Breakable You

by Brian Morton

Adam Weller is a moderately successful novelist, past his prime, but squiring around a much younger woman and still longing for greater fame and glory. His former wife, Eleanor, is unhappily playing the role of the overweight, discarded woman. Their daughter Maud has just begun a frankly sexual affair that unexpectedly becomes life-changing. Into each of these lives the past intrudes in a way that will test them to their core. With perfect pitch and a rare empathy, Brian Morton is equally adept at portraying the life of the mind and how it plays out in the world, brilliantly tracing the border between honor and violation. Here Morton tells his strongest story yet—a story about love, friendship, literary treachery, and what each of us owes to the past.

Genres: Fiction, Novels, Contemporary

361 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.


BRIAN MORTON is the author of four previous novels, including Starting Out in the Evening, which was a Salon favorite book of the year and was made into an acclaimed feature film, and A Window Across the River, which was a Book Club selection on the Today show. He is the director of the MFA program at Sarah Lawrence and teaches at New York University and the Bennington Writing Seminars.

Reviews

[Yulia · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I finished this book, I said, "Damn, this guy can write a novel!" Awful title, yes, but it's easy to get over once you start reading the book.

Though this novel contains many of the same features as Morton's previous work, Starting Out in the Evening, what distinguishes it is that the identity and voice of each of the characters (a past-middle-age writer and his estranged family) are distinct from those in the previous book, making the world of this novel a completely different one from the earlier work. Their problems can't be neatly resolved and their flaws aren't necessarily endearing, but are real for this very reason.

In fact, the writer character, Adam Weller, who is struggling to make a comeback, was a d*ck, yet unlike Philip Roth's perpetually d*ckish males, you knew Weller (and Morton) was aware he was an unlikeable figure confronting constant moral dilemmas and navigating a world around better people than he. This is a quality you simply don't get from a narcissist portrayed by Roth and it's something Morton is a hero for accomplishing.

The relationships in this work include two individuals openly using each other for what the other can give them, two others who want to pick up where they left off three decades ago and make right lives gone somewhat astray, and two who are initially drawn on a purely sexual level but find themselves falling for each other on a much deeper level.

Meanwhile, the issues confronted involve doing right by the dead, questioning whether another should have ever been born, being unable to counsel your own loved ones when you do so for a living, feeling frustration and impatience at someone you love for not doing as well as you wish they could, and finding meaning in life when so much seems out of one's control.

Needless to say, I loved this book and treasured the experience of reading it.

Below are quotes that I didn't always agree with but made me think:

"Adam had taken the man's measure before he'd even at down. Jeffrey Lipkin was no different from the other supplicants Adam had met in the past few years. How familiar the type had become: all with the same tongue-tied eagerness, the same panicky need to please, the same vaguely homosexual huger for a mentor" (p. 26). [Thank goodness the writer in question proves to be a d*ck.]

"She imagined herself writing novels, short stories, and books about psychology--not textbooks, but case studies, informed by a fiction writer's eye" (p. 45). [I had just the same dream in college.]

"She was alone in life not because she didn't believe in true love, but because she did" (p. 49). [I wish this could console me for a dear friend's being alone.]

"It's hard to comprehend that the dead don't care. We know it in our heads, but it's hard to feel the truth of it. Dead parents don't care whether we visit their graves; dead authors don't care about their reputations. Emily Dickinson died in the same condition as anyone else who writes for himself, any furtive unknown diarist. Herman Melville, at the end of his life, was just some local loser, not the awe-inspiring author of Moby Dick; neither of them was ever to know the dimensions of their future success. Yet there is something in us that makes us think of Dickinson and Melville as conscious somewhere, taking pleasure in their readership, glad to have at last been understood" (p. 101).

"It would take so little, really, to play the role of a man's sexual-fantasy woman, since most men's fantasies were so crude" (p. 107). [How true.]

"Most of my fellow inmates [in a psychiatric clinic:] think most of what they do and most of what they can't do can be explained by chemical i,balances. That seems to be the prevailing view. The professionals here seem to believe the same thing. But I'd prefer to think that there's something about me that can't be reduced to chemicals. Call it consciousness. Call it imagination. I'd prefer to think I can think my way out of this, whatever my brain chemistry might happen to be" (p. 332). [Antidepressants wouldn't hurt in nudging one's consciousness into finding value in life, though . . .]

[Flo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Morton won my heart with his lovely book, Florence Gordon, about a woman who has lived her life on her own terms, is passionate, intelligent but doesn't suffer her family gladly. Morton has in Breakable You, written a love story. When Eleanor Weller, a therapist, finds out her husband of 30 odd years, Adam, a well known but nearly forgotten writer, is cheating on her, she makes him leave. Eleanor continues her work and cares for her daughter, Maud, who has suffered 2 nervous breakdowns in the past but at age 29 is finally finishing the work on her philosophy dissertation and is teaching at a university in New York. Maud is introduced by well-meaning friends to Sam and they are drawn to each other despite Sam turning out to be Samir, an American Arab and Maud, a non practicing Jew, but Jewish all the same. They are both hiding their past problems.
I don't remember reading a more poignant description of a very sexual love affair. It took my breath away. Although the past dominates their affair, their feelings grow stronger despite this, surprising them. Their intense relationship, a mother's love and a man's betrayal are part of this mix and the descriptions of New York, my home town, were so good I actually missed the place. An excellent read. Morton's writing is extremely subtle, full of empathy and feeling. I finished it in a couple of days.

[Libby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brian Morton is my new favorite author. Viewing the lovely film made from another of his books, Starting Out in the Evening made me want to read his work, and Breakable You doesn't disappoint. His characters--Adam Weller, a narcissistic novelist in his 60s; his paramour Thea (who works for Charlie Rose and is much younger than Adam); his ex-wife Eleanor, a psychologist; his daughter, Maud, a philosophy PhD candidate, and her lover, Samir, all are fully fleshed out people who the reader is interested in learning about. There are some wonderfully pithy and memorable quotes:

"Knowledge is always a good thing, even when it makes us unhappy."

"We wish for a symmetry of feeling, but we rarely get it. It is painful to be the one who loves more, and painful to be the one who loves less."

"It's probably true that you're forging your own character during every minute of every day, with every decision you make, but there are some moments in which this is much more clear than in others."

Brian Morton is an astute observer of people and this book is a consummate pleasure.

[Janet Leszl · Rating 1 out of 5]

Depressing book interspersed with occasional nuggets of wisdom.

(spoilers)

The author presents each character as flawed. Plot splitters into many directions. At first I thought book was to be mostly about Eleanor, then Adam. Instead majority focused on Samir & Maud-two people I initially cared little for and tried to skim through thru depressing and uninteresting sex based relationship. Death and mental breakdown follow.

Predictably Adam presents novel of his dead friend and rival as his own. I expected there to be more follow through as to repercussions but that plot line fizzles.

I wanted to learn more about Eleanor. What little is shared about her paints her shows her as having difficulty coping with life after her husband left after cheating on her with a much younger woman. Maud, her mentally unstable daughter perceives her to be smothering in her concerns.

[Lesley · Rating 2 out of 5]

What began with such promise failed to deliver on any level. I'm not even sure why I bothered to finish it; perhaps the optimist in me thought the author could salvage something. Unfortunately, no.

The characters are cliches: an older man who leaves his wife for a younger woman : said wife tries to "reinvent" herself : mentally unstable daughter who seems to be better. The only character development is through pedantic musings of third person descriptions spoon fed to the reader. I really wanted something, anything to elevate the characters and was disappointed.

The language is dull, predictable and uninteresting.

The plot itself has merit and could work if the characters, language and details improved.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adam Weller is a middle age novelist who longs for his younger days and glory flame from his published books. He has been separated from his wife Eleneor for awhile, a decision that he thinks works best for them. However Eleanor regrets that she ended things for him, hoping that they settle their differences but to no avail. She considers herself overweight, unattractive and her features are not attractive to the people that look upon her. While she is aware that her marriage has ended, she gets the shock of her life when she meets her old flame Patrick. The two use to be madly in love with each other but she chose Adam cause of the glamorous life that he provided but she wonders if she made the wrong decision when she rejected Patrick. Although Patrick is married, he has never forgotten the love he shared for her, but Eleanor is not willing to settle. In addition Maud the daughter of Adam and Eleanor starts a sexual affair with an Arab name Samir,a relatinoship that is build entirely on sex. Soon she finds out that he is keeping a secret that will change thier life. Also Adam is trying to write a masterpiece novel, while his estranged wife tries to decide if she is ready for love or not. This book was medicore to me, I love Samir and Maude story, Maude and Patrick encounters but the way the book wrapped up was ineffective.

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book a couple of years ago. I remember I thought it was ok. There was nothing outstanding about it. Just re read it for a group read. Now I remember why I thought it was meh. It is too soap operaish.Filled with over the edge emotions . I thought the characters were unbelievable at most and childishly developed at best. These people were suppose to be intelligent and viable characters, that I was suppose to believe.

I think Ellie was a joke , this woman was a therapist,with no grasp of her field. Maud was her daughter and a student of philosophy. The only thing she knew was to question everyone else existence in reference to her well being as a person. Then there is Adam , scum of the low life of character's. A plagiarist of others works life and emotions. The man has no depth. A bottom feeder in the chain of existence. Maud's lover is a man closed off from the world and not living in it.

Morton has no feel or development for any of the characters we are suppose to care about. That is why I could not buy into this book. This was the first book I had ever read of Morton's and I have not tried another. I don't want to spend money on another disappointment.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok. It's official. I love this author. This was the saddest book of the three I have read by him. (I think there might only be one more.) I knew what was going to happen, or thought I did, and kept reading at break-neck speed to find out if things could really get as bad as I thought they might. Each of the three books centers on a handful of characters and how their lives do and do not intertwine, but the books are all so different. They have the same humor, beauty and psychological complexity and the stories are told easily and with a disarming fluidity. (You don't even feel likeyou're reading about the characters; it's more like you are meeting them and listening to them talk to you over a cup of coffee.) But each of tne novels explores profound aspects of the human experience--love, loss, pain, aging, despair, jealousy, selfishness and generosity--in a unique way.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a pretty depressing book with bit of hot sex thrown in. It made me pessimistic about life when I read it. It was a story about the separate lives of family members and how they can be together or not. Sometimes family is more important to some rather than others and it is easier for some. It was a little boring for me and the end was pretty depressing as well. I read it all the way through which was why I at least gave it two stars.

[Randy · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of Morton’s novels reveal the writer in his/her quirks, foibles, and often-unattractive hunger—though never callously. It’s hard for me to pick just one of this author’s books, but I found it most memorable for the story of just how far a writer might go to gain glory, and what it life might be as the wife, daughter, or friend of such a writer.

Read all of his books.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good read not great kind of hard to get into the characters. Did not like the relationships build into the story pretty superficial at best. If this is how the real world operates for people no wonder we have such a high divorce rate. You don't build relationships on potential future outlooks or sex but in God's hands. Lesson learned.

[Cassandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The father is really a bastard and it was hard to understand his motivation but he needed people especially women to make a certain statement about his life. In some ways the main characters--the mother, father, and daughter are shallow.

[Marialyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the characters, with all their flaws, written about so clearly. I originally thought it was going to be sappy but it turned out that it was quite well written. I did enjoy it and it is a very quick read.

[Nanette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Having recently read "Florence Gordon," I thought I was onto a new author whose work I'd enjoy. But "Breakable You" just seemed like an amalgam of characters who, though related, had no connection. Perhaps that was the point, but it made for a disjointed and disappointing read.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It broke my heart and the heartbreak left me sobbing at times. The writing is extraordinary. How is it that I had never heard of Brian Morton. What a missed opportunity. I am making up for lost time. Reading one after another. He hasn't published anything since Florence Gordon. I'll read whatever he writes.

So many section grabbed me...I had to stop marking them.


SPOILER ALERT

This one is about Adam, who is given his friend Issy's manuscript by Izzy's wife after Izzy dies. She thinks the book is wonderful.

He (Adam) knew in advance that it wouldn't be very good. Before Izzy died, Adam had come to realize that the problem with Izzy's writing was the problem with Izzy. He didn't have enough of the devil in him. Izzy always wanted to be the nice guy. He wanted to take care of everybody. This made him a wonderful husband and father: steadier, more responsible, more caring than Adam had ever dreamed of being. But it had made him a bland writer.
In his books, he always took care of his characters too much. He never wanted to believe that any of them could be evil. So if one of his characters did something morally reprehensible, Izzy would never just go with it; he would surround the action with context, explanation, extenuation. It was as if he couldn't decide whether he wanted to be a novelist or a social worker." (99)

..."The first thing that was surprising was that it was an energetic book. Izzy in the last few years of his life, had been anything but lively, but this was the liveliest book he'd written. Ir was as if he'd been saving his powers for one last ride.
And it was free of the narrative curlicues that had always been Izzy's trademark and his crutch. In this new book, each scene proceeded swiftly toward its target." (100).

"Sometimes, when Maud touched him, he felt panicked, because it felt too good. She had hands that made him think she should have been a sculptor. He felt as if her were being created by her touch. It wasn't that she was finding out what he liked; it was that she was teaching him what he liked." (112)

"She felt weird, being always on the verge of bossing him around, being sort of dominatrix-y, except that it was so obvious not what she was. What was happening, she thought, was that she was responding to some need he couldn't express and probably couldn't admit to himself. He need to be dragged back into the world."(124)

A friend tells Samir that you have talk to a woman, to listen to her "ideas," but you know, that listening to her is just the price you pay for taking her home and fucking her.
But Samir never felt that way. He had always felt something like the opposite: if he didn't love to listen to a woman, he had no desire to take her home...He kept wondering about Maud, wondering about her thoughts, her goals, her life. He kept thinking about her and forcing himself not to. But he felt his indifference faltering.

The cafe was filled with young people, having hip and witty conversation, presumably. They looked like young conquerers. She wondered how many of them, even now, were making the mistakes that would hobble them for the rest of their lives. (135)

Samir had become a carpenter, he never read or watched television. He took books of photographs from the library. He preferred old books. He preferred to gaze upon the faces of the dead." (159)

"How has being a therapist changed you?"
"It made me see life in a different way. When I was in my 20's, I wanted to be a writer, but I didn't believe in plots. I didn't think life had PLOTS. I didn't think life had BAD plots. So everything I wrote petered out after twenty or thirty pages.
"And you believe in plots now?" Maud said.
"I do. After 20 yrs. of listening to people tell stories about themselves, I sometimes think that life is noting BUT plot, if you think of plot as the choices we make. You could say that neurosis is a condition in which we think we don't have choices. And you could say that the goal of therapy is to help someone see that he's already making choices, and that he could be making different choices."
Maud put her head down to think. Eleanor became aware that what Maud thought mattered to her. She wanted to pass the test of her philosopher daughter's scrutiny.
Eleanor begins to think about her ex, Adam, and then about Maud's kindness, how she'd make an excellent mother. Then realies they haven't gotten back to the subject of how Maud was doing. Eleanor had thought she was going to find out why Maud was unhappy and had become distracted by the sound of her own (thoughts) voice.
She made herself a cup of coffee and, although she wasn't hungry, had a slice of pie
The small ways we fail one another, every day. (223-224)

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breakable You follows the Weller family: father Adam, mother Eleanor, daughter Maud. There are sons/brothers but they are only mentioned in passing and we never meet them.

Adam is a writer on the downside of his career and in his early sixties he's decided just getting by on his past work is good enough. He still has much younger women on his arm so it's all good in his opinion. Eleanor doesn't share his view. She has always depended on the lifestyle Adam's writing life has given her but she's had enough of Adam's flings so she gives him the gate. Eleanor isn't who she'd like and spends a good portion of the book trying to be someone other than herself. Adam and Eleanor continue to show their despicable sides toward each other, their acquaintances and sadly, Maud. For Adam and Eleanor - think about teaching "...old dogs, new tricks."

Maud loves philosophers and studies them constantly. She is working diligently toward her PHD. Her life has been tough; she's had two breakdowns and been hospitalized. Understandable given her rotten parents. This is not a spoiler. Her life improves when she meets Samir. He is a carpenter, a gentle, quiet man. They meet through mutual friends and it doesn't look as though they will click. But Maud is persistent. And it's her persistence that ultimately enriches her life.

Maud, Samir and Maud's friend, Ralph are such memorable, whole characters you will want to meet them; get to know them; be friends; be confidants. Adam and Eleanor will make you feel something much different.

There are scenes of Breakable You that are crushingly sad; others that should make you laugh; and still others that will make you nod your head, "Yes, that's exactly how it is." Breakable You is beautifully written, as are all of Morton's novels. Read them all. Brian Morton isn't as prolific as I'd like but as long as he doesn't stop, I'll manage.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A moderately successful family saga that I don’t quite buy into. It’s a bit formulaic for sure, and while I admire writers who let the bad guys win, why paint bad guys? There’s a major narrative decision by one character that just stretches credulity, much less breaks moral grounds in ways that are unfathomable. That aside, I enjoyed much of the conflict and setting, and especially the variety of characters who comprise this makeshift family.

[Mervyn E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly well written, and for the most part, interesting; with good characterizations and originality. However, I was not particularly happy with this story. All plot lines ended in kind of a drearily-indifferent way. Yet I am still glad I read it.

[tisasday · Rating 2 out of 5]

The saving grace of this book is that it's written in short short chapters so you can tolerate holding down the bland bits. Kind of like oatmeal. Blah but not entirely bad.

[Gail · Rating 3 out of 5]

good writing, disappointing disintegration of various plot lines..kind of fizzled out.

[Patrice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading this tale—not very happy with major plot lines that were left unfinished in my opinion. How did Eleanor’s sister die? Did Adam really get away with his treachery?
I loved the character of Eleanor—I just wish that she had put less of her self-esteem in her weight gain—she was a wonderful Mom & person.

[Anne Kadet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This guy keeps writing the same book and I love it!

[Alon · Rating 3 out of 5]

the one thing I like most about Brian Morton's novels is the close and intimate relationship between his characters like Leonard Schiller and ariel in Starting Out in the Evening or Nora and Billie in Window Across the River and I didn't feel that here all the Characters Seemed to be Detached and estranged to each other and it was hard to connect with them and Dive into the story

[Stacey · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a disappointment.
This was the first book in a long line of books that I couldn't put down. It started out so strong, and in spite of the author asking us to follow several characters very closely, I found it manageable, engaging, thought-provoking. Until...
I was willing to overlook Morton's male fantasies (woman takes man by the pants, drops said pants and delivers blow job in wooded area of Central Park, and thus a thriving relationship is born!), because at times he offered what I consider some fairly accurate insight to the female mind as far as sex and power are concerned, but about halfway through the book, he really screwed up. I don't want to spoil anything here, but Morton's inclination to make heavy-handed plot the focal point of a novel that draws us in because of its complex, often-confused, and unfortunately unsympathetic characters created drama where we didn't need any more drama.
In the end, I think he struggled to create any likable characters, his creations falling into predictable circumstances (middle-aged woman's husband leaves her for a younger woman because she's let herself go--really, is this the kind of scenario we're supposed to swallow comfortably?) and never redeeming themselves, unless you count the last couple of paragraphs, which, to me, were clearly tacked on without much profound thought.

I still may read his other novels, novels which received far more laurels than this one. Morton can write, and it is a pleasure to have a page-turner in my hands. Next time, I'll hope for a more satisfying read.

[Theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book on the long trip to Frankfurt/Riga/Dushanbe. The concept was interesting, but I was left oddly disappointed. In the end, it felt more like a beach book with aspirations than literature. The characters would just start to get interesting, and then they would do something cookie-cutterish that spoiled things for me. The philosophical references of one of the characters seemed more typical of a second year undergrad philosophy major than a graduate student, and were obtrusive rather than adding anything to the story. The references to the west coast were frequently off, as often happens with east coast authors. Portland is culturally worlds away from most of California, yet Morton made a strange melange of stereotypical cultural refs to both places. And union reps from Portland don't wear bolo ties, for cripes sakes, unless it is an affectation. I did think Morton made some interesting points about personal motivations and the bases for, and evolutions of, his characters' relationships, but there was not a lot of meat here for me. As is my practice when traveling, I gave this book away when I was done with it, this time, to a music agent from Kyrgizstan. Even if the plot doesn't work for him, at least he will get some practice with English out of it. I also put it to good use before giving it away, using it as an example during my presentation of the difference between owning a book/CD/etc. and owning the copyright therein.

[Allisun · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was well reviewed and I was looking forward to it. I was mostly disappointed. Despite the fact that a lot of the content is interesting to me (existential angst, psychotherapy, writing, love) it just somehow failed to come together. I felt the characters were all a bit too extreme in each of their own ways, and as if they were being forced upon me. I didn't really care about the characters--even though I thought they were fairly well developed. It seems that Morton is grappling with some sort of fine line between aging gracefully and falling into cynicism. I dont know much about this author, but "self-indulgent" or "self-analysis" came to mind. All that being said, I felt a sense of commitment to the story and was not able to put it back on my shelf before finishing it. I think it could be enjoyed for the plot and storyline, but not for the writing or enriching thought provocation.

[Julie Ehlers]

So disappointing. I loved Brian Morton's Starting Out in the Evening and A Window Across the River so much, and I was sure I'd love this one. But no. This novel is told from the point of view of four characters, and two of them, a self-satisfied sixtysomething novelist and a completely unrealistic woman in her twenties, are pretty much insufferable. The other two characters are not sympathetic enough to make up for these two, and the subject matter seems like it's been done before. In fact, I hate to say it, but this novel seems like a knockoff, or even a parody, of what Morton himself has done before. Of course, it's possible I'm just not in the right frame of mind for a novel like this right now. Thus, rather than continue reading with building resentment, possibly permanently damaging my goodwill for Morton, I've put this book aside for now. Perhaps someday I'll try again.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It contains all of the elements of a great work: true, deeply felt characters, moments of tremendous poignancy and even unbearable sorrow, a long look at the life of literary pursuit, deep investigation into how relationships work at their inception and at their end, and a beautiful picture of the similarities and differences between them in terms of energy and hopefulness. How and why do we reach out to each other? Why do certain people touch us in certain ways, and what happens when we allow our lives to irrevocably change course as a result? Gently, gently, Morton takes into the minds of four intertwined but very different people, and shows us how many ways there are to navigate through life in all its uncertainty, risk, messiness, fulfillment, and joy.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Brian Morton's novel "Starting out in the evening". His writing is clean and east to read. I also loved this book. The short length of the chapters (5-8 pages) and his style of jumping from one character to the next- made this a real page turner for me. The characters were flawed and real and I liked them despite their unlikable qualities. There were three different story lines in this novel all intertwined by the relationships among the people and the emotions in this book ran the gamut from tragic to passionate in a heartbeat. This book stayed with me long after I had finished it and I highly recommend it.

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book a lot, although I can't disagree with those who found the final third much less satisfying than what went before. Even so, I thought Morton pulled off telling the story from multiple viewpoints far better than most who attempt it, and I thought his characters were all believable and engaging. His simple style of writing belies the depth of the topics he addresses; to his credit, he seems much more focused on how these issues play out in real life than in having his characters deliver pedantic monologues. This will be great material for an ensemble cast when it makes its way to film.