Review: Beautiful Broken Things by Sara Barnard

Published: 25th February 2016

Pages: 322

Synopsis: “I was brave

She was reckless

We were trouble

Best friends Caddy and Rosie are inseparable. Their differences have brought them closer, but as she turns sixteen Caddy begins to wish she could be a bit more like Rosie – confident, funny and interesting. Then Suzanne comes into their lives: beautiful, damaged, exciting and mysterious, and things get a whole lot more complicated. As Suzanne’s past is revealed and her present begins to unravel, Caddy begins to see how much fun a little trouble can be. But the course of both friendship and recovery is rougher than either girl realises, and Caddy is about to learn that downward spirals have a momentum of their own.”

Rating: ****

---

Beautiful Broken Things featured on the Carnegie Award 2017 Longlist.

I quite enjoyed this. I thought the characters were authentic and there was some character development throughout the book. At its core, Beautiful Broken Things was about the friendship of 2 girls and how it was affected by the introduction of a 3rd girl. All the reactions to this were believable, and working in a school, something I witness on a daily basis.

I didn’t find Suzanne’s revelations too shocking, but that’s probably because I read this as a desensitised 28-year-old opposed to a teenager. So that’s my fault and not a negative of the writing at all.

Quite an easy read in terms of both time needed and concentration. Which is nice, it’s similar to when you watch something easy on the TV rather than something you need to concentrate on and are afraid to blink in case you miss something.

Overall a good read, and I would read more by Sara Barnard.