Reviews

The Broken Places by Russell Franklin

Only show reviews with written explanations

writtenontheflyleaves's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

The Broken Places by Russell Franklin 🎣
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

🎣 The plot: In 1931, Gregory Hemingway begins life as the third and favourite son of a literary great. Naturally gifted at shooting, fighting, and baseball, he may have a shot at living up to the legendary masculinity of his father. In 2001, Gloria Hemingway's life ends in a women's correctional institution in Miami. Inspired by true events, this is a story of extraordinary resilience and the difficulty of reckoning with your parents' legacy.

I went to the launch of this book last summer and knew then that I would love it. So tell me WHY it took me this long to get around to it?? Think of the time I've wasted that I could have spent loving this book!!

The prose in this novel is flawless - lyrical, absorbing, there were so many pages I folded down to come back to just for the joy of reading them again. I also thought this book did a brilliant job of presenting a story about gender fluidity in a context where there was very little understanding of it. Greg/Gloria did not have reference points for how to deal with gender dysphoria or bipolar disorder, other than shame and denial. Their fight to be their true self regardless is brilliantly rendered here, and the moments of euphoria they feel shine throughout the book.

Perhaps my favourite thing of all was the book's examination of the relationship between Gloria and their father, and particularly their grief over that relationship. It rang so true to me to the experience of grieving a difficult parent and this might have to be one of those books I pick up in paperback to make it easier to reread!

You don't need to be an Ernest Hemingway fan to enjoy this (I'm a Fitzgerald gal myself) and actually I wonder if I benefited from not already loving him/ knowing loads about him because I was able to just let the book carry me along.

🎣 Read if you love beautiful and poetic prose, and historical novels/ stories that are based on real life. I feel like fans of Great Circle and Andre Aciman would like this.

🚫 Avoid it if you're not in a place to read about gender dysphoria, transphobia and transphobic violence, or bipolar disorder right now.