At seventeen, Sascha Naiman has two goals in life: to tell the world about her mother’s life and death in a book and to kill her stepfather, Vadim, who brutally murdered her mother. While choosing the how and why of her stepfather’s murder, Sascha and her two younger siblings live a pretty normal life. Sascha is torn between her murderous hatred for Vadim (and the self-destruction that comes with it) and moving on after her mother’s death and escaping the terrible circumstances of her youth.
Overall, Broken Glass Park was a powerful read, somewhat similar to Steven King’s short story, “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.” Sascha is smart, engaging and her story resonated with me and lingered in my mind several days after reading it.
However, any readers who are sensitive to strong language, violence or sexuality should avoid this book. I found the graphic content necessary for readers to grasp the horrors of Sascha’s life.
Alina Bronsky’s German novel, Scherbenpark, was published in 2008. Tim Mohr translated it into Broken Glass Park in 2010. I look forward to reading more books by this author as they are translated into English. Sascha’s struggle is totally believable and this book vividly reminded me of the destructive power of revenge and the ever-present quality of hope.
