Peruse The Broken Author Tamar Cohen Format Physical Edition
stunning psychological thriller that starts off like an everyday tale of marriage and divorce but gets progressively crazier and more sinister as it goes along.
I loved every page, and kept wanting to read bits out to people, Some of the descriptions of parenting were brilliantly funny and Cohen succeeds at really getting into the heads of her female and male characters.
This is an absolute mustread and I will be pressing it on all my friends, The Broken is the first book I have read by this author and it certainly won't be the last,
After hearing lots of good things about this book I was very much looking forward to reading it, I will admit to start with I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about but the story really starts to come together the further you get into it.
It's hard to go in to, to much detail with this book with out ruining the plot for anyone that hasn't read it but I will try my best.
The story is about two couples, Dan and Sasha and Josh and Hannah, The couple have been friends for many years and also have daughters that are the same age, The friendships between the adults as well as the children are pushed to the limits when Dan decides to leave Sasha as he has met someone else.
From there things start to go downhill with the friendships,
Obviously being told by your husband that he's leaving you, Sasha does not take the split as amicably as well as Dan had hoped she would and that's when incidents start to occur.
The characters for some reason didn't come across as overly likeable though I had every sympathy with Josh and Hannah being caught in the middle of their closest friends problems.
They are very much torn between where their loyalties should lie and they try their best to remain impartial but as events unfold that is becoming harder to do.
The author has very cleverly put this story together with a twist that even though I knew must be coming I didn't know what it would actually be until it hit me right in the face!
Even though the author has quite a few books published I thought this was a great introduction to her work and I look forward to reading more.
Wow! The Broken is a brilliant and compelling read! It's the first Tammy Cohen book I've read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Dan is leaving his wife Sasha and confides in his best mate Josh, Josh shares this news with his wife Hannah who is in turn Sasha's best friend, This all happens at the beginning of the book and the rest is dealing with the fallout of Dan's decision,
As the story progresses Sasha becomes more unhinged and Hannah and Josh have split loyalties to deal with as the acrimonious breakdown of their best friends' marriage.
I desperately wanted to slap Sasha the spoilt rich btch and not surprisingly her daughter September is a spoilt brat.
To start with I disliked Dan leaving his wife and child without warning but the more I learn about Sasha I couldn't blame him!
Hannah's role in supporting Sasha and her need to defend her friend despite her actions felt very lifelike.
Josh is trying his hardest to stay neutral but also is coping with issues in his professional life,
I felt there was an air of Liane Moriarty about the book but more sinister, I don't think I'd have chosen to read this book had it not been the THE Book Club's book of the month but I'm very glad I did.
Tammy is an fantastic storyteller, I sat and read The Broken in a day, desperate to know what happened next, I'll be downloading more of Tammy's work in the future!!
Četiri grozna lika od kojih ne znam koji je gori, . . možda mi knjiga i ne bi bila tako loša da je bar jedan lik imao mrvicu pozitivnog u sebi u svom tom jadu koji se izdogađao.
. . i na kraju još nekakav tanušan kraj : I loved this book, It grabbed me from the first page amp did not let go until the last, A tension filled
sinister psychological suspense novel about a marriage breakdown which also affects a close friendship, Lies, deceit, craziness, what a story! This is definitely in my topfavourite reads of this year, Highly recommended. Well that was a bust, Too bad because it started strong, But it just never went anywhere, Well, maybe it does eventually, butpages in and it was still just two people fighting over an affair, Done. Best friends tell you everything about their kitchen renovation about their little girl's schooling, How one of them is leaving the other for a younger model,
Best friends don't tell lies, They don't take up residence on your couch for weeks, They don't call lawyers. They don't make you choose sides,
Best friends don't keep secrets about their past, They don't put you in danger,
Best friends don't always stay best friends, In 'The Broken', Josh and Hannah have always enjoyed the company of their best friends, Dan and Sasha, However, their friendship is soon complicated by Dan's decision to leave Sasha for a young, beautiful model, Caught in the middle of the mess, Josh and Hannah are at a loss as to what to do, especially when there are secrets involved.
This book started off slow but I kept pushing on, hoping it'd pick up the pace or the wait would be worthwhile.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, The more I read, the more issues I had with it:
Boring and repetitive
Nothing much happened except in the last few chapters.
By then, it was too late because I was merely relieved to have reached the end, The content was snoozeworthy, filled with the same old dialogues that could be summed up as follows:
Sasha to Hannah and Josh: How could Dan leave me after we've been together for so long Don't I mean anything to him How could he do this to our little girl, September How could he dump us for a younger woman
Josh: tells Dan what Sasha said
Dan: goes into justifyingmydecision mode Jeez dude, she's crazy.
You don't know what it's like to be with her, I can't stand her anymore, I'm happier with Sienna new girlfriend,
Hannah: How could Josh do that to Sasha It's not right, What about their daughter
Josh: reports to Dan about what Hannah said
Dan: goes into reassuringmyfriends mode I will look after September.
I want her to be part of my life, I'll move in somewhere close to her school,
Hannah: tells Sasha whatever Dan said
Basically, Dan and Sasha badmouthed each other to Josh / Hannah who would then talk to each other about those two.
This went on and on,
Wrong choice of main characters
The chapters focused on Josh and Hannah, This was a huge mistake as it would've been better to show what Sasha was going through impending divorce, dealing with her daughter asking about her dad's whereabouts, wondering if the new woman was better than her and how Dan's new relationship was going.
Unlikeable onedimensional characters
It was hard to like or care about any of them, Dan was selfish and heartless, Sasha was whiny and unstable, Josh was an insecure tattletale kept comparing himself to Dan and Hannah was a peoplepleaser.
What they had in common They were immature and annoying, Although they were in their thirties, they behaved like prepubescents / teenagers, I couldn't take them seriously,
Ongoing stupidity
Josh and Hannah would agree that they needed to keep a distance so that Dan and Sasha could sort out their problems.
This would last for a few seconds until they started doing the whole "he said she said" thing especially Josh which only worsened the situation.
Rinse and repeat.
Predictable "twist"
There were short italicized entries between chapters, in which details about an unknown female character's childhood / thoughts were provided.
These were interesting at first but I got bored once it was obvious which character it was due to the heavyhanded attempts to cast suspicion on certain characters.
. There were no clues given, hence the revelation behind the identity of this character felt like a cheat,
On top of that, it made no impact to find out that , Since the characters were all flat and this "twist" was thrown in at the last minute, it didn't add to the story it was just the ending.
Lazy writing
A cheap, ineffective method was employed to induce suspense by making characters mention that they didn't want to think about "that incident" without any hints given, having characters forget where they were and revealing the truth late in the story such as who was the mysterious unknown character and what happened during Sasha's childhood.
Unrealistic
There were numerous unrealistic things but the one that stood out was how easily .
Pretentious name
September was a dumb name, It screamed "trying too hard", It wasn't any better when she was called Tember or Temmy either, If the author insisted on giving her the name of a month, why not go for April
Overall, reading 'The Broken' felt like a test of endurance, in terms of how much repetition one can handle.
There were no redeeming qualities as the characters were paperthin, the writing was bland and the most interesting reveal was just a way to conclude this forgettable story.
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