The Heart Broke In
James Meek
To say nothing else of James
Meek's novel The Heart Broke In, it
is certainly ambitious. A modern family saga, its action takes place in London , other parts of Britain ,
and Africa , where several members of the
Shepherd family and related individuals live out their daily lives. Though many
of the individual plots have power and resonance, however, the story seems to
shift gear just when the reader- and the plot- seems to settle in. This happens
numerous times throughout the book, which cannot seem to either determine which
are the most intriguing stories and most compelling characters or concentrate
on any one story for a reasonable amount of time. A relatively bombastic
opening salvo, promising moral dilemmas and high drama, fades away into the
background in short order, and other plots rise and fall without really
connecting until the end. The individual stories are, on their own, compelling,
though many of the plots and relationships follow predictable courses suited to
would-be high-flying literary fiction. There are moments of levity and
seriousness, in due course, and intriguing explorations of thoroughly modern
dilemmas, but the overall effect is one of wasted potential, leaving the
impression that the book may have fared better as a series of connected, but
individual, short stories and novellas. The
Heart Broke In does contain some interesting reflections about modern
British life, but often veers into the realm of well-trod litfic rather than
succeeding on its own merit.
Grade: B
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