192 pages
English language
Published June 13, 2016
"In her debut story collection, Heartbreaker, Maryse Meijer, flashlight in hand, goes deep into the darkest rooms of the psyche. With gorgeously restrained and exacting prose that packs a cumulatively devastating punch, she unapologetically unmasks the violence we are willing to perform upon one another in the name of love and loneliness and the unremitting desire to survive. In doing so, she lights societal convention and reader expectation on fire, exploring the darker emotional truths surrounding love and sex, femininity and masculinity, family and girlhood"--
These are some twisted and dark stories. It took a couple stories before I really got into it. My favorite stories where the The Fire, Jailbait, and The Cheat. There's some good twists and mild violence.
These short stories are dark, jagged, and very raw, as gripping as they are deeply unsettling. I love finding authors who lead me to and through places my instincts otherwise tell me to avoid, but I go willingly because I trust that they aren’t writing to exploit anyone or anything. Thus the experiences are rich and challenging and thought-provoking, challenging without leaving me feeling violated. It also helped that this book was recommended by an implicitly trusted friend. Now I’m hooked on Maryse Meijer.
