The Heart Broke In (2012)

Sex, fame, family, mortality: Meek (The People's Act of Love) grabs major themes with both hands in his latest, a dazzlingly drawn modern saga whose reach only occasionally exceeds his grasp. The hearts here — of spectacularly amoral aging rock star Ritchie; his pretty, gifted research-scientist sister, Bec; her eccentric beaux; and several other supporting players — want, as Woody Allen would say, what they want. How they get it, and what it costs them, easily fills 400 finely wrought pages in The Heart Broke In. A-