Meredith Miller

Literary Merit: Good
Characterization: Great
Recommended: Yes
Level: Very Mature Young Adult/High School

Heavy writing, heavy drugs, heavy crime, oh my. Ruth, Magda, and Isabel all live in the economically split, but tight knit town of Highbone, Long Island. Set after the Vietnam war but when bumming ciggys was still cool and coffee was only a few cents, so much happens to change these girl’s lives forever. Isabel is a day dreamer, mostly obsessed with what can happen and not what is happening. Magda, mostly stuck taking care of her litter brother Henry, is more of the mom friend. Ruth, the only girl of the three living in the less prestigious South Highbone, struggles with anger towards her mom and not knowing if her dad is a bigwig of the town. After stealing a large stash of pot, killing a groping Vet, and losing Magda’s little brother, the three girls learn how rough life really is when you don’t follow the rules.

As much as I loved the heavy literary writing style in the beginning of the book, it did lose some of its magic about halfway through. Almost as if Miller realized the novel needed to wrap up at some point. Though it’s a short read at ~350 pages, I would have read it even if it was 600.… (más)

I won a mobi.file copy of this book through a giveaway she had on LibraryThing and the following is my honest opinion.

In her book, “Compendium for the Broken Heart,” Ms. Miller has written a total of twenty captivating short stories, ten which go from making you just sad to that of pulling at your hearts; and to balance these off, she’s alternated them with ten which go from just making you happy to that of being joyful with what you’ve just read. The author, in setting up her book in this manner, first breaks your heart and then tries to mend it.

If there was to be a playlist of songs for this book, at the top of that list would have to be a song from my younger day, the 1971 song by the Bee Gee’s, “How Do You Mend a Broken Heart.”

I can think of younger days when living for my life
Was everything a man could want to do
I could never see tomorrow, but I was never told about the sorrow
And how can you mend a broken heart?

How can you stop the rain from falling down?
How can you stop the sun from shining?
What makes the world go round?
How can you mend this broken man?
How can a loser ever win?

Please help me mend my broken heart and let me live again
I can still feel the breeze that rustles through the trees
And misty memories of days gone by
We could never see tomorrow, no one said a word about the sorrow.

Unfortunately, the thing which is preventing me from giving it the 5 STATS I would like to give it; is the simple lack of titles for each of her stories. I can remember in middle school I had to read the short stories of the great O. Henry and each of them had a title, including his classic “The Gift of the Magi.” As a result I’m giving this endeavor by Ms. Miller 4 STARS.… (más)