Name: Heather, the Totality
ISBN: 9780316435307

Matthew Weiner

Named a Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year: The explosive debut novel about family, power, and privilege from the creator of the award-winning Mad Men. Mark and Karen Breakstone have constructed the idyllic life of wealth and status they always wanted, made complete by their beautiful and extraordinary daughter Heather. But they are still not quite at the top. When the new owners of the penthouse above them begin construction, an unstable stranger penetrates the security of their comfortable lives and threatens to destroy everything they've created.

Heather, the Totality

Amy Place

Jenna

Heather, the Totality by Matthew Weiner was a one-sitting read for me. Thanks to Little Brown for my copy! This kept me reading one cozy evening last week. I was completely hooked very early on in the book. I couldn't put it down!

Heather, the Totality follows two stories that are parallel in time but completely different in experience, and the build-up to the characters meeting is intense. Like, very intense. Matthew Weiner sure knows how to get you invested in the outcome from early on in the book!

The Breakstone family, consisting of Karen, Mark, and their seemingly perfect daughter Heather, are an affluent yet otherwise unremarkable family in Manhattan. Before Heather is born, Karen and Mark are a normal, somewhat uninteresting couple. Heather becomes the center of their universe, and brings a bit of tension to their relationship as having a child shifts the focus away from them as a couple.

Meanwhile, Bobby grows up in poverty. From his backstory of violence and grandiose delusions, we learn he is likely some sort of sociopath. When Bobby is hired to work on renovating the penthouse above the Breakstone family's apartment home, he becomes fixated on Heather and fantasizes about what he will do to her when he finally gets her alone.

This book did have a few flaws for me. The detached narration style leaves the characters as more of sketches than fully developed people. They could have been further developed somehow. I also wasn't a fan of the focus on female beauty. I didn't like that Karen "didn't know how pretty she was." That felt a little cheap to me. Similarly, there is a focus on how pretty Heather is, and how she is so irresistible and charming partly because of her beauty. I prefer female characters to have more redeeming qualities than their looks.

Overall, this was a thrilling read. The tension leading up to the paths colliding is palpable. I wanted to know.. was Heather safe?! I was hooked from the start. If you're looking for a quick read that will get your heart racing, this book is for you!

Maggie

At several times throughout reading this book I found myself thinking that it was certainly written by a man.

A collision course between a privileged family and a dangerous young man, Heather, The Totality is a chilling debut novel by the creator of Mad Men, Matthew Weiner.

Emily C Peterson

Lindsay

Jessica

Maisie MacDonald

Audrey Kalman

Ashley Hayes

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Lauren Attaway

K. Qua

Sally

Lina M Pitz

The explosive debut novel - about family, power and privilege - from the creator of the award-winning Mad Men. Named a Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year Mark and Karen Breakstone have constructed the idyllic life of wealth and status they always wanted, made complete by their beautiful and extraordinary daughter Heather. But they are still not quite at the top. When the new owners of the penthouse above them begin construction, an unstable stranger penetrates the security of their comfortable lives and threatens to destroy everything they've created.