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Broken
by Alyxandra Harvey-Fitzhenry
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LIBRARY: Great pre-teen reads
Judy Garlinski – Grande Prairie Public Library
Broken is given Four Stars at kalwriters.com
A truly enjoyable novel, Broken is about a teenager's struggle for identity and how she comes to accept herself and her situation amidst the emotional turmoil brought on by her father's pending remarriage and the related redirection of his attentions away from her. From the book cover, readers know that they are to consider 16-year-old Ash Perrault's situation in light of the Cinderella fairytale. Ash's name recalls the "cinder" in Cinderella as well as Charles Perrault, the 18th century French folklorist who put this oral tale to paper. Indeed, the novel contains numerous other allusions to the fairytale, with some being obvious, such as the idea of the stepmother (whose name is Ella), the two stepsisters, and a cat named Grimm. Others are more subtle, like the appearance of small birds on the periphery of the action, fluttering at a window, swooping overhead, and emerging from a mosaic made of broken glass – glass that happens to break when Ash is upset. Moreover, some are absent (the fairy godmother), and some are subverted (the handsome prince and the marriage at the end of the story)... CM, Volume XV Number 15, March 20, 2009
Ash Perrault can handle being called a freak for her pierced nose
and dyed hair. She might even be able to find a way to deal with
all of the other stresses in her life, including her father's marriage
proposal to his girlfriend. But what will she do about the strange
power in her that can shatter any piece of glass nearby? --By
Brian Lynch, Strait.com
Broken by Alyxandra HARVEY-FITZHENRY rated Good to Excellent
Another modern interpretation of the Cinderella story, Broken presents us with Ash Perrault, whose refreshing adolescent voice teenage readers will be certain to identify with. Ash is being saddled with the requisite step-mother and two step-sisters, but ultimately learns that "step-" is not invariably preceded by "evil". In fact, the "perfect" step-sister is not only socially supportive of Ash, but has issues of her own. Nonetheless, combined with normal adolescent angst fostered by Ash's crush on the most popular boy in school, his ex-girlfriend's antagonism, Ash’s best-friend's lack of understanding, Ash's life has become too complicated. On top of all this, glass has a nasty habit of shattering when she is around (hence the title…)
If you can get past the marked similarities between Ash's affliction and Roald Dahl's Matilda's power, and the parallel between her relationship with mouse, her best friend, and Mia's with Lily in the movie version of The princess Diaries, the plot is sufficiently captivating . While there is no single element that stands out as earth-shatteringly original, Alyxandra Fitzhenry manages to combine aspects of many young, teenage girl's lives into a unique situation, lived by a unique character. She also manages to have an obvious amount of fun in creating her tale, lacing her insight into adolescents' troubles with subtle and not-so-subtle intertextual allusions (the protagonist's name, for example) to keep reader's thinking of more than just the plot. --Resource Links June 2009
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