Broken Places [Import] [Paperback]

Susan Perabo (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: BLOOMSBURY; New Ed edition (November 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0747561672
• ISBN-13: 978-0747561675
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,293,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tough, honest first novel, July 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Broken Places (Hardcover)

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.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This was a find!, August 21, 2001

By 

dawn waagner (Mackinac Island, MI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Broken Places (Hardcover)

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.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a fine read, July 23, 2001

By 

Christopher Francese (Carlisle, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Broken Places (Hardcover)

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.