Review – Broken by J Matthew Nespoli

Imagine reading a book that doesn’t tell you one story, but 14 different stories, a varied mosaic of multicolored and multi-textured pieces. What you definitely want, when navigating the winding curves that make up the complicated lives of each individual, is a foundation that connects them all and a roof that gives meaning to the stories. What we have then is a beautiful house, diverse on the inside with its many rooms, each with a different outlook on life, each with its own experiences, and each with a different aroma that leads to different places. However, all these rooms would be connected with a perspective and a message that would be very obvious when you finished the book.

In short, there are like 14 stories with a theme and the theme is something we all know and have heard over and over again, love. Since it is, in fact, such a common subject, it is even more difficult to write about it, in a way that is not mundane, stereotypical, or clichéd. The author is to be commended for his effort to talk about our favorite subject in a different tone. In fact, a mixture of tones, with nuances and underlying notes that blend very well with the subject, giving it a beauty that could not have been conjured otherwise.

So, right off the bat, there are three good things about Broken that good books should generally possess. The first is distinct characters. It is true that most stories have one or two protagonists. It is very difficult, from a reader’s perspective, to focus absolutely and equally on more than a couple of characters in a book. So how is this book different? In the words of the author himself, in one of the interviews, most readers will identify with at least one character in the book, since there has been so much generosity in his style in creating so many vignettes from the perspective of the present. generation. The beauty of the book, therefore, is that one reader’s protagonist can be totally different from another. This is salutary, both for the interest the author generates in the minds of readers and for the thought process that begins as readers try to make their own inferences from the story. The characters are not perfect. They’re not even close to that. In fact, some of them would be labeled as failures in today’s society. The tone that describes them is dark and grave, with an undercurrent of drug abuse, sexual abuse, confusion, pain, and scarred memories. But if love can come clean in such a situation and mend to some extent, if not completely, the broken pieces of what was once a good heart, there is definitely hope for most of us, who are fortunately not possessed of such a scarred and scarred past. scary.

The second good thing about the book is its theme. Over the years, when I have tried to analyze books and stories to find out why some have been successful with readers striking a chord and others have not, I have observed that books that remind readers of themselves or of someone they know very closely have been much more successful. The books that have gone a step further are those that make one identify with the many problems that exist in the world today and have given a ray of hope and highlighted a ray of light in the cloud. ‘Broken’ falls into the latter category. This might come as a surprise to those who tried to guess the book by name. The title is not intended to highlight the pessimism that drowns everything around us.

It would be bleak and dark and depressing if I tried to do it. The title is only meant to give a theme that connects the mosaic, the fabric that each one of them fits into, adding its own tint or hue, making the fabric very beautiful. He talks about how love is the greatest healer and how human beings differ from the rest of the species in their ability to understand, share and ease the pain of another. In the words of one of the characters, “We were two broken people who needed each other.” Without a unifying theme, that gains the reader something, that enriches the reader’s thought process and emotions a little more, a book would simply remain a story that could be read to pass the time. A good theme makes all the difference in creating memories, impressions and reminders. Broken does just that with its simple, yet beautiful message.

The last, but not the least important ingredient that makes this book a good read in my opinion, is the narrative. The way the characters talk to the readers makes a big difference. Is it through events, is it through a story someone else wrote about them or is it directly, like your own account, giving it a totally personal touch? Broken’s narrative is primarily in the first person. Most of the characters speak directly to the reader. It feels almost as authentic as hearing it from a friend across a coffee table. The tumult of voices, considering there are so many characters, each with their own failures, ambitions, dreams, nightmares, can be confusing at times. However, it was the only way the story could have been told. Honesty in voice and truth in pain can only emerge if the characters speak to you. Examples of this can be seen in one of the characters, escaping with a child from a dangerous man, even when his feet were bleeding; and a guy who accidentally bumps into his idol at a bar, but can’t say anything smart to get his attention. But it’s not all about disapproval or pessimism. The story has many humorous sequences that would make the reader sit back and smile, maybe even laugh at one point. The depiction of two friends, one talking on the phone while the other cranks up a song, eventually tempting the friend on the phone to sing along, was a sweet and creative moment. It ends with the entire crowd in the traffic jam joining the party. It was a beautiful ray of sunshine on a cloudy day, a sequence that could keep you upbeat and uplifted on even the toughest of days.

All in all, Broken doesn’t take away all the energy you have, like some books with heavy themes do. It doesn’t make you shake your head at the stupidity of the characters or the plot, the way stories about troubled teens and youth sometimes do. It has a beautiful concept. The author has not created the characters, but has based them on various interesting people he met during his journey. This makes the characters real. This makes the tone authentic. I think this is enough for readers to get hooked and just finish it. I am sure that in the end, your thoughts and appreciation will be coherent and not broken.