YA Book Review: Girl In Piece by Kathleen Glasgow

For the past week I’ve been consuming Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow. As you can see from the picture below, I’ve had this book on my Kobo since the fall, and finally had the pleasure of reading it. When I began, I felt the heavy, serious weight of this book and its subject matter. It was, at times, especially in the beginning, incredibly depressing. But I don’t mind reading depressing books every so often. I might have inherited that from my mother, who reads depressing books all the time. I like to bug her about this, since most of the time I like uplifting and escapist books (hence my other recent read, Moonlight Over Paris).

I loved the character of Charlie, I loved the setting in Tuscon, because it felt fresh and different and sunny. Also, I’ve been to Tuscon, so to met it was familiar. The pacing was excellent. There were plenty of short little scenes, connected one to the other. There were no chapters, just these small breaks that kept me reading and reading and reading. I actually finished reading this book in the middle of the night because I couldn’t sleep, and then I couldn’t put it down. It was a nice contrast to the other books I’ve read this year. And a good break from all my fantasy reading. Obviously I like a variety, and this piece of realistic YA fiction was a great piece of life.

There were a few characters that did seem to just disappear though, who I thought should have made a few more appearances. But maybe they didn’t because this book was already pretty long (especially since it was realistic fiction and not epic fantasy, lol). There was a fairly large cast of characters, but I never felt overwhelmed. The true charm in this book were those relationships between the characters, who were fluid and true. So, if you like fluid and true books that are slightly depressing and have faint themes about life, then pick up this books. It’s good.

4/5 Stars

JEH