We Can't Be Broken: H. K. Christie (a book you meant to read in 2018)

I got this book for free in return for a review in 2018, and after reading the first chapter, I gave up on it. When I saw it again in my Kindle library, I figured I needed to see it through, so I picked it up again

Overall, I was not a fan at all. The entire novel was completely predictable. I think the author hits on many important topics and issues but doesn't delve into anything enough to make those hits significant or worth it. The plot and characters have so much potential, but they're wasted in this story.

I’m not a fan of the “overly dramatic,” so I didn’t like how the author chose to end the last chapter: “I sang as I danced around the room, blissfully unaware that just fourteen months later we would get devastating news that would change our lives forever.” I think this specifically is one of those instances where show it don’t tell it would apply. This says to me, “hey, you were having fun up until this point, but don’t get comfortable because something bad will happen in the next chapter.” In the right context, that can be fine, but not here. It is out of place and completely unnecessary.

I also can’t understate how annoyed I was by the use of “us kids.” Example: in chapter three, she says, “Us kids each took a chair.” That is at least the third time the author incorrectly uses her pronouns, and maybe it’s because an 11-year old is narrating, but this was like nails on a chalkboard for me, especially when she used it twice in the same paragraph. If she’s going to narrate as an 11-year old and use that as the excuse for incorrect grammar, then she should use it in other places too. The only place I’m seeing it is with the “us kids did this” bits, so I can’t believe the reason is to make the narrator seem her age.

The shift in perspective was very welcome, but it seemed disorganized. There doesn’t seem to be any patterns, rather, the perspectives change on a whim, and I can’t seem to understand the purpose of those shifts.

There are moments when I feel bad for Sam, like when he’s nonchalantly mentioning how his step-father abuses him, or talking about how his mom forgot his birthday. Those moments are heartbreaking, but other than that I don’t have sympathy for the characters. They aren’t real enough for me. It didn’t seem as though the characters were built upon enough for the context to feel sympathy. The whole time I knew that I was reading a made up story of made up people; there was never a moment when I escaped my world and forgot that the story wasn’t real. Yeah, the whole family goes through some really crappy experiences, but the narrators are not written well enough to relate or feel sorrow because they're so one-dimensional.

I do feel sorry to have such a review after reading that this book was written based off the childhood of the author, but that didn't change how I felt about the book.