Review: Broken by Elizabeth Pulford

Broken by Elizabeth Pulford, illustrated by Angus Gomes

Review by Lauren

Book comes out tomorrow, August 27th

copy sent for review, but all opinions are my own

Official Summary: Zara has one immediate and urgent goal, and it is to find her brother, Jem. She faces a few complications, though, not the least of which is searching for him in her subconscious while she is in a coma.

Review: Going into this novel, I knew it would deal with some tough issues as Zara is in a coma and on the search for her brother Jem within her own subconscious. I love contemporary novels that deal with unique topics, so I was immediately drawn to Broken, but the fact that it would also include a graphic novel element showing the comic that Zara is stuck in definitely sealed the deal.

Broken is a quick read and I ended up finishing it in only a day. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t an emotional and intriguing novel. The story is told in first-person point of view so you get plenty of insight into Zara’s psyche. While in a coma, she is traveling through her brother’s favorite comic book in order to bring him back home. At the same time though, she doesn’t realize she’s in a coma. She hears people talking to her as they come to visit, especially her best friend Trace. Zara tries to speak to them but they can’t hear her and she doesn’t understand why everyone keeps speaking as if she isn’t even there.

Despite Zara’s confusion, she is desperate to find Jem and puts most of her energy into drawing and erasing aspects of the comic book to get where and what she wants. During the comic book moments, the font changes so it’s easy to see when Zara is in the comic world and when the book is giving a flashback of Zara’s past.

It soon becomes clear that Zara is hiding a big secret and while the basics of it is revealed early on, I don’t want to give anything away. However, this secret is part of the answer for Zara on how to find her brother. I’ll admit that when I learned what Zara had been through, I was surprised. It wasn’t something I’d expected from Broken. However, it just made the book that more intriguing and I was desperate for Zara to realize what she needed to do to begin to heal.

Finally, I loved the addition of the actual comics from Angus Gomes. I had an ARC version, but I assume things will look relatively the same. Every panel is in black and white, showing Zara’s trip through the comic book world. There are descriptions atop some of the comics and even quote bubbles coming from characters within them, so it’s definitely important to pay attention to the comics. There aren’t too many though, if you are someone weary of comics or graphic novels. Honestly, I wish we had a few more, but it had a nice mix overall!

Both author and illustrator are from New Zealand, which I was excited to learn as well, since it’s nice to find non-U.S. titles. I think Broken would be a good choice for those that read and enjoyed If I Stay by Gayle Forman.