The Broken Places

Rating:
Summary: a fine read
Review: I loved this book. The style is beautifully simple and unsentimental--a bit like Raymond Carver or Tobias Wolff, only things actually happen. The story centers around the young son of a fireman involved in an accident, and it takes some surprising yet plausible turns. The characters are very real and complicated, and you keep seeing them differently as the novel progresses. Funny and wise by turns. I wished it was longer.

Rating:
Summary: This should be made into a movie!
Review: I've read several first novels this summer and this one is my favorite. I began, trying to be a critical reviewer, but was caught up in the story, the development of the characters and their interaction. It was so real that I found myself wanting to reach out, to comfort, to encourage each relationship. The surprising thing is that Ms. Perabo is so young to have such an understanding of the complexities of human relationships with their ebb and flow. If someone doesn't make a movie of this novel they are missing a sure hit! I look forward to more from Ms. Perabo! By the way, I make sure that everyone of my grandchildren's grade school teachers gets a present of her book "Writers in the Schools: a Guide to Teaching Creative Writing in the Classroom" to start each school year! If you have children, or grandchildren, you'll want to read that too!

Rating:
Summary: Tough, honest first novel
Review: In this novel, Perabo deftly examines the myths that inform our lives, our families, our communities, and the way those myths are distorted by pressures that gather within the very structures they try to explain. Heroism, self-sacrifice, and grace under pressure all become corrosive elements within the small and fragile family she depicts through the eyes of its 12 year old son, Paul Tucker. The novel moves us with its characters as it forces us to think about its ideas, with just enough suspense thrown into the mix to keep us turning pages. Spare and haunting, smart and unblinking, a wonderful first novel.

Rating:
Summary: This was a find!
Review: There are books that you read in a few hours, there are books you only read now and then, and then there are books that you begin reading Saturday morning and don't put down until the sun is already well across the sky, becuase you can't. One of the most interesting things about The Broken Places is through out a great deal of the story there is no great physical action taking place, and yet you feel pulled to turn the page. I enjoy the way Ms. Parebo allows you to see the story from different points of view, and feel the changes that happen in people as they come to grips with who they really are. The Broken places is a story about truth, and how different that can be to each person effected by one event. How refreshing to see someone acknowledge that in a story that isn't always comfortable.