Broken for You
by Stephanie Kallos
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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 boarder. ...more
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 boarder. ...more
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Read in May, 2006
We read this for book club, church book club, when a librarian suggested it. It starts off ok, intriguing enough and then the story breaks apart. And elderly dying woman, Margaret, living alone in a mansion full of valuable porcelain suddenly abandons her recluse live to take on a border, Wanda, who is a sad directionless girl pinning after her ex-boyfriend as well as dealing with her own parental issues. The women bond because they are both broken and tentatively guarding their hearts and secre...more
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Read in January, 2008
Interesting that the author has chosen to write about broken bits of china because this was one of the more fractured stories I've read. The book starts off as one thing, becomes several more stories somewhere along the line and ultimately ends as a very different tale. The characters were so interesting and yet I found them behaving in the most unbelievable ways. How does a 70+ year old dying woman who has disdained company for much of her life suddenly decide to not only take in a border an...more
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Read in February, 2006
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in October, 2006
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 acquire...more
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Read in January, 2007
An elderly woman who is confronting the reality of a terminal medical diagnosis lives alone in a stately mansion in Seattle. She decides to make some changes in her life and opens her previously museum-like home up by taking in a boarder. The person who moves in is a young, but serious and a bit depressed, woman who works in the arts and is dealing with her own issues. As the description says, “This launches a series of unanticipated events” which leads to a redemption of sorts for both c...more
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Read in March, 2008
Margaret Hughes, a woman used to living alone in a great mansion in Seattle, finds out that she is dying and on the advice of a young waitress in a coffee shop decides to do what she has always resisted—open up her life to other people. She begins by renting a room in her house to Wanda Schultz, a young woman who despite good inner strength is on a quest to find a man who left her. From there, Margaret opens her house to others, all of them broken in some way but finding an unlikely comfort ...more
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Read in December, 2007
This strikes me as the perfect book for a readers group because there would be so much to discuss. There were some plot details that I found pretty unlikely, but I was willing to forgive them because the rest of the book was so beguiling. I was hooked from the first page. I love it when that happens. The pace of the book is perfect. The author takes her time at the beginning of the book in developing her themes and characters, feeding the reader just enough to be tantalizing. The main theme, ...more
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the start was very shaky but i am still in it.
ok now i am out of it. i did read the whole thing. she had some lovely and insightful dialogue toward the end but these episodes did not fit in with any one character; it was totally the author's voice. sooo, "write an essay" would be my advice to her. her holocaust subject was interesting but she tried to pull yet another "crash" which has now been so done done done. kevin bacon would even be uncomfortable!
the other thing...more
ok now i am out of it. i did read the whole thing. she had some lovely and insightful dialogue toward the end but these episodes did not fit in with any one character; it was totally the author's voice. sooo, "write an essay" would be my advice to her. her holocaust subject was interesting but she tried to pull yet another "crash" which has now been so done done done. kevin bacon would even be uncomfortable!
the other thing...more
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Read in January, 2006
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..real, si...more
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..real, si...more
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Okay, so I really enjoyed the stories of all the characters. It took some turns that I didn't expect, but were deffinitly pleasant and I really enojoyed that some of it wasn't totally predictable, it was hard to put down, However, oh yes, there is a however, what the heck is with author and the need to swear like a sailor! Maybe it's just me, in my little bubble, but do people really talk like that? I don't want to come off sounding like a prude, I don't minde a good hell or damn through out ...more
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Read in September, 2007
This was at the same time one of the strangest and best books I've read in a long time. Kallos created a group of lonely, broken people and moved them all into a mansion full of china dish sets and figurines that had been stolen from Jews during the Holocaust. In a really original, surprising way that involves breaking a lot of the china and putting it back together in new ways, the characters are partly "fixed" and partly learn to be content with their own brokenness. Kallos' style...more
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Read in January, 2007
EXCELLENT BOOK!!!!!!! The premise of this book was so fasinating. It was a story line unlike others I had read. I really enjoyed that two people that needed each other, with different backgrounds, different problems, different personalities, found each other and raised one another up. I liked that it was not about romantic relationships, but more on the complexity of our personal pasts and hurts, historical events connections, and the rapport and connection between Margoret and Wanda. I enjoyed ...more
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Hard for me to write about, considering my background, work, history, etc...I pretty much liked this book and got through it without difficulty, but had a hard time suspending my emotional reaction to "the art" created by the characters. I'm not naive, I know it's fiction...it's just that if people did this in real life, I'd lead demonstrations against them. I am sure most people aren't as crazily opinionated about the stuff within. If you read it and you know me, you'll know what I re...more
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Read in February, 2008
Stephanie Kallos a first time novelist writes an unexpected novel. The character she writes on, Margaret is an unpredictable character she makes. The author start of by writing the protagonist with a brain tumor. As she describe all the different kinds of desserts. I like how the author mentions the death in the beginning which foreshadows the readers that she will find ghost in the Seattle Mansion. It really wants me to read on why “the dead,” Margaret thought. They can be so loud.”...more
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My purpose of reading books from my childrens' reading lists is two-fold. First, I expect a book worth reading, after all it was recommended by an English teacher. Second, is to know what my children are reading. And, once in high school, I am finding that it is very necessary to know what their teachers are recommending....
This book had a great plot - it's about a bunch of social misfits, people that are hurting severely because events of their pasts, that come together and form their ow...more
This book had a great plot - it's about a bunch of social misfits, people that are hurting severely because events of their pasts, that come together and form their ow...more
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Read in January, 2005
recommends it for:
most of my female friends
This book would have received a 5-star rating from me, but the ending was abominable. I wont ruin it for those of you who may eventually read it...Ill only say that all of the exposition and everything after was wonderfully unique and imaginative...the Kallos really does build the reader's expectations to an almost frenzied pitch (I had to stop myself from skipping chapters several times)...by the time I got to the denouement, I began to wonder if she had mistakenly sent a stock book ending with...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommended to Darbi by:
curledup.com
I thought this book was going to be really strong all the way through. But not so much. It was very fractured...and I didn't like the changing of tense...second tense was unnecessary the three or so times it was used.
And there was too much time spent on the descriptions of the "art"...I just got bored. And the dreams? Wow...more pages to skip.
I think the author can write very well, and did her research on a few things...but the plot was a stretch in a lot of ways...and I just d...more
And there was too much time spent on the descriptions of the "art"...I just got bored. And the dreams? Wow...more pages to skip.
I think the author can write very well, and did her research on a few things...but the plot was a stretch in a lot of ways...and I just d...more
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Read in November, 2007
This is the next B'ham Public Library discussion group's book, so I thought it would be fun to read. It takes place in Seattle, and with my latest travel I've been reading it quickly. On the cover it has a quote from Sue Monk Kidd, "I fell in love with this book," and it has been compared to the work of Anne Tyler.
The title makes it sound a little like a terrible lovesong cliche, but it has been surprisingly good. Nothing life-altering, but clever and thoughtful. It seems like a book...more
The title makes it sound a little like a terrible lovesong cliche, but it has been surprisingly good. Nothing life-altering, but clever and thoughtful. It seems like a book...more
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Read in November, 2005
A young woman, Wanda, moves to Seattle trying to find her ex-boyfriend. She moves into a giant mansion with an elderly woman, Margaret, who is dying of a brain tumor. Over many months both Wanda and Margaret become dear friends, the start an artist studio together, fall in love and find not only themselves but also many wonderful things (including Wanda’s father). A lot of information about stolen artifacts from Jews during the Holocaust. A great read…a little predictable and kind of ch...more
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