Broken for You [Paperback]

Stephanie Kallos (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 9, 2004

National best seller and Today show Book Club selection, Broken for You is the story of two women in self-imposed exile whose lives are transformed when their paths intersect. Stephanie Kallos's debut novel is a work of infinite charm, wit and heart. It is also a glorious homage to the beauty of broken things. When we meet septuagenarian Margaret Hughes, she is living alone in a mansion in Seattle with only a massive collection of valuable antiques for company. Enter Wanda Schultz, a young woman with a broken heart who has come west to search for her wayward boyfriend. Both women are guarding dark secrets and have spent many years building up protective armor against the outside world. As their tentative friendship evolves, the armor begins to fall away and Margaret opens her house to the younger woman. This launches a series of unanticipated events, leading Margaret to discover a way to redeem her cursed past, and Wanda to learn the true purpose of her cross-country journey. Both funny and heartbreaking, Broken for You is a testament to the saving graces of surrogate families and shows how far the tiniest repair jobs can go in righting the world's wrongs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"The dead, Margaret thought. They can be so loud." So muses the protagonist of this dreamy, powerful tale of familial warring, secrets and redemption. When elderly Margaret Hughes discovers that she has a malignant brain tumor, she refuses treatment and decides to take a nice young tenant into her huge, lonely Seattle mansion for company. What she gets is Wanda Schultz, a tough-as-nails stage manager who is secretly seeking the man who left her and prone to inexplicable weeping breakdowns. Wanda, ignorant of Margaret's illness, is intrigued by the museum-like house and its eccentric owner—so when Margaret unexpectedly invites her to a drink-champagne-and-break-the-priceless-antique-china party for two, she's delighted. But a dark history lurks; the houseful of gorgeous antique porcelain comes from Margaret's father's WWII pilfering of European Jewish homes. Meanwhile, Wanda's father, who deserted her years ago, is on the road trying to heal, and Margaret's mother's ghost is haunting the Seattle mansion, lounging about in expensive peignoirs and criticizing her only daughter. Wrestling to keep the dead and the ghosts of their pasts at bay, the two women slowly build an extraordinary friendship, and when Wanda discovers a talent for mosaics, the past begins to quiet. Though it takes a while to get started, this haunting and memorable debut is reminiscent of early Atwood, peopled by lovably imperfect and eccentric characters.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* Well-crafted plotting and crackling wit make this debut novel by Seattle author Kallos a delight to read and a memory to savor. The compelling story highlights the losses and disjointedness of life and the many paths back to healing for those who seek the way. Margaret Hughes lives alone in a Seattle mansion, divorced from her husband after the death of their son. She talks to her father's priceless antique porcelain collection and spends her days dusting. Wanda Schultz, abandoned as a child by her parents, cannot accept the rejection of her lover, Peter, whose solitary postcard brings her across the country in search of him. When cancer sends Margaret a wake-up call, she opens her home and her heart: first to Wanda and then to a flood of other new "family" members as she learns to interact with people and eventually to atone for a past crime she only gradually understands. But the clever plot and luminous characters are not all that place this novel at the head of the class. Ghostly characters only Margaret sees and heaps of broken porcelain provide powerful metaphors for the sins of the past and the need for personal sacrifice. Book groups will enjoy discussing the layers of meaning, the stylistic nuances, and the powerful message of hope secreted in these pages. Jennifer Baker
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; 1st edition (September 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802142109
• ISBN-13: 978-0802142108
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (131 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #67,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephanie Kallos spent twenty years in the theatre as and actress and teacher of voice, speech, and accents. Her short fiction has been awarded a Raymond Carver Award and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her first novel, Broken for You, won the Washington State and Pacific Northwest Booksellers Awards and was chosen by Sue Monk Kidd (author of The Secret Life of Bees) as a "Today Show" book club selection. Her second novel, Sing Them Home, was an IndieNext selection, a Shelf Awareness Pick of the Year, and was chosen by Entertainment Weekly as one of the 10 Best Books of 2009. Stephanie lives in Seattle with her husband and sons and is at work on her next novel.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

117 of 125 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging for Its Quirky Characters, Plot Twists and Humor October 12, 2004

By J Scott Morrison HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

My wife read this book in one gulp, so to speak, and said, 'You must read this. You may find it a little too "girly," but I think you'll really like it anyhow.' Well, she was certainly right about my liking it. And it wasn't too 'girly,' either; although the main characters are women, the interactions, the plot twists, the quirkiness of all the characters, and the unexpectedness of their inner lives made it all fascinating to me.

Stephanie Kallos, a first-time novelist, has a delightful sense of humor and a real facility with words. Although the main arc of the plot winds up being fairly predictable (and, I might add, extremely satisfying), there are enough unexpected incidents and revelations along the way to make this trip very enjoyable. And her characters are all credible people with vivid inner lives, past histories, present desires and hesitations. All are wounded in some way, but none is a victim in the usual sense. And underlying all this is a strong current of the will to survive and even triumph, especially in the context of a purpose-created community of eccentrics.

It would be a shame if this book is overlooked because it is by a new novelist whose name doesn't ring a bell. If Kallos keeps writing, her name WILL become much better known.

Recommended.

Scott Morrison

73 of 81 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Smashingly good? September 12, 2005

By Lingering Librarian

Format:Hardcover

I wanted to like this book. I intended to like it. But something rang false about the whole premise. It felt like I was watching a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie, where all the sensitive, artistic -- yet damaged -- people come together in a nice supportive commune, eating off of mismatched china (a metaphor to clobber you over the head) to heal each other. Ick. There's Margaret, a terribly lonely, dying woman with a tragic past, rattling around her Seattle mansion, talking to all the precious objets d'art. She's also a woman of unlimited financial resources, and it is hard to believe a dame this loaded would be left all by her lonesome with no friends at all (or any domestic staff). Unless they go bonkers, like Howard Hughes, the very wealthy people of this world are subjected to the constant demands of clinging human sponges. Oh, wait -- the clinging human sponges show up in this book eventually, in the guise of caring friends. Caring friends who are Sensitive and Artistic and Damaged. Ick. They all move into the mansion, 'cause they care about Margaret so much, and because she's unbelievably wealthy. Don't get me started on Wanda the Basket Case. I couldn't make myself like her at all. And finally, my pet peeve of this book: WHY do they have to smash all the incredibly valuable pieces of china and porcelain? If Margaret is so consumed with guilt over her father's thievery, couldn't she just SELL all of the pieces and donate the proceeds to the National Holocaust Museum or to some other worthy cause that would have annoyed her father? Why do all these carefully crafted antique objects have to be smashed to bits and made over into Wanda's idea of art? Hmmm... No, it just didn't work for me. The only character I really loved was Margaret's dead mother, and I have the impression that I wasn't supposed to like her. Well, gee. I tried. I seem to be the only person unable to appreciate this novel!

90 of 103 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Well Written But Disappointing December 28, 2004

By sb-lynn TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

I would give the first half of this book 5 stars. Stephanie Kallos is a talented writer, and I found myself caught up the story to the point that I didn't want to put the book down.

And then I got past Part One. And that's when my troubles with this novel began.

Summary, no spoilers:

Margaret is a wealthy woman and she lives alone in a huge house with many valuable antiques. She seems to have an almost unnatural attachment and devotion to them.

Wanda is a 30+ single woman with a mysterious past who comes and rents a room from Margaret, after Margaret discovers that she has brain tumor and decides to take in tenants.

The story goes back and forth between the lives and the pasts of these two interesting women.

As I said, up until the midway point of this book, I thought this was a terrific tale. But then many incredible coincidences start to pile up, and the story became too manipulative for my taste.

By book's end, I found myself wanting to fling this book away. Even though I found it so disappointing, I gave it 4 stars, because there is some beautiful writing, and because it started off so well.

Well written, but ultimately a frustrating read.