Girl In Pieces ~ By Kathleen Glasgow – 5.0 Stars

Tags

Depression, Self-Acceptance, YA Fiction

Thanks to NetGalley and Delacorte Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Release Date: August 30th, 2016

416 Pages

Synopsis: Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people lose in a lifetime. 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.

I have to be honest and say that books like this don’t usually appeal to me. Too, dark, too painful, too depressing. But there was just something about this that kept bringing me back to it, so I finally took the plunge and requested it. And I’m quite glad I did. Charlie Davis represents a lot of teens–and for that matter adults–who have traumatic pasts and have been pretty much discarded by society. This story follows her difficult journey out of the darkness that haunts her and into the light. Be warned, it’s a story that’s difficult to read, and I found myself having to put it down several times. But Charlie is the type of character who you’ll become so attached to that you’ll keep reading, desperately wishing for a happy, or at the very least, hopeful ending. Her voice is incredibly raw and hurt, and filled with so much unhappiness, but there are also plenty of moments where her humor and inner strength shine through. Kathleen Glasgow’s writing is simply breathtaking. While some of the passages are extremely difficult to read, there is always an underlying sense of beauty and hope that come through, even in Charlie’s ugliest thoughts. In the end, Charlie is a survivor and she’s someone you’ll never forget. I certainly won’t. I truly believe that this is a book that under the right circumstances, could change lives. It’s a gorgeously written, heartbreaking debut, and I highly recommend it to anyone who works with teens or is a parent.