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Girl in Pieces
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Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people lose 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 harde ...more
Every new scar harde ...more
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Hardcover, 416 pages
Published
August 30th 2016
by Delacorte Press
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Kathleen Glasgow
Girl in Pieces is a stand-alone novel, no sequel. I will have another novel out sometime in late 2017, so stay tuned!
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Aug 04, 2016
Emily May
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Ellen Hopkins fans
2 1/2 stars. An extra 1/2 star because I think a lot of readers will love this - it's just a certain type of storytelling that always leaves me cold.
The many fans of Ellen Hopkins should love this book. It's a dark contemporary dealing with self-harm and it's written in a mostly fragmented series of one/few paragraph chapters (sometimes they are longer). Glasgow is not afraid to go there and covers a whole range of topics, from cutting to abuse to suicide.
Firstly, I didn't like the writing. Anot ...more
The many fans of Ellen Hopkins should love this book. It's a dark contemporary dealing with self-harm and it's written in a mostly fragmented series of one/few paragraph chapters (sometimes they are longer). Glasgow is not afraid to go there and covers a whole range of topics, from cutting to abuse to suicide.
Firstly, I didn't like the writing. Anot ...more

Although this book tells a story of people being cruel to themselves, it is a book about being gentle with yourself. It seems odd to call this novel kind, as it was often a savage read (it is unflinching in its portrayal of self-harm, homelessness, addiction, and desperation) but it has such a sweet heart, such a piercing desire for its characters to improve themselves in every way, that hope persists in even the darkest moments. Glasgow's use of adult characters to challenge, support, and mirro
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LIKE A BABY HARP SEAL, I'M ALL WHITE. MY FOREARMS ARE thickly bandaged, heavy as clubs. My thighs are wrapped tightly, too; white gauze peeks out from the shorts Nurse Ava pulled from the lost and found box behind the nurses' station.
Like an orphan, I came here with no clothes. Like an orphan, I was wrapped in a bedsheet and left on the lawn of Regions Hospital in the freezing sleet and snow, blood seeping through the flowered sheet.
The security guard who found me was bathed in menthol cigaret ...more

Caution: Trigger Warnings: self harm, suicide, drug use, abuse: rated R for language and other adult content.
This book is gut wrenching! 😭 From the first chapter, I got that ‘Girl Interrupted’ feel. With that said, I knew early on that this was going to be a HEAVY book, tackling many hard hitting issues. ☝️ It really grabs your attention. I could not stop reading! When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. For me, that equals five well deserved stars!! ⭐️ Charlie is a lost soul. This poo ...more
This book is gut wrenching! 😭 From the first chapter, I got that ‘Girl Interrupted’ feel. With that said, I knew early on that this was going to be a HEAVY book, tackling many hard hitting issues. ☝️ It really grabs your attention. I could not stop reading! When I wasn’t reading it, I was thinking about it. For me, that equals five well deserved stars!! ⭐️ Charlie is a lost soul. This poo ...more

4/5 stars
Honestly don't even know where to begin.
Well, pretty much I had really high expectations for this book and sadly it didn't live up to them. I myself self-harmed for two years. It's something very personal to me and when I read the author herself was inspired to write this book through her own experiences that gave me hope. I can happily say my favorite thing about this novel was how realistic Kathleen Glasgow handled not only the self-harm aspect but the mental illnesses found in this ...more
Honestly don't even know where to begin.
Well, pretty much I had really high expectations for this book and sadly it didn't live up to them. I myself self-harmed for two years. It's something very personal to me and when I read the author herself was inspired to write this book through her own experiences that gave me hope. I can happily say my favorite thing about this novel was how realistic Kathleen Glasgow handled not only the self-harm aspect but the mental illnesses found in this ...more

The first thing that gripped me about this book was the writing. Glasgow’s style is so thick with emotion and yet sparse on the page. In places, it reads like poetry. I was immediately drawn in by Glasgow’s words, the book’s atmospheric setting. Then there was the character’s struggle with her sense of self, her mistrust of others. Charlie’s pain was so pervasive that it felt like layers of gauze being stripped away from a wound. Layer after layer we see what and who has hurt Charlie. Glasgow is
...more

4,5* - I'm normally very easily annoyed by characters who pity themselves all the time. But this wasn't the case with Charlie and I can't really explain why. It didn't really feel forced but natural and understandable how she felt and acted.
I pretty much liked everything about this book except for the ending. It was overdone and extremely unrealistic.
I would totally recommend this to everyone who is interested in topics like self harm and mental illnesses. ( So obviously, trigger warning for th ...more
I pretty much liked everything about this book except for the ending. It was overdone and extremely unrealistic.
I would totally recommend this to everyone who is interested in topics like self harm and mental illnesses. ( So obviously, trigger warning for th ...more

I made it. I finally made it through 400 and something freaking pages. This book started out great, but as I read on, it just got worse and worse. I'm probably one of those 5% of readers this book didn't have an effect on.
Trigger warning: Self-harm, drugs, alcohol, sexual abuse
●I was okay with the writing. This book is written in three parts. (Honestly, I don't really get the point of having it written in three parts.) Sometimes there was a paragraph a page sometimes it was long. I actually lik ...more
Trigger warning: Self-harm, drugs, alcohol, sexual abuse
●I was okay with the writing. This book is written in three parts. (Honestly, I don't really get the point of having it written in three parts.) Sometimes there was a paragraph a page sometimes it was long. I actually lik ...more

Aug 09, 2016
Beatrice Masaluñga
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
young-adult,
arc
Thank you Penguin Random House / Delacorte Press for the ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Full review posted at Confessions of a Pinay Bookaholic
Charlotte Davis lost everything in her life; her father, her mother, her best friend and her direction in life. She became homeless and lived on a sex house where she witnessed abuse. She doesn't have a good relationship with her mother because she neglected and abused her. Handling all these is too much for her, given she's 17 years o ...more
Full review posted at Confessions of a Pinay Bookaholic
Charlotte Davis lost everything in her life; her father, her mother, her best friend and her direction in life. She became homeless and lived on a sex house where she witnessed abuse. She doesn't have a good relationship with her mother because she neglected and abused her. Handling all these is too much for her, given she's 17 years o ...more

I'm not one to write long reviews. This book is spectacular for many reasons, and there will be many reviews digging into those reasons. For me, there is one standout reason you must read this novel: there is no such thing as "all the way better."
Whether it's dealing with self-harm like the protagonist Charlotte, or an ED, or depression, or chronic illness, or alcohol addiction, or ANYTHING, recovery has no endpoint. You live with your physical or metaphorical scars forever. Yes, there are high ...more
Whether it's dealing with self-harm like the protagonist Charlotte, or an ED, or depression, or chronic illness, or alcohol addiction, or ANYTHING, recovery has no endpoint. You live with your physical or metaphorical scars forever. Yes, there are high ...more

This was an okay read. Not really something that I would normally reach for, but I’m not mad that I read it. I will say that I had an EXTREMELY hard time getting into the beginning of this, but once the main character moved cities things really started holding my attention and I ended up enjoying it in the end.
Also: I read this for MissSassyKassie’s book club for February! The live show will be on Sunday 3/4 at 1pm PST on her channel!
Also: I read this for MissSassyKassie’s book club for February! The live show will be on Sunday 3/4 at 1pm PST on her channel!

3.5 Stars
Mental Health Read-A-Thon: Other(Non Suicidal Self Injury)
I wasn't sure what rating I would give this book. Girl In Pieces is about Charlotte(Charlie) Davis who is a barely 18 year old homeless girl whose mother is terrible and whose friends are all drug addict criminals. She finds herself living in an underaged brothel and one night cuts herself so badly she ends up in the hospital.
Charlie is a mess!
I'm just gonna admit it, I know nothing about cutters and I truly don't understand how ...more
Mental Health Read-A-Thon: Other(Non Suicidal Self Injury)
I wasn't sure what rating I would give this book. Girl In Pieces is about Charlotte(Charlie) Davis who is a barely 18 year old homeless girl whose mother is terrible and whose friends are all drug addict criminals. She finds herself living in an underaged brothel and one night cuts herself so badly she ends up in the hospital.
Charlie is a mess!
I'm just gonna admit it, I know nothing about cutters and I truly don't understand how ...more

Interesting...
Charlotte Davis is not your average teenager. She practices self harm in the form of cutting. Glasgow gives us an intimate look into the life of this lonely and distraught teenager who is torn to pieces in more ways than one.
I personally think this book should come with a gigantic trigger warning. But I guess if the cover and title doesn't do that in itself then you're just fooling yourself. Although this book was very well written and obviously carefully thought out, I think that ...more
Charlotte Davis is not your average teenager. She practices self harm in the form of cutting. Glasgow gives us an intimate look into the life of this lonely and distraught teenager who is torn to pieces in more ways than one.
I personally think this book should come with a gigantic trigger warning. But I guess if the cover and title doesn't do that in itself then you're just fooling yourself. Although this book was very well written and obviously carefully thought out, I think that ...more

This book is ridiculously good. It reminds me of everything I loved reading when I was a teen/early 20-something, most notably Mark Lindquist and Stephanie Kuehnert. It's realistic urban survivalism combined with the raw, real truth of girlhood, and all matters of second chances (and third and fourth) without taking easy paths. Yes, it shattered my heart over and over, as I knew it would, but never in a way that felt irreparable, which feels like exactly the point.
...more

Apr 25, 2015
Laurie Flynn
rated it
it was amazing
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
sweet-sixteens,
ya-contemporary
To say that I had been eagerly anticipating this book would be a grand understatement. I heard it pitched as a modern-day GIRL, INTERRUPTED, and that was enough for me to know I had to read it immediately. A fear sometimes exists with books you crave that badly- the fear that they won't live up to your expectations, but I didn't even have that feeling with this one. I knew somewhere in my soul that I would connect with it and love it beyond words. And I did.
GIRL IN PIECES is the story of Charli ...more
GIRL IN PIECES is the story of Charli ...more

The topics in this book were tough - self-harm, abuse, homelessness, mental illness, addiction, suicide and depression to name some of the more prominent ones. I appreciate that Glasgow was honest, raw and open in her depiction of these issues and put it all out there. She didn't shy away from the bleak and ugly side of things at all. Charlie went through a lot and while I felt for her I must be honest and say I was also very frustrated by her choices. That might have been intentional on Glasgow
...more

Haunting and heartbreaking but so very beautiful. From Kathleen's author's note: "and sometimes the dark can get pretty dark, but it's filled with people who understand." Full review soon.
...more

Kathleen Glasgow, author of Girl in Pieces, was riding a bus when she glanced at her seatmate and spotted the all-too-familiar scars of a fellow cutter. The desperation to reach out and say: “I’m just like you. Look! You are not alone!,” was overwhelming, but fear silenced her. Now, years later, Ms. Glasgow wrote Girl in Pieces to make amends. To say--YOU ARE NOT ALONE--and that despite how all-encompassing the darkness may seem, there’s always light. You just have to know where to look.
The sto ...more
The sto ...more

Girl in Pieces doesn’t let you tip toe into the shallow end, give you a trigger warning, or pretend. It high dives into the deep end without warning or preparation. From the first line you will be hooked and also extremely trepidatious.
Charlie is experiencing life’s worst qualities. She can’t seem to grasp onto anything sturdy and she is terrified. Her coping mechanism is self-harm. If you are looking for a book with a “happy ever after” or “lesson learned” feeling, this isn’t going to be your ...more
Charlie is experiencing life’s worst qualities. She can’t seem to grasp onto anything sturdy and she is terrified. Her coping mechanism is self-harm. If you are looking for a book with a “happy ever after” or “lesson learned” feeling, this isn’t going to be your ...more

The thing is...the more drama you add won't mean it'll make people suffer more, it's even more, it'll make you roll your eyes for a long time and it's disturbing. I'll write a review soon.
...more

3.5 stars
TW: Self Harm, Suicide, Substance Abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual Assault, Rape, PTSD and more
"Everyone has that moment I think, the moment when something so momentous happens that it rips your very being into small pieces. And then you have to stop. For a long time, you gather your pieces. And it takes such a very long time, not to fit them back together, but to assemble them in a new way, not necessarily a better way. More, a way you can live with until you know for certain that thi ...more
TW: Self Harm, Suicide, Substance Abuse, Alcoholism, Sexual Assault, Rape, PTSD and more
"Everyone has that moment I think, the moment when something so momentous happens that it rips your very being into small pieces. And then you have to stop. For a long time, you gather your pieces. And it takes such a very long time, not to fit them back together, but to assemble them in a new way, not necessarily a better way. More, a way you can live with until you know for certain that thi ...more

This is a morbid story from the first page. Everything that happens is bad and rawly portrayed. There is no romanticization or good here. I was initially intrigued by the synopsis but was by no means prepared for what I read. This book was just so much to digest and take in, I had to put it down multiple times just to process the overwhelming darkness blanketing each page. Mental illness, suicide, self-harm, rape, love, abuse are all ever so evocatively described. Literally everything that happe
...more

While reading Girl in Pieces, I went back and forth trying to figure out if I was enjoying it or not. It is a very emotionally heavy book. It weighed heavily on me and put me into a very weird place mentally. I can happily say my favorite thing about this novel was how realistic Kathleen Glasgow handled not only the self-harm aspect but the mental illnesses found in this book as well. It is a very hard book to rate just because I think it would be hard to enjoy a book with so much raw and honest
...more

Girl in Pieces is momentous, a narrative beautifully written with tenderness, emotion and conviction. Kathleen Glasgow is a remarkable author, drawing on her own experiences to lend voice to Charlie, a girl who feels irrevocably tarnished and uses self harm to soothe her emotional ache. Charlie's character represents so many young women within our communities. Girls who have been abused, who haven't been afforded the opportunity of a loving family, to experience kindness or sanctuary. After her
...more

I just, I really don't know how I feel about this book. Some parts I loved, other parts I hated. I think it's important, but I just, ugh.
Review on my blog:
https://thechroniclesofdanielle.wordp... ...more
Review on my blog:
https://thechroniclesofdanielle.wordp... ...more

Wow. This was so good.
Girl In Pieces was an amazing read. I don’t remember when I exactly bought this book but it has been on my to read list for a while. So I was super happy that someone wanted to read it with me. Honestly, this book was such an eye opener for me. To see someone like Charlotte, and all these other people in this book, suffering throughout the book but trying to rebuild a life for them was again - amazing. I couldn’t help myself from rooting for Charlie because this girl deser ...more
Girl In Pieces was an amazing read. I don’t remember when I exactly bought this book but it has been on my to read list for a while. So I was super happy that someone wanted to read it with me. Honestly, this book was such an eye opener for me. To see someone like Charlotte, and all these other people in this book, suffering throughout the book but trying to rebuild a life for them was again - amazing. I couldn’t help myself from rooting for Charlie because this girl deser ...more
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Contemporary YA: Girl in Pieces | 3 | 42 | Oct 26, 2018 10:54AM |
Kathleen Glasgow is the author of the New York Times bestseller Girl in Pieces (also a Target Book Club pick--seriously!) and How to Make Friends With the Dark. Proud faulty robot. Visit her on Twitter (@kathglasgow), Instagram (misskathleenglasgow), or her website (www.kathleenglasgowbooks.com).
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“Everyone has that moment I think, the moment when something so momentous happens that it rips your very being into small pieces. And then you have to stop. For a long time, you gather your pieces. And it takes such a very long time, not to fit them back together, but to assemble them in a new way, not necessarily a better way. More, a way you can live with until you know for certain that this piece should go there, and that one there.”
—
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“That's how hearts get broken, you know. When you believe in promises.”
—
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