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Jan 04, 2018BeePeeker rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
I am reading all the nominees for the 2017 Amelia Walden Award as I work with young adults and want to see what books are being touted. To begin, I appreciate Kathleen Glasgow’s courage to tell her story, and that she wants to let girls know that they are not alone in the world. That said, I found “Girl in Pieces” to read more as a detailed How-To manual for Self-Harm, rather than as a cautionary tale. We first meet Charlie, bandaged and mute, in a private clinic where she landed (due to a loophole) after attempting suicide. After she is discharged/booted out, against her wishes, we are in for a wild ride as Charlie takes the bus to Arizona for a fresh start. Glasgow’s weirdly romantic fetishizing of the “Tender Kit” were disturbing: the softness of the gauze, the color and thickness of the glass, the coolness of the ointments, the satisfying heft of the think chunks wrapped lovingly away for later; along with the fact that you'll need to apply extra force to push thick glass into your skin and how deep you'll need to go, and the release that comes after the pain. It is SO creepy. I had hopes for Charlie, that she would accept Ariel’s offer of art lessons and that she would follow her instincts and trust Julie and Linus; instead, she goes down the slippery slope with Riley, running drugs, drinking, and glorifying having a sex/statutory rape relationship with a meth addict. Really? Reluctantly, I kept reading as I was committed to see how this might resolve. The glimmers of hope come too late in the book to feel believable or to offer solace (to the reader): after Charlie’s second suicide attempt she is rescued/abducted by two co-workers and taken to their kindly grandfather’s artist haven in New Mexico to recover. (Why not just have her die, and go to heaven where she can meet up with Ellis and do art? Oh, that IS what happens…) Ultimately, “Girl in Pieces” falls short in that it offers no hope for teens that are struggling with anxiety or depression. Glasgow’s story would be more powerful as a memoir, and for adults, without the fiction or romanticizing. Glasgow can write, but I found her message for teens worrisome.