BOOK REVIEW: Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow


Publication Date: April 1, 2018
Format: Paperback
Genre:  YA Fiction

Publisher: Ember
Length: 
448 pages
Buy: Kindle | Audio

Synopsis

Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people do in a lifetime. But she’s learned how to forget. The broken glass washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don’t have to think about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you. 

Every new scar hardens Charlie’s heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much. It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to happen before you can find your way back from the edge. 

A deeply moving portrait of a girl in a world that owes her nothing, and has taken so much, and the journey she undergoes to put herself back together. Kathleen Glasgow's debut is heartbreakingly real and unflinchingly honest. It’s a story you won’t be able to look away from.

Review: 

Wow this is a powerful book. It starts off slow, and reads almost like a diary.  Chapters are short and you are parceled out information slowly as you get to know Charlie. You learn about how she got to where she is, and how she struggles to piece her life back together. 

Once I started I got sucked in really quick and almost didn't want it to end.  I wanted more about Charlie, Riley and everyone that she encounters, but ultimately it is Charlie that you are routing for.  This is an honest and very difficult read due to the material not the writing. Triggers include, cutting, suicide, alcohol and drug use, homelessness and sexual assault. 

This is a YA book and it is filled with some very tough and traumatic stuff but it is a book that is needed. I believe we all have scars but unfortunately more and more young adults are wearing them on the outside instead of the inside.  Representation is important and to have a story like this out there gives people in similar situations not only hope but to know they aren't alone.  There is an afterward from the author that speaks to this as well.  We need to talk about these things so others don't feel so alone. 

Reading this book reminded me of when I first read Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (which is currently free on kindle unlimited if you haven't read it I highly recommend it). It hit me in much the same way the writing is suburb and the feelings it evokes are visceral.  Cutting is one of those subjects not many authors want to touch or they want to somehow glamorize, this isn't glamorized in any way.  This is a raw emotional journey that shouldn't be missed. 




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