A Good Read

I just finished Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos, a wonderful debut novel by a very promising author. It’s not a perfect book, but I found it easy to overlook the few things I found annoying (for example, too many coincidences) because the characters were fascinating and the story compelling. On top of all that, it has a (relatively) happy ending, which I don’t seem to see too much of these days.

The main characters in this novel are two women with deep emotional scars, one 75 (Margaret) and one 34 (Wanda) years old. Together, and with a host of other interesting characters, they find a way to confront their demons and create lives full of love and forgiveness. It all sounds so trite, but Kallos has written a truly original novel. Scenes that deliver pathos at the same time deliver humor and compassion. Margaret’s long-dead mother makes frequent appearances, both in her daily activities and in her dreams.

"The dead, Margaret thought. They can be so loud."

By shifting quickly in time, space, and realities, Kallos tells the saddest of stories without being maudlin and the most joyous stories without syrup. As the novel opens, Margaret is diagnosed with a brain tumor, so her frequent sojourns between past, present, and future seem totally in keeping with a malfunctioning brain.

Kallos describes the feelings of her characters in a way that feels totally right for the personalities she has created. Here is a scene when Wanda is confronting Troy, a man who is deeply in love with her despite her unwillingness to open up to him:

“Her breathing slowed. She checked in with her heart. She could picture it in there, in its calcified condition, encased in the bodice of her dress. Maybe it hung suspended, caught in something that had once been liquid – like a wooly mammoth in ice, or a dragonfly in amber. Or maybe it bore fossilized impressions. If someone were to autopsy her heart, they’d find traces of life, evidence of eons gone by. Times when she’d been able to feel and the feelings left imprints…”

There are no surprises in this novel, save the fact that, in the end, people make good decisions rather than destructive ones. I find it impossible to convey the richness of the story without giving it all away (and writing for a very long time), so all I can say is, read it!