the second narrator of the story, retelling Tin and Mi Mi’s history in the third person. Julia describes him as an elderly, self-effacing man who is overly polite. Rather than simply explain what happened to Tin, U Ba starts with his birth and drags out his saga over several days. He concludes the story on the day the village gathers to celebrate Tin and Mi Mi’s love.

Though U Ba had the opportunity to pursue higher education in Rangoon and beyond, he chose to return to Kalaw to care for his mother, Mi Mi. He lives in a teakwood house with no modern utilities. For four years, U Ba has shared his house with a giant beehive. One room is dedicated to his library of thousands of books. When Julia asks why U Ba never sought to escape Kalaw, he asks why he would want to, as the full range of human emotions can be experienced there.

Su Kyi is the older woman who finds Tin near death as he waits for his mother Mya Mya. She is a widow whose only child died in childbirth. Previously, she had encountered Tin in the woods, playing with plants and insects, and recognized him as a remarkable child. Su Kyi moves into Mya Mya’s house and proceeds to raise Tin as her child.

Su Kyi is the opposite of Mya Mya. A follower of the Buddhist monk U May, she loves life and accepts its ups and downs with equanimity; she does not believe in curses or superstitions. Su Kyi watches Tin grow, learn, suffer, and mature with complete acceptance. When she desires to impart wisdom, she tells him stories with hidden meanings. She and Tin trust each other implicitly.