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A review by dustilane
Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Charlie is just a girl in pieces. The only way she knows to help herself is to make herself smaller and cut out the bad. When given a chance to start over fresh, Charlie must face her inner demons and try and make a life for herself out of the little she has. This is a dark, deeply sad novel about self-harm, addiction, abuse, and so much more. Please be sure to look up a full list of trigger warnings before reading!
I don't really know how I feel about this one. As other reviews have mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind when reading this book is fans of Ellen Hopkins would love this. It deals with a broad array of issues, all jampacked into one novel. It can be a bit much, but at the same time I do think it felt much more realistic than a Hopkins novel. Though self-harm is the main focus of the novel, I think what stood out to me was her portrayal of what it's like to live in poverty. That isn't a subject that gets covered much in novels, but in my opinion, Glasgow did a decent job. As for her portrayal of self-harm, I think it was decent and I didn't have much to complain about. The portrayal of the mental facility was a little disturbing. I know not all are great and there are awful people who sometimes end up in positions of power, but it was just a lot. I'm not saying the portrayal was completely inaccurate, I just found it didn't line up with my knowledge and experiences.
What I appreciate most about this book is that it isn't one of those rose-tinted novels. It's raw and dark and very sobering. It doesn't romanticize addiction or self-harm, it portrays them as they truly are: horrible things that ruin lives, but are not completely inescapable. Though there is hope in the book, it still doesn't make it seem like suddenly everything is okay and magically mental illness / addiction is gone, which I hate when books do that.
The fatphobia is very present throughout the book and was hard to read. That was a bit much for me as it didn't add anything to the story other than to make fun of fat people. I also do want to warn people who read this that it's very crude in its descriptions when it comes to gross things and food, so just be warned! I personally feel like it makes sense with the writing style and the story itself but I was a little caught off guard as I was expecting a book about self-harm and wasn't prepared for all the other stuff.
Overall, I definitely got emotional and invested in the story for bits of it, but for the most part I was just kind of eh about it. I think this is something I would have loved when I was 13-15 years old but now I'm out of that phase of reading and it just didn't hit the same. I do hope that whoever does reads this gets the author's intended message. I highly recommend reading the author's note as it gives some insight into why she wrote the book. Self-harm and other forms of addiction are very serious and there are so many misconceptions about it. Don't reduce it to a stereotype, it's a very real thing that so many people deal with.
I don't really know how I feel about this one. As other reviews have mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind when reading this book is fans of Ellen Hopkins would love this. It deals with a broad array of issues, all jampacked into one novel. It can be a bit much, but at the same time I do think it felt much more realistic than a Hopkins novel. Though self-harm is the main focus of the novel, I think what stood out to me was her portrayal of what it's like to live in poverty. That isn't a subject that gets covered much in novels, but in my opinion, Glasgow did a decent job. As for her portrayal of self-harm, I think it was decent and I didn't have much to complain about. The portrayal of the mental facility was a little disturbing. I know not all are great and there are awful people who sometimes end up in positions of power, but it was just a lot. I'm not saying the portrayal was completely inaccurate, I just found it didn't line up with my knowledge and experiences.
What I appreciate most about this book is that it isn't one of those rose-tinted novels. It's raw and dark and very sobering. It doesn't romanticize addiction or self-harm, it portrays them as they truly are: horrible things that ruin lives, but are not completely inescapable. Though there is hope in the book, it still doesn't make it seem like suddenly everything is okay and magically mental illness / addiction is gone, which I hate when books do that.
The fatphobia is very present throughout the book and was hard to read. That was a bit much for me as it didn't add anything to the story other than to make fun of fat people. I also do want to warn people who read this that it's very crude in its descriptions when it comes to gross things and food, so just be warned! I personally feel like it makes sense with the writing style and the story itself but I was a little caught off guard as I was expecting a book about self-harm and wasn't prepared for all the other stuff.
Overall, I definitely got emotional and invested in the story for bits of it, but for the most part I was just kind of eh about it. I think this is something I would have loved when I was 13-15 years old but now I'm out of that phase of reading and it just didn't hit the same. I do hope that whoever does reads this gets the author's intended message. I highly recommend reading the author's note as it gives some insight into why she wrote the book. Self-harm and other forms of addiction are very serious and there are so many misconceptions about it. Don't reduce it to a stereotype, it's a very real thing that so many people deal with.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fatphobia