Heather, the Totality

August 7, 2017
Mad Men creator Weiner crafts a finely honed tale that highlights class conflict. Mark Breakstone, a Manhattan financier, and his charming wife, Karen, may not quite be able to afford a penthouse apartment, but the couple have a wonderful daughter, Heather, who grows to be a beautiful teen, smart and full of empathy for others. Both her parents cherish her, despite the normal disappointments, arguments, and misunderstandings. These dramas play out in their heads or in minor squabbles, rendering the Breakstones as pitiful and mundane as many other families, despite their wealth. In contrast, Bobby Klasky is a pitiless, textbook sociopath, with a drug-addicted single mother and a record of violence toward animals. Convinced of his superiority over everyone, Bobby chooses the alluring Heather, whom he first spots on a Manhattan rooftop from an adjoining building where he’s doing construction work, as the victim of his rape, torture, and murder fantasy, which he plans to carry out in the real world. Weiner somewhat telegraphs his final twist, but the results of that twist may still surprise. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency.

Author and narrator Matthew Weiner is the most obvious choice to bring this narrative experiment to life. His dry, urbane point of view was most evident in his TV creation, "Mad Men." Here he mines the same depths of malignant personalities in Mark and Karen Breakstone, a mismatched couple who produce the almost magical Heather. The existential threat to Heather is Bobby Klasky, a violent sociopath whose interest in the girl drives the story to its shocking climax. Weiner affects no actor's mannerisms in his delivery, letting the work itself lead the listener through the sometimes outrageous and occasionally baffling twists. Because Weiner doesn't allow the characters to speak for themselves, the audiobook version is especially effective as it helps listeners to note revealing nuances in the narrative. R.O. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

March 1, 2018

At just two hours, Weiner's debut novel is more of a novella, perhaps its length (or lack thereof) reflects his television expertise. Screen aficionados will certainly recognize Weiner's name: he's creator/producer/director of the wildly successful Mad Men and writer/producer of the groundbreaking The Sopranos. Keeping his multihat creative approach, Weiner is both author and narrator here, maintaining clear control of his latest project. His crisp, precise reading is (no surprise) spot-on, as he introduces the haves and the have-nots and asks audiences to witness what happens when their disparate lives intersect. Mark and Karen Breakstone are wealthy Manhattanites in a stale marriage. Their indulged and adored daughter, Heather, is now a teenager, old enough to voice opinions that are dismissive of the family's privilege. She's taken notice of a construction worker hired for the penthouse renovation above: Bobby with his abused and abusive growing up, his prison record, his matricidal past, his disregard for reality. Heather considers him as practice for empathy-tinged noblesse oblige; Mark recognizes him as a trespassing threat. Implosion looms. Who survives? VERDICT Libraries should prepare for demanding pop culture fans with literary leanings who won't want to miss. ["A razor-sharp, fast-paced dark look at the class divide. Fans of Richard Yates will enjoy this chilling addition to noir literature": LJ 8/17 review of the Little, Brown hc.]--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

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