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Formats
Ebook Details
  • 05/2016
  • 978-0-595-52961-2 0595529612
  • 300 pages
  • $3.99
Ronald Martin
Author
Broken Places

Adult; General Fiction (including literary and historical); (Market)

A deeply moving coming of age novel that follows the lives of three young African American college students as they struggle against homophobia, racial profiling and sports exploitation. One by one, their lives are entangled in a web of deceit. In order to survive, they must confront their inner broken places and work together to confront the forces threatening to destroy them.
Reviews
Martin’s intense and profound novel is about battles that are waged with society, authority, the self, and others. Three young African-American men are assigned to share a dorm room as college freshmen at Pittsburgh City University, but their differences are daunting. Shawn Collins, oversexed and egotistic, is a rising basketball star showered with elaborate recruiting gifts (including a BMW). Robert Robinson, at school on an academic scholarship, is gay, but he’s repressed by guilt and his religious faith, and he’s always braced for harassment. Jamal Lewis also won an academic scholarship; he maturely and wisely tries to serve as a bridge between his two roommates, befriending Robert and tutoring Shawn. Their lives are changed by the semester they spend together, with Shawn’s coach and ex-girlfriend manipulating him, Robert’s longings causing him fear and confusion, and Jamal’s ethics pushing him toward a dangerous, climactic confrontation. The truths here are poignant, and the realities of racism, homophobia, and the exploitation of young athletes are scrutinized by an insightful author who leaves readers with the hopeful message that “You become strongest in your broken places.” (BookLife)
Pacific Book Review

Intelligent, fast-paced and edgy, Broken Places, takes on sensitive issues of race and gender with zest and never a dull moment.

The Columbia Review

Broken Places is an extremely thought provoking, brutally honest and utterly engrossing read.

News
07/21/2018
Broken Places featured in Summer Reading List

Broken Places is featured in the Sumer Reading list of Swerv Magazine

04/01/2017
Swerv Magazine article

Broken Places featured in April 2017 edition of Swerv Magazine.

Formats
Ebook Details
  • 05/2016
  • 978-0-595-52961-2 0595529612
  • 300 pages
  • $3.99
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