Title: Broken Places
Author: R. Anthony Martin
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 978-0-595-52961-2
Pages: 292
Genre: Fiction
Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger Scott
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A modern coming-of-age saga with buzzwords and phrases from the headlines; “homophobia, single mother, racial profiling, Black Lives Matter,” woven into a tapestry of complex human interactions, motivations and aspirations.
Impelled to write Broken Places by a real life event involving racial profiling, author R. Anthony Martin brings together an unruly group of college freshmen: Robert, a brilliant but strangely introverted prep-school dropout; Shawn, an athlete seduced by the glitter of fame to become a big-time basketball star despite his low grades; Jamal, whose poor but respectable upbringing has infused him with unusually high ideals; and Jelin, Shawn’s buddy and fellow sportsman, carrying the burden of secrets that must never be revealed.
The girls all lust after Shawn, especially the talented but impulsive hairdresser Latisha who is determined to keep other women out of the picture, with tragi-comic results. Her outrageous exploits provide a feminine viewpoint along with the manipulations of Shawn’s mother, pushing to orchestrate her son’s career behind the scenes. Robert’s academic promise is overshadowed by guilt as he harbors harrowing memories of a passionate love affair that came to a violent end. Meanwhile, he tries to avoid another mistake by ignoring a furtive admirer, the sassy Jelin. Idealistic Jamal, burdened by financial woes that threaten to end his college career before it starts, is gradually drawn by the lure of cash when Shawn’s basketball coach offers to pay him handsomely to help the rising star cheat on his grades.
In the course of the book’s constantly shifting plots and subplots, all of these young people find their imagined security rocked and pummeled off course. Martin has undeniable literary gifts as an author, clearly revealed here in his first novel. Long passages of dialogue sparkle, with his characters conveying well-constructed speech patterns and colorful slang. The tough-guy lilt of the young men’s voices as they josh and boast with each other is neatly contrasted with the coldness of superiority that emanates from the mouths of school officials, religious authorities and the law. The interlocking stories work well; the chapters comprise brief, cliffhanger episodes involving one or two main characters. The action is vivid, easily pictured, giving the sense of a made-for-TV movie. But within the driving central plot there are quiet moments when tender thoughts and deep emotions have sway. One hopes that Martin has future books in mind to follow this initial effort.
Intelligent, fast-paced and edgy, Broken Places takes on sensitive issues of race and gender with zest and never a dull moment.
