Heartstrong
Ellidy Pullin
'If not with you, then for you. ''It was a perfect Wednesday morning when Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin kissed his partner, Ellidy, goodbye to go spearfishing. Most days Ellidy would go to the beach too, but that day she didn't. more
336 pages, Paperback
First published Hachette Australia
4.63
Rating
5643
Ratings
338
Reviews
Ellidy Pullin
1 books 35 followers
Community reviews
“A flame that burns twice as bright, burns half as long“————————————————————————A powerful, moving memoir about love, loss and this one precious life. Wow. I don’t have the words to explain how I’m feeling in this review. Today I was going through the books on my tbr and I received this review copy from @hachette last week, and it was high up on my reading list and today I though oh stuff it I’ll just read the first few pages and I’ll get to the rest of the book at some stage. Nope. more
I am a VERY slow reader but this story had my heart hooked from the get go, I finished it in 2 days. So beautifully written, capturing the incredible life of an outstanding human being. What a journey and life they lead together, along with their families and one in a million friends. This book genuinely inspires me to change my outlook on life and continue to be grateful everyday. Could not recommend this higher. more
I have been anticipating the release of 'Heartstrong' for some time as I've been a long-time follower of Ellidy & a listener of her podcast 'Darling Shine'I don't think I have ever cried so much while reading a book, and my heart broke with every page of reading how unfair and heartbreaking the loss that Ellidy and Chumpy's family have been through. I used to think that everything happens for a reason, but I have known a lot of people that have gone through really horrible things and losing their lives young over the past 2-3 years, so my mind shift has definitely changed to sometimes really shit things just happen to the best of people which just breaks my heart. A quote that really stuck with me from this book was 'a flame that burns twice as bright, burns half as long'. I think it is just so apparent that Chumpy was an incredible and other-wordly human being that touched so many lives and has left an incredible legacy. One of my favourite parts of this story was when Chumpy's dad Chris wrote a few chapters on Chumpy's upbringing and their life as a family. more
Heartfelt story, yes. Well written book, no. It was repetitive and the back and forth timeline was frustrating. The author and her partner have quite a following of people who wanted to know their story and I imagine this to be the reason for the high ratings. I do want to start following her story on social media but as for the book, not a 'good read' at all. more
Thank you Hachette Australia for sending me a copy of this book for review. This was such a beautiful, heartbreaking memoir that touched my heart and my soul. I cried with you. I felt your frustrations with the what ifs. I felt the love between you two. more
Finished the book in 4 days. (Huge for me, new reader here 👋🏻). more
reading this felt like talking to a friend. loved loved loved this. more
I knew very little about Ellidy and even less about Chumpy prior to reading this book. I anticipated a few tears and about halfway through I patted myself on the back for doing so well. Ha. It was then they started. “I was determined to show that hope trumps pain”. more
I don’t think I stopped crying the whole way through this book. Incredible. . more
“𝑰𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖” - 𝑬𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒅𝒚 𝑷𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏, 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈. I feel like I can’t give a star rating because it feels like I’m judging someone’s life and experiences. This was new for me, I don’t read memoirs nor am I usually interested in them. Although the writing style was definitely different for me, the experiences, trauma and growth throughout this book, are memorable. This was both heartbreaking and inspirational. more
Incredible. Ellidy and Alley have done an absolutely phenomenal job with Heartstrong. As many others have said, it truly encapsulates the raw truth about grief, and the journey of losing a loved one, but beyond all else, it is a book filled with hope and light amidst the darkness. Chumpy's legacy truly lives on through this book. . more
Beauty & heartbreak on each and every page. A wonderful life so well captured within the book, such a great tribute to Chumpy. What a powerhouse of a woman Ellidy is, and I’m sure Minnie will grow to be too. I look forward to keeping up with the podcast to see where life takes the girls in the future . more
What a heartbreaking and yet informative story, so sad to lose your partner so young. And I had no idea posthumous sperm retrieval was a thing that's possible, such a challenging time, but being able to have that option is amazing. more
Finished this in under 24 hours, couldn't put it down. So harrowing. Very thought provoking about sperm retrieval. Probably more of an interesting read for people who follow Ellidy on instagram . more
Such a heartbreaking story. Couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to feel this much loss in such a short period of time. . more
I’ve been wanting to read this for a long time now. It was moving and heartfelt and beautiful. There were lots of tears from me though, and knowing I’m crying about a real story made me even sadder. But recommend. . more
The pages of this book are filled with such raw emotion, it had me sobbing and captured my heart from beginning to end. . more
Cried my way through this book. Absolutely heartbreaking. more
This was but unputdownable. I knew nothing about Ellidy or Chumpy before reading and now I feel that Ellidy is one of the strongest people ever. How she's described grief and loss and moving on from loss is so beautiful. Totally heartbreaking but absolutely incredible. Chumpy sounded like such a great man, his passing was so tragic. more
Extremely sad throughout but still very heartwarming anecdotes and thoughts on grief & love. An intimate story of a tragic loss. more
A beautiful, heartbreaking but also hopeful story. more
Amazing story, many crys and laughs throughout this book. I wish Ellie all the best ❤️. more
Beautiful, touching story. Wonderful story to read in a day. . more
A truly heartbreaking story. I feel deeply for Ellidy and those who knew and loved Chumpy. This was well read by Ellidy on audiobook as you could hear the emotion in her voice. My rating doesn’t take away from their experiences at all - I just don’t know what it was about this that I couldn’t get into. I’m not sure whether not really knowing Ellidy or Chumpy all that well in the public eye has anything to do with it, as I don’t follow her on any socials. more
This did not work for me at all. I get that the story is tragic but felt that it was poorly written and really gave me almost no insight or feeling for both the author and Chumpy Pullin. Towards the end of the book, there was a letter that the author's mum had written where she talks about what a passionate environmentalist he was. it was the first time I felt that anything was added that was not along the line of what a "good bloke/life of the wedding" he was an individual. I felt that it was simplistic and overly drawn out. more
Listened to this on audiobook and sobbed every time his dad read a chapter, a hectic true story. more
Did not finish. I am truly sorry for her loss but I could not sympathise with her. She (they) come from a different world. A world of privilege. I wish she would’ve just owned that instead of trying to tell me her upbringing/past was as bad as mine. more
I read this in one afternoon. So many emotions reading it. Was fortunate to meet Ellidy and Chris at the book launch in Avalon a couple of days ago. Had a lovely long chat with Chris and the sadness in his eyes was heartbreaking. El, wow,just wow. more