Let us get into a pop fiction novel right now. In almost the same situation as in Crime and Punishment, Ethan Black’s The Broken Hearts Club is a story about murder, the guilt, and the discovery of the murderer (s).

Black originally was a journalist in New York City, writing for numerous magazines so he contributed to the public daily feed on the city’s murders and other crimes.

Set in the late 90’s in New York City, it is the story of a group of heart-broken professionals who on a weekly basis discuss the former lovers and the times they have. One man in the group goes above and beyond and decides to kill his ex-girlfriend and pleads his friends to follow suit. This story, just like real life, gets a little complicated as we move into the plot.

Paris mentioned that “representation is the primary interest of realistic fiction, and the two chief objects of representation are character and social melieu”. In The Broken Hearts Club, character representation is extremely evident and exaggerated.

Just look at all of the members of the club:

A banker: A sadistic man who urges everyone to kill.

A mechanic: A confused man who is extremely dangerous when enraged.

A literary agent: A shy, nervous man who reluctantly follows the banker’s advice.

Dr. Ian Bainbridge: The psychiatrist who helps the group with their problems and “controls” the group’s actions.

You may be thinking of a lot of questions right now. One of them might be…

Why do we only know the name of the psychiatrist? That is because he is the central antagonist of the novel.

And why is he the antagonist?

That is because of the fact that the banker, the mechanic, and the literary agent are all the same person, Ian Bainbridge. He lives with the struggling pulls of different personalities. Even the point of view changes to reflect the change of personalities.

This is a brilliant use of the unreliable narrator via mimetic criticism. The novel uses a technique that made it a very interesting thriller.

Kevin Hinton