'The Heart Broke In' Book Review #9
- Tasha Doughman
- Nov 12, 2019
- 3 min read
James Meek proposed a brilliant and beautiful novel titled 'The Heart Broke In' which is a cool title due to the word play. Here is a synopsis off from Goodreads:
"From James Meek, the award-winning author of the international bestseller "The People's Act of Love," comes a rich and intricate novel about everything that matters to us now: children, celebrity, secrets and shame, the quest for youth, loyalty and betrayal, falls from grace, acts of terror, and the wonderful, terrible inescapability of family. Ritchie Shepherd, an aging pop star and a producer of a reality show for teen talent, is starting to trip over his own lies. Maybe filming a documentary about his father, Captain Shepherd, a British soldier executed by Northern Irish guerrillas, will redeem him. His sister, Bec, is getting closer and closer to a vaccine for malaria. When she's not in Tanzania harvesting field samples, she's peering through a microscope at her own blood to chart the risky treatment she's testing on herself. She's as addicted to honesty as Ritchie is to trickery. Val Oatman is the editor of a powerful tabloid newspaper. The self-appointed conscience of the nation, scourge of hypocrites and cheats, he believes he will marry beautiful Bec. Alex Comrie, a gene therapist (and formerly the drummer in Ritchie's band), is battling his mortally ill uncle, a brilliant and domineering scientist, over whether Alex might actually have discovered a cure for aging. Alex, too, believes he will marry Bec. Colum O'Donabhain has just been released from prison, having served a twenty-five-year sentence for putting a gun to Captain Shepherd's head when he refused to give up an informer. He now writes poetry. Their stories meet and tangle in this bighearted epic that is also shrewd, starkly funny, and utterly of the moment. "The Heart Broke In "is fiction with the reverberating resonance of truth."
The description automatically attracted my attention and I knew I had to begin this read asap. I love third person books because the writer can easily switch from perspective to perspective. Although Meek made this 401 page book into 75 chapters, I enjoyed every bit of this unique novel.
I actually learned some things while reading it because of Bec, Ritchie's sister, and Alex, a former drummer for Ritchie's band, were scientists. Bec was finding a cure for malaria and even went as far as putting it in her own system for years and naming it after her father. Alex had discovered, partially, how to make people live forever. It confused me some, especially with Alex's uncle, Harry, who had cancer and was doomed to pass away soon, but they explained what they meant fairly well. I don't like science let alone reading about it but Meek made it interesting and it actually played in with the story rather it be a side thing.
This novel was a slow read for me partially because of all the science talk yet I enjoyed it. Personally, I felt a connection with all the characters. When Harry ended up passing away, my heart hurt. When Ritchie was going to kill himself, and accidentally almost did, it was enough to have me crying, begging for James to keep him alive although in reality, he deserved to die or be jailed for his relationship with a fifteen year old off his TV show. When Bec slept with Alex's brother, Dougie who has a gambling problem, because Alex was able to help her out with children, I completely understand why she did. It pulled my heart strings every which way!
In my opinion, the book didn't have a real plot. Towards the end, everything came together, however. It was mainly just two different families who were connected in some shape or way dealing with reality and how life is unfair and unjust but you mustn't let that stop you from achieving your goals and dreams.
I probably wouldn't read this book again although I would highly recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys a slow, dramatic read. On Goodreads, I rated this book 4/5 stars.
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