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Aug 30, 2011

Annalisa rated it:

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5 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Bethany rated it:

My mother taught me that valuable lesson that she learned from watching Bambi long ago: "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all." That said, I should stop there.

But I won't. This book isn't terrible...but its not good either. It has a lot of potential..it really does..but it was disappointing. The end was rushed, like the author got sick of the story and just wanted it to end. I loved the beginning of the story..the character development was great.. More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 04, 2011

Erika rated it:

I wanted to like this book. It had such potential. My Mom gave it to me after she said that she couldn't get into it enough to finish. I should've heeded that as a warning because I felt exactly the same way. It had all the elements to what I am normally drawn to - wounded, lost, yet interesting characters who form unexpected and unusual bonds, and find parts of themselves they didn't know existed. (I just described the plot of every indie movie I've liked) Despite this, I had very little attach More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 20, 2008

aubrey rated it:

what a wonderful book of community and surrogate families. i loved the way all the stories weaved together and intertwined in a complex, but beautiful way. everyone's stories made me feel deeply and be grateful for my family and my friends and neighbors. and made me want to be a better person and contribute to the world around me. i also enjoyed that it took place in seattle about ten years ago, so i could relate to a lot of the locations in the book. there was one small part in the book, tho More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 09, 2008

Jonquil rated it:

I just finished this book for our book club in St. Helens, Oregon.
This is the best book I have read in years. The story is zany in a believable way and it's just full of the kind of charm and magic I wish for in my own life! We all have loss and sadness in our lives somewhere and I love how the women in this book deal with it!

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 27, 2010

Ingrid rated it:

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0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2008

Linda rated it:

An imaginative tale that explores how physical things tether us to our history and how they can prolong our pain.. This idea is woven into a story about an elderly woman, Margaret, a wealthy recluse tied to a home that is chock full of procelains, pottery and all things breakable. As the story opens, Margaret receives the news that she has a fatal brain tumor.

Margaret is determined to expand her life, but she’s not ready to leave the safety of her home. She decides to take in a boa More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 03, 2007

Erin rated it:

In Stephanie Kallos's Broken for You, pieces of the story fit together in the same manner as the pieces of Margaret Hughes's porcelain antiques. The story begins when Margaret, an older woman, learns that she has a brain tumor, and may only live a few years more. After placing an ad for a boarder, Wanda Shultz shows up on her doorstep. The women are both broken in many ways, and their relationship builds from this bond. Subsequently, Margaret reveals that the antique porcelain acquired by he More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 09, 2009

Barb rated it:

From the title of this book, you'd think it was a downer. But instead, this novel shows that from brokenness can come healing in unimaginable ways. Some things--but not everything--wrap up just a <span style="font-style:italic;">little</span> too neatly at the end, but it really was a page-turner, with characters you can't help but find yourself pulling for. The story begins with an older, reclusive woman learning she has a brain tumor--and deciding to make big changes i More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 10, 2008

Lani rated it:

I found this book in our house - not sure how it got there, but it was a decent read. I happen to like stories about people, so it worked out for me. It's roughly about a few people and their quirks and trying to make changes to break out of ruts/self-destructive ruts. Interesting and fairly funny.

An older lady has lived in her house for years, just surrounded by antiques which are dear to her, but maybe not exactly cherished. She decides to be a little wild and rents out one of her More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 08, 2009

Julie rated it:

This book was slow getting started but ended up being a great story. It is about an older woman who has a brain tumor and lives in a mansion by herself. She decides to change her life and invite boarders. The first girl that comes in is an orphan named Wanda who is looking for the man who dumped her. The story weaves in and out of their lives. The main focus of the story is the older woman’s possessions… her father had a huge collection of rare glass figures that were taken from Jewish people in More...

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Dec 31, 2011

Juanita rated it:

Here's a book that's a pleasure to read, everything ends happily, all the characters you get to know are good and decent and delightful, and it all ends happily—even the two or three deaths along the way are good. No one is hopelessly depressed or poor, although some may start that way. It's well-shaped and well-paced. The narrative is straightforward, although there is a good deal of past to incorporate that explains why, at first, so many of the people are loners.

Author Stephan More...

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Dec 03, 2011

Sharon rated it:

“Do you mind if I ask you a personal question? If you found out that you only had a short while to live, how would you spend your time?”
Margaret expected a superficial answer; Take up hang-gliding! Sail around the world! Race hot-air balloons! Something along those lines.
“I suppose I’d think about whatever it is that scares me the most—- relationship-wise, I mean—- and then do it. Do the opposite of what I’ve always done. It would be a last chance, wouldn’t it? To break all your old b More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 30, 2011

Amy rated it:

Broken for You started out slow, but I am so glad that I stuck with it. Kallos makes wonderful, crazy characters. You can feel their nurosies, understand their motivations and have a genuine attachment to them. The whole time I wanted to know more and more about Wanda and Margaret. I wanted to know where they come from, I wanted to scream at them and tell them they were being dumb.

Kallos introduces a wonderful ensemble of characters that entertwine around Margaret and Wanda. T More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 17, 2010

Rhonda Rae rated it:

What a wonderfully developed story with deep emotions and interesting twists. I found myself called to this book from the shelves of my favorite second-hand bookstore and I'm happy that I listened to my heart. From the first pages, I was hooked and crying one-third of the way in. There were so many things that I related to and there were additional messages coming from deep within at every turn.

Interesting how the author separated the three parts as I was struck by curiosity when More...

1 comment like

Apr 21, 2010

Courtney rated it:

Stephanie Kallos definitely has writing talent. Her story telling and plot development though need maturity. She creates beautiful passages and descriptions, but is still developing her skills at weaving them together into a satisfying plot. Overall, this was an easy, pleasant read, if depressing. The theme of "broken" is heavy throughout. This is a quick read.

I take some exception with her plot twist...you can't see it coming. I'm not sure if that makes it good and just su More...

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Apr 20, 2010

Michele rated it:

Broken Lives Pieced Back Together
This was a book club selection that received a luke warm review from our group of ten. I, however, was one of the few who truly enjoyed reading Broken For You by Stephanie Kallos.

While many felt elements of the plot were too contrived—and they were—for me it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the story, and particularly from the entertaining and well-developed characters.

This is a unique story. It made me laugh. It made me cry. More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 18, 2010

Jeanne rated it:

This book was a complete surprise. It somehow ended up on my hold list at the library. The tattered book ended up in my backpack on last Sunday's flight to Oakland. I didn't want the flight to end.

Actually, I was happy when the flight ended because I was also holding my 5-month-old son in my arms while trying to read the book in the dimly lit airplane. I didn't want to turn on the light over my seat for fear of waking my son.

I finished the book several days later, after furti More...

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Jan 22, 2010

Shannon rated it:

While Broken for You is a book populated with characters who have experienced great sadness, it is not a sad book. On the contrary, this book is about people who move past their sadness, their brokenness and their grief to live. I was drawn to this book for its characterization of being a book about family being what you make out of the community surrounding you. It was encouraging while reading this book to realize the community/family surrounding me and that people continue to grow and thri More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 18, 2009

Wfbcreeds rated it:

"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 breakdo More...

0 comments like

May 20, 2011

Leah rated it:

This was really good. I loved all of the depth and thought Ms. Kallos obviously put into all the characters, as well as into the complex, beautiful storyline. My copy has a reccommendation from Sue Monk Kidd (The Secret Life of Bees) on the front, and I can certainly understand why she liked it. It reminded me a lot of The Secret Life of Bees because of the long, oral-like way Ms. Kallos tells the story.

The plot is long and beautiful but a little hard to get into at first. Stick wit More...

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Jan 28, 2010

Sharon rated it:

Excellent character development. Settings believable as were the events. Margaret Huges, 75 plus, has a brain tumor and in a chance encounter at a bakery, asks the waitress what she would do if she knew she had just 2 years to live. The answer: "Do the opposite of what I've always done," leads margaret to advertise for a boarder to live in her 15,000 Sq. Ft. mansion. Wanda O'Casey Schultze comes into her life, followed by others, all broken in some way. Margaret's house is fille More...

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Jun 27, 2009

mia rated it:

and the final review....
this book is just bull shit, to be really, very blunt. i mean what is this novel even trying to be about? is it about friendship substituting family? is it about selflessness and selfishness? is it about the loneliness that absence of parents in a life? is it about death? is it about throwing caution to the wind and being crazy and free? is it about art? is it about france? is it a love story? is it about the holocaust? is it really just about broken dishes and figu More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2011

Jane rated it:

I read this book for the Ilwaco Library Page Turners Book Club. I really enjoyed this book. The story revolves around Margaret, a lonely senior recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. Her life is one of isolation, with Margaret living in her huge mansion surrounded by porcelain and china dishes/figurines. They are her family and she dusts them and speaks to them. Her life takes a turn in the right direction (proving its never too late, even if you have a brain tumor) when she takes in a boar More...

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May 03, 2010

Emily rated it:

This started out interesting enough...two main characters, two distinct voices. One being an aloof heart broken stage manager (loved all the theatre references...read on the flap that author is an actress) the other a dying from brain tumor older woman who lives alone in a mansion filled with beautiful things. When the woman places an ad in the paper for a boarder the stage manager (who has traveled cross country to follow a man that dumped her) accepts. An unexpected friendship (mother/child More...

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Sep 21, 2011

Rebekkila rated it:

I really liked the first part of the book. Margaret has been living alone in a castle outside Seattle, her expensive porcelain collection is her only friend. She doesn't interact much with with world until she finds out she has a brain tumor. She places an ad in the local patient for a roommate and a young woman named Wanda shows up.

The story then turns in to something like the Island of Misfit Toys. She takes in more and more boarders. People who are broken like her. Most of the char More...

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Jul 29, 2011

Catherine rated it:

I thought this book was very well written. The story had two strong characters, both of whom I liked alot, and I liked the way the relationship between them grew as the story expanded. The fact that we know something very significant about the older woman that the younger one doesn't know, and vis-versa added to the complexity of what was happening without the author having to do much to push that forward--it is an interesting literary technique, and I will think about it more long after I hav More...

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Jul 29, 2011

Gina rated it:

I picked Kallos' debut novel on the dual recommendation of Ev at the Bookloft in Great Barrington, MA and Sue Monk Kidd's endorsement on the cover. This may seem insignificant, but without those two women promising I would be glad I'd read this, I wouldn't have made it through the first half. Frankly, some of the situations and literary tactics were downright silly.

Starting with Part II, Kallos found her literary legs. I was finally interested in the characters--perhaps because she introduces More...

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Mar 05, 2009

Chana rated it:

A very moving and hopeful book. Although I had trouble with the concept of breaking all that beautiful china, I recognized the idea that not everything that looks beautiful and whole on the outside is actually so. That change, which holds within it the destruction of that which is, is necessary for new life and growth. That within sorrow are the seeds of hope.

Also, I'm glad that someone has written about the Leilani Lanes Bowling Alley in Seattle with the kind of feeling that S More...

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Aug 17, 2010

Jenny rated it:

I started out not quite sure what to make of the book. I wasn't sure quite where it was going, and I wasn't crazy about some odd relationships of people to objects. But at a critical moment, close to half-way through, it picked up. I loved asking the whole way through, "who/what is broken? for whom?" I thought it ended up being such a beautiful metaphor for the book,

I loved the writing. It was well crafted and interesting without being contrived. There were some real More...

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