Cures for Heartbreak
by Margo Rabb
CURES FOR HEARTBREAK by Margo Rabb
Category: Contemporary
Age Recommendation: Grades 9+
Release Date: 2/13/07
Publisher: Delacorte
Reviewed by: Lynn Crow
Rating: 5 Stars
CURES FOR HEARTBREAK reads more like a series of interconnected short stories than a novel, but the format works.
It gives the readers brief, poignant glimpses into the life of its narrator, Mia, during the first year after her mother's sudden
death. Told with both humor and painful rawness, the novel should resonate with those who have experienced a loss, and
make those who haven't feel almost as if they've been there, too.
What makes the disjointed structure work better than anything else is the many well-developed characters. Each chapter
focuses on Mia's relationships with those around her: her father, her older sister, her friends and teachers at school, the
people she meets at the hospital, and her memories of her mother. Every character is fleshed out on the page, with
distinctive voices and quirks, so even in the short glimpses readers get, they get a clear picture of the relationships and how
Mia is starting to get back to "normal" life among them.
Mia's voice is equally important in making the novel work. Where it could have been flat-out depressing and perhaps
overwhelming, her sarcastic comments and comic approaches to certain situations (for example, she images the funeral
home as a morbid Broadway musical) break the sadness, while also making the tragedy seem all that much worse in its
absurdity. Wavering between jadedness and insecurity, Mia comes across as fully human, too old to be a kid any more
but too young to know how to be an adult. Teen readers should find her an easy character to sympathize with, and an
entertaining narrator for the journey.
CURES FOR HEARTBREAK is not an easy read, simply because of the subject matter and the depth with which it is
portrayed. But the humor and the engaging characters will draw readers in, and Mia's progress through mourning will keep
them reading, wondering how she will reshape her life after this unexpected turn. She makes mistakes, and struggles with
her emotions and fears, but she grows and learns as well. And in the end, there's more hope than sorrow.
