Broken

On the first Friday of each month, psychologist Sadie meets the handsome yet enigmatic Joe on “their” bench. Over lunch, Joe tells Sadie of his latest sexual adventure with such detail that Sadie finds herself transported into his stories, wishing she could be one of the women. Instead, in real life, Sadie spends much of her time taking care of her quadriplegic husband, Adam. Once, Adam and Sadie were blissfully happy, ensconced in the happiness of having one another and needing no one else. Now, however, Adam pulls further and further away, and Sadie craves physical touch and intimacy so badly it hurts. Caught between two men—one a shadow of her true love, the other an not-dared-for hope for her future—Sadie must discover who show more she is and what makes her happy.

I’ve never read erotica before, but I think it’s safe to say that this is one of the really good ones out there. The sex scenes are hot without being overboard or uncomfortable. Megan Hart also does a fantastic job developing the characters: Sadie may be a little generic (though still relatable) due to her narrator status, but Adam is a well realized portrait of a brilliant man trapped inside a useless body, and Joe, while originally enigmatic, is also consistent enough from escapade to escapade that he becomes appreciatively real.

If you’re reading this for the sex scenes, the in-between plot can feel a bit slow, but that’s also what makes this book so much more than simply literary porn: we become actually invested in the characters and do not think of them as simply sex objects. If you’re looking for good characterization and a good plot, pick up BROKEN, with its classy-not-trashy writing and plot. You’ll want to pass this around to your open-minded friends so that you can enjoy this together. show less

All the usual disclaimers apply - I know Megan, she’s my friend and we’ve given each other nicknames and all that stuff. Still, she’s not ensorcelled me so I’m incapable of an actual honest opinion on her book although dude, if she had that power it would be so cool, I’d totally make her use it on my behalf. Anyway, I digress…

Broken is a lot of things. It’s one of those books that stays with you a really long time after you finish because there are a lot of layers to it. In my opinion, it’s the best thing Megan has written and she’s a damned good writer so that should say something. Each time Sadie sits next to Joe and we hear a tale of his latest conquest, we’re really drawing down another layer of Sadie.

Whatever show more Broken is about, I can tell you what it’s not about - Broken is not about infidelity. I want to make that clear up front. Sadie loves Adam, her husband. But Adam has withdrawn himself emotionally after an accident has left him a quadroplegic. She’s lost him in many ways even though he’s there physically. Her entire being centers around his care and schedule - it isn’t that she hates him or wishes he didn’t exist, it isn’t that she wants to sleep with Joe behind Adam’s back. Her life has made her into a mechanism - she takes care of everyone else and she doesn’t get much emotional feedback because her husband has lost himself and she’s helpless to help him regain what he’s lost. So for that one brief time every month, she’s unfettered from all that responsibility and context and she gets to be a woman.

She wants to be held and listened to and those brief times once a month as she sits and listens to Joe tell his stories, she can transport herself elsewhere in her head.

Sadie’s loneliness is sharp and painful at times. Her loss throbbed in my gut as I read. Her connection to Joe, his attraction to her, her committment to Adam and her embracing her life no matter what it has become creates a book that sent me reeling over and over.

Broken is not an easy book. It’s not lighthearted and romantic. It’s an unflinching look into someone’s inner life. I cried when I read Broken. It made me furious. It made me laugh and grumble. It drove me to email Megan a few times and give her what for.

Broken is evocative and deep and disturbing and yet, it’s uplifting too. Because Sadie can be any of us, you know? And she survives and rises and finds her way in a world that could easily drive her to give up for let go of the things that anchor her - to her life, to her husband, to everything she finds important. She’s not a saint, she doesn’t take care of Adam because she loves the hairshirt, she takes care of him because he’s her husband and she loves him and it’s the right thing to do and she believes that. That makes Sadie a character that rises above so many other characters in books. She’s flawed, yes, but she’s *real*

Broken is erotic, yes. The sex is integral to the story as a vehicle for Sadie’s mental escape and also as a glimpse into Joe. The story is in first person but I really felt I knew Joe and his insecurities as he told his stories. In them he’s not a sex god, his vision of himself is interesting and pretty unflinching. The moments between Sadie and Adam are heartwrenchingly beautiful and skillfully done and the connection between Joe and Sadie is powerful as well.

I’ve gone back and forth writing this, it’s hard to distill what Broken is because I think everyone will read Sadie with their own filters. And because Broken is a complex book. It’s not easy. But it’s worth it. Broken is, without question, an amazing book and I truly hope it gets the attention it deserves. Technically, it’s mindblowing. As an author, when I read it, I was floored by the skill Megan used as a writer. The story is marvelous but she tells it perfectly. show less

Been thinking about this lately, and decided to revise my score down from 5*. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got at the book.

I'd have to re-read it to write an in-depth review, but here's a quick and dirty list of why I changed my rating.

1. It's an extremely negative treatment of disability. I originally loved the book so much because of Adam. He was more familiar to me than any other disabled character I've run across, and I loved seeing my own experiences and frustrations voiced by someone else. Unfortunately, the more I thought about it, the more I hated how he was treated by the story. Here's the most realistic disabled character I've seen, and he really is just a cheap plot vehicle there to make Sadie seem tragic. All show more these things he does that made me like him so much - asking for a divorce, yelling at the nurse, needling Sadie - weren't meant to show the depth of his character or a man resisting dehumanization by a million cuts, they were meant to make me feel bad that Sadie was stuck married to him.

2. Fuck Sadie. Seriously. Fuck that cheating, self-centered, self-pitying, patronizing bitch. She treats her husband like a burdensome patient then is not only surprised when he wants a divorce, she's offended by how ungrateful he is of how much she's done for him. What a prize.

3. Hart forgot to write a character arc for Sadie. Even though I hate the bitch, I might've enjoyed the story if she grew as a person. If Hart challenged, rather than reinforced, society's negative biases towards disability, this would've been an amazing read. But Sadie never faces her flaws. She doesn't learn anything from her actions. In fact, I have to assume that the book doesn't think she's flawed at all. "Of course she resents her burdensome husband, who wouldn't. Here. Have this able bodied husband replacement. You've earned it." It's all really too ableist for words.

4. She kills Adam off rather than has them divorce. I guess this was supposed to make me feel bad for Sadie. What it actually did was dehumanize Adam even further. Adam was there just to make Sadie look like a victim, and Joe was her reward for being a trooper. Fuck Sadie.

Honestly, this is an ableist abomination. It's sad that everyone seems to think Sadie's the victim in this story. She's the embodiment of every negative stereotype there is of disability. That's what makes this a depressing book.

Only thing giving this more than one star is Adam. I still love him. show less

You may be able to tell from the blurb above that this book is written in first person. This is Sadie Danning's story. On the first Friday of every month she has lunch on a park bench with a man she only knows as Joe. Each month Joe tells her an erotic story about a sexual encounter while Sadie imagines herself as the woman in the story. But Sadie is married.

In a strictly definitive sense she is cheating on her husband but I can't condemn her for it. This is not a story about infidelity. Sadie deeply loves her husband Adam. But a serious accident has left him a quadriplegic. Adam is bitter and angry and has emotionally withdrawn from their marriage. Sadie is a therapist so during the day she is helping her patients and in the evenings show more and on weekends she is taking care of her husband's physical needs. But no one is taking care of Sadie. She doesn't want to cheat on Adam (and doesn't in the physical sense) but these once a month lunches with Joe are an emotional release where she can feel like a woman. I'm convinced that all people need love and they need to be touched. Without it something detrimental happens to their emotional and mental well-being. There is a powerfully emotional scene when during a massage Sadie realizes it has been a very long time since she has been touched and she has an emotional breakdown. It was heart wrenching and I cried along with her. The amazing thing was that the masseuse just continued on and said it happens all the time. I can believe this. Touch is a powerful thing.

At first I wanted to hate Joe for his easy sexual conquests and one night stands, but gradually I became convinced that Joe was actually falling for Sadie and was in a way seducing her. In fact at one point I started to think he was making these stories up for her sake. That's my opinion, others may see something else.

Broken is not a romance but there is love here and hope and I read the last page with a sense of optimism for Sadie's future happiness. I couldn't stop thinking about it long after I had closed the book. Sadie's inner dialogue is compelling and her loneliness especially painful to read. The book is dark and pushes the boundaries of morality and I found it moving. Broken might make some readers uncomfortable but I loved it. It's about real imperfect people with real faults and problems. GRADE: A- show less

Stake through the heart *wow*. This book is such a visceral portrayal of extremes. Passion and lonliness and grief and love. I've always liked how Hart doesn't gloss over the messy side of life, and BROKEN certainly exemplifies that. I'm also impressed by the pacing and narrative flow, best Hart book I've read thus far. Very, very memorable.

Broken was not at all what I expected. It's an emotionally draining (in a good and bad way) story about a woman named Sadie, her husband Adam, and Joe, a man she meets once a month who tells her stories of his sexual escapades. I was instantly drawn into Sadie's life and what she and her husband had to endure. I did end up skimming through some of the sex scenes; I wanted to keep reading the meat of the story. I recommend it.
4.5 stars

I am conflicted with this one. on one hand I love the Raw emotions and The strenght that Sadie shows in dealing with a horrific accident that leaves her husband quadriplegic. It shows wonderful depth and the connections between people as Sadie tries to live a life where her husband is angry and hurtful all the time and a life of fantasy in which she imagines that she is someone else.

On the other hand I disliked the use of the C word a lot. I do read erotica and I enjoy it, I understand it is suppose to be fantastical and that dirty talk can be a turn on but that one word is the only one I can't stomach so call me a prude but I loved the storyline not so much the swearing.