The book format of a short story collection hadn’t seemed all that appealing to me when I picked up this book a month ago. However, Bieker was able to change my mind in one chapter. Chelsea Bieker’s HeartBroke is a beautiful collection of interconnected short stories in California’s Central Valley. Bieker explores the lives of people who exist on the edge of society through emotional narratives that all center around complex relationships with people, drugs, or the idea of self. The people she writes about struggle with poverty, addiction, abandonment, and the complicated bonds of love and family.
The stories in HeartBroke expose the reader to realities they most likely have never experienced, as well as the raw emotion of these people who are often judged by society. For example, one of the stories follows a mother and son who sell dreamcatchers on the side of a highway and live in their car. They drift from job to job, and live in an almost deserted town due to an earlier waste spill on the beaches. One day, two ametuer filmmakers working on a university project stumble upon the duo, and begin to shift the focus of their documentary on the lifestyle of the people in this forgotten town. It’s later revealed that the mother sells her son at a local bar in order to keep them afloat, and the female filmmaker offers to help get the son out of the situation- he refuses. His love for his mother and his commitment to their dream depicts the complicated relationships that arise out of certain life situations. It would seem obvious to most other people or even the readers that the son should accept the help and leave the situation, but the bond between his mother and himself and the promises that continue to be broken but made by his mother keep him sucked into an unhealthy dynamic.
Another story that stood out to me was one that involved a woman struggling with homelessness and who had recently lost custody of her daughter. This loss left her feeling purposeless, and caused her to struggle to try and get off the streets. One night, she finds herself securing a spot in a homeless shelter. She is asked to look after a crying baby by its mother that was clearly battling addiction. After about an hour, the main character of this story decides that the mother is not coming back. Is this her chance to start over and give this child the life she couldn’t provide for her daughter? Read the book to find out.
All in all, this book had many touching stories that I couldn’t stop thinking about chapter after chapter. I found myself even retelling them to my friends each day in an attempt to encourage them to read the book! I hope these quick summaries of just two of the stories in the book were enough for you to go to your local book store and give it a read!
