Museum of Broken Relationships

by Drazen Grubisic Olinka Vistica

What to do with the fragments of a love affair?

A postcard from a childhood sweetheart. A wedding dress in a jar. Barbed wire. Silicone breast implants. Red stilettos, never worn. These objects and many others make up the inspiring, whimsical, sometimes bizarre, and always unforgettable population of the real-life Museum of Broken Relationships.

A decade ago, two lovers were struggling through their own painful breakup, desperate to heal their heartbreak without destroying the memory of the love they had shared. Then, an idea struck: they would create a communal space, a kind of refuge for - and cathartic celebration of - the everyday objects that had outlasted love. These items, along with the anonymous, intimate stories each piece represented, quickly captured hearts and imaginations across the globe. As word spread, the tiny museum became a worldwide sensation.

Collected here are 203 of the best, funniest, most heartwarming and thought-provoking pieces that offer an irresistible experience of human connection. The Museum of Broken Relationships is a poignant celebration of modern love - and a must-read for anyone who has ever loved and lost.

Genres: Nonfiction, Art, Memoir, Relationships, Romance, Psychology

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[CristiinaReads୨ৎ]

➳A beautifully written and photographed book that captivates you with every single broken relationship story...



➳A true and honest picture book that really did take my breathe away either through the tears of sadness and tears of laughter that this novel gets your flowing. Not a regular novel that I would usually read or take my time to enjoy, but I am truly glad I was able to read these short stories. I highly recommend taking your time and enjoy this masterpiece if you never plan on going to the ACTUAL museum that is located in New York City since the pictures added in this album/novel are just way too great to miss out as well are the stories!

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[da AL]

Want confirmation that for all our uniqueness, we're more alike?
Searching for a Valentine Day gift to soothe a broken heart?
Thanks, anonymous library employee for adding this to my local branch's 'picks' display.

[Luanne Ollivier]

If you're a fan of books like PostSecret and Humans of New York, The Museum of Broken Relationships" Modern Love in 203 Everyday Objects is a book you're going to want to pick up. And I have a copy to giveaway, courtesy of Grand Central Publishing!

Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic were a couple for four years. When their relationship ended, they came up with a novel idea - a place to store all the painful triggers of past loves, creating a vault for both their tangible and intangible heritage. We named this repository The Museum of Broken Relationships.

The collection tours, but there are two permanent museums - on in Zagreb, Croatia and one in Los Angeles, California. And now there's a book!


I found the concept fascinating. We all have mementos - things we keep that remind us of a love or a loss. Things that may bring comfort - or sadness. There is a time to let those heartbreaking items go - both physically and emotionally.


Those are the items housed in the museums - ranging from small toys, stuffed animals, wedding dresses, shoes, rings, letters and more. I think the belly button lint was the most unusual, but there were more unexpected items. Each item appears in a full colour photograph. Accompanying each item is the story behind it - and why it has finally been let go. The dates of the beginning and the end are also noted. A relationship gone sour is the most prevalent, but death is also behind some of the stories.

What is the appeal of this you ask? We all have a little streak of voyeur in us - glimpsing a peek into some else's heartache or heartbreak. And it's impossible not to keep turning pages. And at the end, I thought about one or two things I could send in.......

[bookmarkbelles]

The Museum Of Broken Relationships @brokenships was heart breaking but beautiful. I first heard about this museum when I watched an episode of WAGS LA and became interested with the concept. I had no idea there was even a book out but I'm very grateful to the beautiful Monisha at @foreverromancebooks for sending me a copy ❤️😘 if you're not familiar with The Museum Of Broken Relationships, they basically showcase items that were donated by others from past relationships, along with a lil back story of some sort of that said relationship. It's almost artistic the way they can make something so beautiful out of something so broken and share it with the world. I really want to visit one day. I went ahead and added it to my bucketlist. Thank you @brokenships for reminding us that we're not so alone when it comes to having our heart broken and that we're all connected through emotions. I really enjoyed this book! If you have a chance to walk by a bookstore, locate this book and flip through it. Trust me, you will end up taking it home.

[Mrs Mommy Booknerd http://mrsmommybooknerd.blogspot.com]

This book would make a fantastic gift this Christmas. It is filled with so much heart and left me so happy and changed. I loved looking at all the items in the book and reading the little stories next to the photos. It was such an endearing, moving, heartbreaking, inspiring and, at times, strange look into the things we hold dear, the things that change us and the things that sometimes put us back together. You are in for a treat when you read this book and it will be one of those books that you will come back to again and again and again. I just loved this book, such a delight and so very original.

[epstuk]

These stories are so sad and happy and real.

[Ellis ♥]

Quando ho adocchiato questo compendio, il pensiero è subito corso a un romanzo letto proprio quest'anno: Il museo delle promesse infrante. Solo che quello si trattava per l'appunto di un romanzo, mentre il museo di Olinka e Dražen esiste realmente e ha sede a Zagabria (Croazia).
Il titolo è un po' fuorviante perché al suo interno non ci sono solo storie di rotture, ma anche di "speranza", rinascita e augurio per una vita migliore. Ogni oggetto, apparentemente insignificante, racchiude al suo interno le emozioni e i ricordi di coloro a cui è appartenuto. Non mi sento di dare una valutazione a questo libro perché trattandosi di scorci di vite realmente vissute, non penso sia corretto esprimersi in proposito. Però voglio condividere con voi una frase che mi ha molto colpito:

Quando due persone si amano davvero, nessun sogno resta solo tale.

[Chaitanya]

The perfect book to keep on your bedside and pick up at any hour of the day. The tapestry of human stories is fascinating.

[Κonstantina]

The most bizarre idea turned to one of the most revealing and amazing museums (and books)
It's a "MUST"

[Sharon Hodnett]

Isn't what I expected. Each page has a picture of an object and a brief history of the relationship. Loved this book. Some stories though brief capture heatbreak far better than entire novels.

[Naomi]

My first 10/5 stars for 2018.

I love simple books that are powerful in message. This is the poster child for it.

A book chronicling objects that symbolize loss for people; some objects that once were a symbol of happiness.

This book, in its simplicity, made me think of a note my husband gave me 12 years ago that I have kept, reread every so often and smile each time. In the event of divorce, how that would change. Funnily, I never thought of it that before reading this book. How powerful is that?

[Naomi]

We have all been hurt by love. This book is a tender, quirky, and delightful look at the emotions connected with loving and then losing someone: lover, sibling, friend, parent. Inside the pages of the book are examples of mementos left at the Museum of Broken Relationships, a traveling installation piece of everyday objects brought by people as symbols of love and loss. Beautifully arranged on the pages, these mini-stories will make you laugh and cry; they will wound you and uplift you. What a novel and wonderful idea, created by two Croatian artists who broke up but decided to collect the objects they had shared as a couple. The idea grew into a permanent collection, first in Zagreb and then in locations around the world. Reading these stories you will understand that we are all the same when it comes to these vulnerable, raw but beautiful emotions. If everyone read these stories or went to the museum, perhaps the world would be a more hopeful place.

[KD]

I just love this...I first saw it in January 2017 at the Museum of Broken Relationships in Copenhagen, at the top of the Rundetarn, where we spent hours sheltering from the cold and poring over the objects. As young and poor travellers, we couldn't afford the 20 euros on the beautiful book chronicling the exhibition, so I was delighted to find this copy in a discount book warehouse in London the other day.

The concept to the Museum of Broken Relationships is a globally crowd-sourced touring exhibition commemorating what's lost, but not forgotten. This book is a beautiful record of the diversity of experience of love found and love lost, and I'd recommend to anyone. So glad to have picked this up! I'll always keep this on my bookshelf and show people.

[Celeste Loia]

Hilarious, tragic, vengeful, reflective, heartbreaking love and its remnants from all over the world. I read the second half of the book while grieving, which was both really upsetting but also cathartic, particularly because some of the stories include relationships broken by death.

***quotes***

"But none of them fit now. They never fit. He was who he was. And I was who I was. And for a time we were who we were." (98)

[HattieB]

An unexpectedly funny and emotional read. I highly recommend you pick this book up.

[Sofia Bahia]

lindo e cafona e engraçado e gostoso de ler

[Leonard]

This is a strange book with photos of objects that represent former relationships. The objects are varied, from rubber gloves and a copy of the New Yorker to belly button lint and a butcher knife. There is information about each image. There are dates and a locations, but no names. This book is not as deep or profound as you might expect; in fact it's quite shallow and not all that interesting.

[Oliver Prandolini]

can’t recommend enough

[Tracey Allen at Carpe Librum]

The Museum of Broken Relationships - Modern Love in 203 Everyday Objects by Olinka Vistica is a collection of items donated by those hurt by love. Each artefact is stunningly photographed and accompanied by a short story or explanation. Often including the location and duration of the relationship, they provide a rare glimpse into a person's heartbreak and lost love.

Every reader will be able to relate to the stories and I was touched by the emotionally charged personal accounts.

The collection includes a variety of heartbreaking, amusing, petty, bizarre and downright surprising contributions. It was hard to believe the donors could bear to part with some of the artefacts donated, while others were filled with cathartic cleansing. While many of the donors seemed ready to move on, others continue to carry their heartbreak.

I enjoyed reading the stories and was surprised how many came from short relationships (less than a year). Relationships with parents and children are also included and you can still donate to the collection if you want to.

I highly recommend The Museum of Broken Relationships. This is a well curated collection from a museum that now has galleries all over the world. For those of us who haven't visited one, this is the next best thing. For those who have, this makes the perfect memento.

* Copy courtesy of Hachette Australia *

[John Ryan]

FINISHEDBOOK: The Museum of Broken Relationships: Modern Love in 203 Everyday Objects by Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic. 2017 Weidenfield & Nicolson. 225 pages.

Like my all-time favorite book, True Love, this book is best read in small segments. It allows the reader to digest those stories that speak to them, to think about what else might be going on, and truly relate other people’s love to one’s life. Like the unique museum, The Museum of Broken Relationships, this is both a serious and fun experience. People mail in miscellaneous objects and explain how it describes their broken relationships with spouses, short and long-term lovers, and parents. It’s a touching yet fun book.

My wife and I were touched when a friend of ours convinced us to add Zagreb, Croatia to our visit to seven Eastern European countries due to the Museum of Broken Relationships. The town is darling and the museum unlike any others you will ever visit. Later, my wife sent two items to signify her relationship with high school sweetheart – their first snow (water now held in a container) and the many decades old piece of cake from their first anniversary cake. A couple who are dear friends went out of their way to go to Zagreb and visit the museum. Presto! Last exhibit was my wife’s cake – in a cooler displaying the unconsumed cake from the long-ceased bond. Our friends brought back pictures – and this book. Funny that a long-time, never-broken relationship could provide us with a gift from the museum of broken relationships.

Many of the stories are so witty and creative. One contributor speaks of his lover as “it was like catching a flame, you can only pretend it is yours.” Many stories just leave the reader wondering like the one where the man had to wait six months for a double lung transplant then broke up with her two weeks later. She wrote:” I’m so happy about his own chance at life. I’m very sad that I won’t be part of it.” Another contributor provided a sign that read: “Better alone than in bad company” to provide encouragement to others facing relationship loss. A woman from Denmark observed that her love with her husband “was not strong enough to endure the war.” A Bloomington, Indiana man gifted Russian condoms that were given to him by a former lover. One woman speaks to her childhood love with a man who found her 25-years later on Facebook, but he was engaged to be married. One seventy-year-old Armenian woman spoke about a young man whose parents visited her parents to ask for her hand, as custom had it at that time; her parents did not like him and declined the offer so the young man drove his car off a cliff. Finally, one woman contributed her mother’s suicide note.

This book has so many touching and funny stories with a picture of the object included with each short story. Consider:
o French ID – An individual from Ljubljana, Slovenia said her 18-year-old relationship only left her with citizenship.
o Champagne cork – A London resident contributed a cork to celebrate her “lucky escape” from her marriage to her lover of 2 and a half years after learning he had been cheating on her for six months.
o Hamburger toy – Presented by a Luxembourg lost lover of two year saying, “His dog left more traces than he did.”
o Parachute rig – She met him on her first parachute jump and continued a romantic relationship for three years where they learned to love and she learned to have solo jumps. He died in a parachute accident.
o Basketball shoes – A contribution from a man who played basketball with another man who he loved but didn’t share it since his fellow player was straight.
o Broken Hello Kitty Key – Broken after a three-year relationship by her live-in boyfriend, she reasoned that “the key that opens no door but opens my freedom.”
o Child’s wartime love letter – A childhood love was broken due to the war in Herzegovina.
o Ex-axe – A Belin man contributed the ax he used to chop of all his lover’s furniture when she broke up with him then went on a 14-day vacation.
o Unopened candy G-String – A woman from Switzerland presented this gift from her former boyfriend who always gave her weird gifts. She said that he “turned out to be as cheap and shabby as his presents. He cheated on me with a colleague from the office and dumped me via email.”
o Stiletto shoe – While working for a dominatrix to write a book about S&M, a woman came across a former boyfriend who moved away when she was 15. She recognized him right before she was “ready to whip him harder.” She loved him enough to give him one of her kinky shoes rather than a longer affair that would impact his second marriage.
o Postcard – Presented by a granddaughter, the postcard was from her grandmother’s one month lover who received a card from her German lover who was left behind when her family left for America before the war.
o Plastic painting of St. Francis – A gift from her largely absent father who her mother said was like a “beautiful bird.” The painting, a gift from an African cleaning lady, included a bird with wings spread. She said it was time to let “the bird go.”
o Frogs – A Bloomington, Indiana woman gave one of the only gifts her mother gave her for Christmas, an ugly frog, to the museum; her mom left her when she was three.
o Elbow-length white gloves – Presented by a woman from Boise explaining how her relationship with her father was essentially broken because he always wanted her to be someone, she wasn’t, as evidenced by these gloves she wore with a “ridiculous white gown.”
o Collection of various strands of old barbed wire – Given by a Colorado woman who contributed one of the few objects he left behind when her parents divorced and she ended her relationship with her father. She said she wanted to “stop feeling like a poor, broken girl.”

Many more, some will speak to you, and some will not. Some make the reader smile, come near tears or close your eyes and think about the pain love sometimes brings. As with the museum, well done.

[Lyn]

There are not many things on my list of things I really want to do, or I suppose, my "bucket list"... Before picking this book up, it had exactly one thing on it. Within five pages of this book, visiting one of these museums made it on the list.
I could not put this book down. Some of these stories are so sad... Some are more amusing, or happy. The emotional scale is pretty much everywhere. But what I liked best it that it's so real. Every one of these words are heartfelt. And every one of these objects would be meaningless to anyone else. It's just really amazing how we can attach so much meaning to everyday objects.
This was definitely a great idea, for both the museums and the book. I hope to see some of these objects for real one day.
Note: I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.

[Natalie S]

Human beings are fascinating creatures. If you need proof of this then you need look no further than the book, The Museum of Broken Relationships – Modern Love in 203 Everyday Objects. This hardcover, artistic-style photographic book is a veritable treasure trove of the tangible objects that were left behind in the aftermath of some failed relationships. What could have been a series of banal, everyday objects of little monetary value, prove to be fascinating for the stories that are attached and the sentimental weight they once bore. This is ultimately a voyeuristic and hopeful activity because we see that these people have overcome their heartbreak and are now in a place where they can celebrate these totems of their past love in such a public way.

To read the rest of this review please visit: http://magazine.100percentrock.com/re...

[Natalie S]

Human beings are fascinating creatures. If you need proof of this then you need look no further than the book, The Museum of Broken Relationships – Modern Love in 203 Everyday Objects. This hardcover, artistic-style photographic book is a veritable treasure trove of the tangible objects that were left behind in the aftermath of some failed relationships. What could have been a series of banal, everyday objects of little monetary value, prove to be fascinating for the stories that are attached and the sentimental weight they once bore. This is ultimately a voyeuristic and hopeful activity because we see that these people have overcome their heartbreak and are now in a place where they can celebrate these totems of their past love in such a public way.

To read the rest of this review please visit: http://magazine.100percentrock.com/re...

[Ashley Holstrom]

When a relationship ends, the detritus that remains is painful. It’s thrown away. Burned. Donated. Shredded. Except for that one object—the wedding dress in the mason jar, the GPS, the little rubber piggy—that makes its way into boxes during every move. Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisic started this little museum when their relationship ended because they wanted to remember. Since then, thousands of people have submitted notes and objects to the museum. This book is a collection of that: A sad recounting of 203 loves lost, but also a bright light, a sign of the ability to carry on.

From 4 Great Books About Relationships at Book Riot.

[Alison]

I found the concept (documentation of what was sent in and became a museum exhibit about objects representing broken relationships that originated in Croatia) of this book fascinating and thought-provoking.

I expected to find in its pages relics from breakups but it’s so much more : shattered relationships between parents and children, friends and lovers, casual acquaintances and flings. Mementos are powerful in triggering memories and I’d imagine whomever mailed in these objects wanted to feel liberated from what they represented.

Definitely worth a read, especially if you’re a fan of PostSecret. I was sad when I reached the last page; some of the stories about the objects gave me chills.

[Peter J.]

I greatly preferred the book to the museum itself (side note: the Los Angeles site has closed). In the book, I found myself pouring over the stories, whereas, at the museum I found myself examining the items. It is a worthy concept of meditation. What things take on more meaning that they otherwise would because they represent a particular time of life. Reading the stories afresh, I appreciated the museum's purpose all the more. There are stories from widows, sons, unrequited or unfulfilled loves among the eye-catching and more publicity catching affairs gone south. Those stories - particular the woman taking her husband's ashes on the trips they were unable to take - stuck with me more.

[Victoria]

I don't remember where I heard about this book but I knew that I really wanted to read it.

I know I still have memento's of old relationships. They are in a box, packed away and every once in awhile I will come across them. After reading this book, I thought about sending them to this museum.

With pictures of the items and the notes that came with them, not all broken relationships were romantic. There are several from daughters who are breaking ties with their mother or father. Some are funny and others you could feel the pain of that relationship as it slipped away.

[Kerry Pickens]

I read this book as soon as I recever it in the mail because it was so unusual. It's an art book that contains photographs of memorabilia from people's broken relationship, with an explanation of the significance of the object was. Some of the stories are beautiful and touching, and others are creepy and sad. My favorite object is a button from the TV show the X-files, that says "I want to believe."

[Sam]

This book is beautiful... The museum of broken relationships is a collection of images and a short paragraph about items donated by people who have in one way or another 'broken up'. I was deeply moved by the whole reading experience. I found it intriguing looking at the different items donated by strangers and the importance of those items. This is one of the best "picture books" I've read in a long time.

[Jackie]

I enjoyed the glimpses into the lives of all the people who shared their heartfelt stories of love in this book. The layout of the book with the pictures adds to the beauty of the stories, some sad, others not so sad.