A gripping tale of psychological suspense perfect for the readership of Minette Walters and Ruth Rendell, Half Broken Things is a novel that...
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Apr 27, 2010
Nancy
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Walden Manor, a large country home, is the setting for Half Broken Things. Jean works for an agency and is about at the end of her working life as she becomes a house sitter for the summer while the owners are away.
At first she is alone and one of the first things that happens is she accidentally breaks a valuable old teapot. In fact, most of the items in the house are valuable and of quality but have chips or tears or cracks in them, which also makes the house almost another entity in More...
At first she is alone and one of the first things that happens is she accidentally breaks a valuable old teapot. In fact, most of the items in the house are valuable and of quality but have chips or tears or cracks in them, which also makes the house almost another entity in More...
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Nov 24, 2011
J.
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Faulty Towers
An unlikely exposition eventually grinds into gear and once settled in, the remaining two-thirds of this Murphy's-Law fable are increasingly engrossing.
Morag Joss has read her Rendell, her Highsmith, and also her Poe; what we have here is a tale of grotesques, enlarged & protean creatures that are forced into smaller and smaller corners by their own actions. The alternating senses of pressure and release, panic and calm are the dynamic of the plot. (Unfo More...
An unlikely exposition eventually grinds into gear and once settled in, the remaining two-thirds of this Murphy's-Law fable are increasingly engrossing.
Morag Joss has read her Rendell, her Highsmith, and also her Poe; what we have here is a tale of grotesques, enlarged & protean creatures that are forced into smaller and smaller corners by their own actions. The alternating senses of pressure and release, panic and calm are the dynamic of the plot. (Unfo More...
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Apr 24, 2011
Jamie
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The more I think about this novel, the tempo of the story just doesn't fit. The prose is inventive and witty, the characters sympathetic, artful in their unselfconscious imperfection, the inconsistent and clearly untrustworthy narrator is reminiscent of, if not as subtle and intelligent as Nabokov's Hermann in Despair, materialism personified and vilified quite creatively. What fissures all these strengths is the music of the story, a failed concerto, so incredibly slow at the beginning that it
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Nov 13, 2010
Karyl
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Half Broken Things is a novel of just that -- things and people who are at best half-broken. Jean is an older woman with no family, no friends, who house-sits to escape having to live at the local retirement home. Michael is a petty thief, a man tormented by his debts, but seeing no way to come clear of them. Steph, a young girl, barely out of her teens, is knocked around by the father of her baby, and has no future, no money, nothing other than the baby in her belly.
These three p More...
These three p More...
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May 09, 2009
Scoozer
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Half Broken Things is a powerful story about what we tell ourselves as truth. It is an unexpected tale that is beautifully written and compelling. Joss pulled me in with her words, ideas and story. It tells the story of a house sitter who has just been told by her agency that she will no longer be placed because of her age. They are forcing her retirement. This story is a combination of her confession and a third-person account of what happens during her nine months at a country house in Bath, E
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Oct 16, 2009
Santica
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The word that best sums up this book is probably, "disturbing." An elderly woman who has made a career out of house-sitting is completing her final assignment as her agency has deemed her too old to work any longer. With no family or proper retirement funds, she snaps and takes over "Walden Manor" as if it were her own. She wears the owners' clothes, sleeps in their bed, drinks wine from the cellar, changes the garden around, etc. Finally overcome by years of loneliness, she
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Aug 05, 2010
Kathrina
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Compulsively readable and character-driven. Others have compared it to The Little Stranger, and I think that's an accurate comparison, as they both develop a spiraling storyline with a plot that gradually develops momentum, ending on oblivion, of course. The book store shelves this in mystery, but I found it at the library in general fiction. It's a hard call, since it contains elements of mystery -- murder, intrigue, small moments of criminal ugliness, but it is also a domestic drama, with thou
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Feb 27, 2008
Anne
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Good suspense book. Kind of disturbing how bizarre the characters can act at moment. I kept turning the pages to see what weird thing they would do next. There is a graphic scene in the middle of the book that can totally be skipped.
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Oct 27, 2008
Sydnee
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The front cover claimed it was a novel of suspense. After reading it I think it was a novel of anything but suspense! It was creepy but not suspenseful or thrilling.
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Mar 04, 2011
Suzie
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I'm not sure how I feel about this one. On one hand, it was very well written with extremely complex characters. The plot was engaging and I wanted to continue reading to find out what happens to these people. The author was skilled in writing a psychological thriller and delving into the minds of the characters.
However, I don't think I've ever read about more depressing individuals. All three are in such denial to each other and themselves that they rationalize the lies they've crea More...
However, I don't think I've ever read about more depressing individuals. All three are in such denial to each other and themselves that they rationalize the lies they've crea More...
Jul 17, 2007
Yulia
rated it:
Subtle, melancholy, and gripping without the usual tricks of the genre--a great surprise.
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Jan 27, 2011
Michael
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I forgot about this wonderful book that I read last year. Just check out the first and last line that captured me. It's a great book with interesting characters and mysterious happenings. I won't spoil it because you MUST read it. It provides intellectual stimulation and 'surprise'.
FIRST line I liked:
We're quiet people. As a general rule extraordinary things do not happen to us, and we are not the type to go looking for them.
LAST line I liked:
A pretty picture they More...
FIRST line I liked:
We're quiet people. As a general rule extraordinary things do not happen to us, and we are not the type to go looking for them.
LAST line I liked:
A pretty picture they More...
Jul 19, 2009
Sara
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It took me forever to finish this book. This is a pure example of what I think of as an Oprah bookclub book--it is long and filled with sadness. I was frustrated with where the characters go and what they did, it just wasnt real to me--SERIOUSLY? I couldnt believe it. I really struggled way too much for this book--too much torture for me--not my style at all. If you liked Where the Heart Is, you may like this book, but dont say I didn't warn you about how painful this is to read.
I finished More...
I finished More...
Jan 23, 2011
Annelien
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Morag Joss writes about forgetting and inventing in this book. She wants to show how people create a new world for themselves and how deeply you can bury yourself in it.
The story is simple and about 3 people. One is an elderly lady named Jean, who housesits for wealthy people but is getting too old to continue the job. She's going to do her last job at a gorgeous mansion, but after that she has nowhere to go, no family or friends and no house. She starts to invent a new life for hers More...
The story is simple and about 3 people. One is an elderly lady named Jean, who housesits for wealthy people but is getting too old to continue the job. She's going to do her last job at a gorgeous mansion, but after that she has nowhere to go, no family or friends and no house. She starts to invent a new life for hers More...
Sep 08, 2010
Carol
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Half Broken Things by Morag Joss was recommended to me recently by a librarian friend. She said it was in her top 50 books of all-time. The conversation had started when I mentioned how much I had liked the movie Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and how true it stayed to the book. She offered that Half Broken Things was another film adaptation that was excellent. She suggested though, that I read the book first. And I am glad I did.
Right off the bat, the book sounded like it would appeal More...
Right off the bat, the book sounded like it would appeal More...
Jun 28, 2008
Fajar
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If you’re anything like me, you must have some judgement ( however slight ) of a book you’re going to read. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be interested to read any books at all.
Half Broken Things, I’m ashamed to say, is one of the books that I underestimated. Two days later, after I finished reading it, I was completely humiliated. Not that I mind, though..
You know.. I’ve always been fascinated by writers who can take some dull, bland and tasteless events and painted them wit More...
Half Broken Things, I’m ashamed to say, is one of the books that I underestimated. Two days later, after I finished reading it, I was completely humiliated. Not that I mind, though..
You know.. I’ve always been fascinated by writers who can take some dull, bland and tasteless events and painted them wit More...
Jan 17, 2010
Nancy
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A lonely housesitter takes a long-term assignment at a beautiful country house, only to be advised by her employer that she is being let go at the end of the assignment. With nothing to lose, she decides to ignore the owners' detailed instructions and begins to treat the house and its contents as her own. She acquires a "family" to share the house with her, and they create a family life that is both appealing and appalling. Psychological suspense that reminds me of Minette Walters'
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Aug 31, 2010
Brenda
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This is the first book I have ever read where the story is being told from two sides of the same person. It was a fascinating read. I really enjoyed that aspect of it.
Morag Joss is an English author and I found that there are definitely differences that were noticeable and I've never realized that before. The story itself is rather depressing, and honestly it was not one of those books that kept me up at nights turning the pages or kept my mind wandering during the day rushing me back to f More...
Morag Joss is an English author and I found that there are definitely differences that were noticeable and I've never realized that before. The story itself is rather depressing, and honestly it was not one of those books that kept me up at nights turning the pages or kept my mind wandering during the day rushing me back to f More...
Jan 04, 2009
Colleen
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This is a very well written book. The characters are full, but I couldn't connect to them. They were all such liars. They were such losers, you felt sorry for them, and yet.... why did they mess up their lives so? Of course, they had terrible childhoods, but thankfully all people with bad childhoods don't turn out like this! The book really escalates into a horrible story at the end, after a pretty slow beginning.I think my true rating would be 2.5 stars.
Jul 29, 2011
On its back cover, this book claims to be a "gripping tale of psychological suspense." This is a pack of lies. This book was incredibly boring. The plot doesn't pick up until about 95% of the way through the book. Note that I didn't say, the book gets good 95% of the way through; it doesn't. It merely begins to have a plot 95% of the way through. And I bought this book, too! What a waste of money.
Dec 16, 2011
Jae
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Wow, I have no idea how this book could be described as a "gripping tale of psychological suspense." It wasn't bad, but it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. This confluence of three dead-end lives lived in quiet desperation makes for interesting reading, but I expected a Silver Dagger Award winner to have a bit more grit to it. This novel wanders through dusky shadows wrapped in gauze.
Jan 19, 2009
Kristen
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This was a well written book but depressing and utterly devoid of hope. The reader knows from the beginning that this story is going to end badly and the characters keep doing things to lock their horrid fates. The worst part is the innocent characters they pull into their aweful lives. Perhaps the sequel will be about the hapless home owners that stumble upon the closing scene.
Jan 27, 2012
Bözsi
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Although this book by Morag Joss (very well written by the way) doesn't seem, on the surface, to be a "suspense" novel, the suspense does grow, gradually and surely as the book progresses. I liked the idea of the book immensely, and I don't think the end was, in any way, a let down. An excellent writer, Morag Joss will certainly be an author I will try to read more of.
Dec 27, 2009
Debbie
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The cover claims that this is a suspense novel but after reading 270 pages of the 300 page book, something tension-wrought btu not very suspenseful finally happens. I didn't like the characters and I didn't like what they did and found the whole book rather disturbing but not in a thought-provoking manner. As another reviewer put it-it was just creepy.
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Dec 16, 2009
I like the occasional British psychological thriller for pure escapism. This book started out very slow, and I set it aside several times, but then on a 12-hour car trip to visit family, I resumed reading. I was drawn into Joss' dark tale of a lonely woman with a damaged soul and the misfit young couple that she encounters and adopts. Together, they create their own family and enjoy a temporary idyllic season. Horror and real-life eventually encroach upon their paradise. Though the characte
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Jun 12, 2007
Laren
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Had I not been stuck in a doctor's office when I began this novel, I might not have read far enough to know what a good book it really is. It starts out slow, but gradually the three main characters, all of whom have something to hide, come together and that is where the book really gets interesting. Together they form a sort of family, but due to their hidden pasts, they congregate into a deluded groupthink with ultimately tragic results. This is a complex peek into the psychology of some "
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Nov 25, 2009
Sue
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This book was hard to read. Because of the set up, you keep reading through most of the novel waiting for the other shoe to drop. Infuriating, knowing that this can't end well. The ending is very surprising but couldn't have ended any other way. The thing I learned is that these people were not half-broken, they were all the way broken!
Jun 30, 2010
Amy L.
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An interesting exploration of identity and the morality associated with created identities. The beginning is a little slow, but the fast paced ending more than makes up for the plodding at the start. We meet a pretty varied cast of characters throughout the novel who become more like each other as the novel wears on and they slip on new identities involving Walden Manor. The end of the tale is a result of trying to maintain and keep those created identities no matter the cost.
The More...
The More...
Nov 24, 2008
Enid
rated it:
Very good psychological drama, with well developed, real characters.
Jean, an older woman who works as a house sitter, is on her last assignment in a beautiful old country manor house. Fate brings her together with Michael, a thief who suffers from depression and Steph, a broke and pregnant young woman. Together they form a 'family' and live off the riches of the manor, until someone comes to visit.
Jean, an older woman who works as a house sitter, is on her last assignment in a beautiful old country manor house. Fate brings her together with Michael, a thief who suffers from depression and Steph, a broke and pregnant young woman. Together they form a 'family' and live off the riches of the manor, until someone comes to visit.
