Broken Whole by Jane Binns
Published by She Writes Press on November 13, 2018
Genres: Memoir
Pages: 288
Format: ARC
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At the age of thirty-five, desperate to salvage a self that has been suffocating for years—and to save her two-year-old son from witnessing a miserable relationship between his parents—Jane Binns leaves her husband of twelve years. She has no plan or intention but to leave, however, and therein begins the misadventures lying in wait for her.
Over the years that follow, Binns falls in love with Steve, a man eighteen years her senior who has been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder since his return from military service in Vietnam forty years prior, and who has a talent for making her feel heard. Despite his inability to provide anything more than a spurious connection, run on a mercurial and erratic schedule, and despite his repeated rejections of her love, she continues to pursue him. During their off periods, she dates other men—but she inevitably compares each new suitor to Steve, and all of them fall short. Ultimately, it takes the loss of her father in the summer of 2014, followed by the death of her ex-husband five months later, for her to finally let go of Steve—and, in the process, fully unearth the self she’s been chasing all along.
To be honest, I’m not even certain how I discovered the book, Broken Whole by Jane Binns. I am a book blogger with NetGalley, and I’ve also participated in several BookSparks book tours, but I don’t recall the specifics of how I came upon this one.
I can’t say it would be one of my typical reads. In fact, if I had read the back cover of this book at the store, I probably would have passed. That being said, I really wanted to like this book, but it just wasn’t the kind of book I dig right into. I found myself ready to be finished with this book within the first third of the book, but kept reading anyway.
After 12 years of marriage, 35-year old Jane Binns leaves her husband and takes her two-year old son. The book then goes into her search for meaningful relationships, but the results each time were disappointing. Binns repeatedly ends up involved with the wrong kind of guy, and each time she ends up alone and frustrated.
Readers follow Jane plow through various relationships, while always coming back to her non-committal attachment with Steve. As Ms. Binns grows in her relationships, we also watch her grow and evolve into a woman with courage and self-appreciation. This book isn’t one with a “happily ever after” ending, but instead, is the journey of one woman in search of love.
Jane grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She attended Eastern Michigan University from 1985 to 1989 and received a Bachelor’s in Science, piano performance. She married in 1990 and then moved to Syracuse University in 1993 to attend the Instructional Design, Development, and Evaluation program at SU. She received her Master’s of Science in Education in 1995. She published “Gender Stereotyped Computer Clip-Art Images as an Implicit Influence in Instructional Message Design” with Rob Branch, Ed.D. in the International Visual Literacy Association Journal in 1995. In 1997, she moved to Denver, CO to attend the Naropa University for their MFA program in prose. In 1998, she was awarded the Jack Kerouac Award for Prose.
She was the Managing Editor of Bombay Gin with Lisa Birman from 1998 – 1999. Her son was born three weeks before she graduated with her MFA in 1999. In 2001, she separated from her husband, and in 2002, they divorced, sharing equal custody of their son. In 2004, she self-published a chapbook of short-short stories, Pocket Change through Eye of the Tiger Press.
Jane is an English Composition Instructor at Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, CO, and has worked in online learning assisting faculty, students, and staff with the online platform since 2006.
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I was provided with a complimentary electronic advanced reader copy through Net Galley in exchange for my post. I was not required to post a positive review. Thank you!
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