Girl in Pieces

Beautifully written. I've read several books about self-harming; however, I never could grasp why people chose to do this for relief. Glasgow's writing, full of imagery and strong diction, helped me understand. Would definitely recommend this book!

This is a story about a 17 year old girl named Charlie Davis. The book is well written with engaging characters and an engaging story line containing aspects of self harm, depression, and substance abuse.

It does NOT glorify. It WILL drag you through dark places. I have to admit I put the book down a couple times. Not so much as to give up on the story altogether but just to give myself a break. Yet you still hold out hope for Charlie.

I believe and hope that this story can be used as a resource for people with depression who self harm and abuse substances as coping mechanisms. A recovery "test drive."

Brutal in honesty. Visceral in emotions. Truly, a freaking angelic read.

I was beyond excited to read this book for the Sunday Street Team. I think more people should tell darker stories, because they exist in our world. This was an amazing book. The writing was heartbreakingly beautiful. I received a copy from Netgalley to review, and ended up giving this book 5 out of 5 stars.

As soon as I picked up this book, I pretty much didn’t want to put it down…except to take some breaks when my heart felt like it had cracked open in my chest. The book wasn’t all darkness, but it definitely wasn’t a happy book. Which is fine with me, because life isn’t sunshine and daisies 24/7. Charlie’s story, and even a lot of the secondary characters stories, will resonate with a lot of people.

I absolutely loved Charlie’s character. She seemed so real. My heart ached for her, and the people surrounding her, that have to deal with inner and outer demons. I really liked a lot of the female characters in this book, but barely any of the male characters–except a couple. A lot of the guys were jackasses. Charlie goes through so much in this book, and by the end, I’m glad she has people she can turn to, people she can rely on.

Honestly, I think everyone should read this book. It reminds you that sometimes bad things–overwhelming things–happen. But with some supportive friends, you can embrace life to its fullest. One of my favorite things about this book is that you can feel the raw pain and emotion. Kathleen wasn’t scared to show the downs of life, to show how the tornado building inside you can lash out at any moment.

I made notes of some gorgeous lines while reading: “We all have our Kiefer stages, when we want to destroy ourselves in order to create. To see if that’s beautiful, too.” and “I say the wrong thing, if I can bring myself to say anything at all. I’ve always felt like an intrusion, a giant blob of wrong.” and “I’m so unwhole. I don’t know where all the pieces of me are, how to fit them together, how to make them stick. Or if I even can.”

Final note: An amazing book. It’s definitely dark, but it has an optimistic ending. I’m so glad I read this book. As soon as I finished reading, I bought myself a copy for my personal collection. I’d highly recommend this one.

5 stars for the honesty and pure anger and love that the author feels for her subject matter! This was my first in depth foray into the mind of a cutter, so beautifully written that I was always wracked with sadness at her life, but also knowing that she would find the strength to get out of the horror of it. The complexity of so many damaged characters in and out of her life is staggering. If you can handle it, I truly recommend it.

This book is triggering, so reader beware.

The amount of time I spent thinking about this book when I was not reading it is why I'm giving it 5 stars. I wanted to know what happens next, the story pulls you in until the last page and the author does an amazing job at portraying the story. The authors personal experience in the matter shows with how she lays everything out.

I highly recommend Girl in Pieces!

Didn't really know what to do expect, but was drawn in by the great reviews. Really glad I was. So sad and distressing, but alive with emotion. This is a long book, but I read it in just two days. Beautifully written and very compelling. Spoiler alert! It ends on a positive note. Would love to see a sequel.

I'm afraid I was not able to give this gift to my 13 year old granddaughter because it was a duplicate gift. I did give it 5 stars based on the fact that it was something on her Christmas list and 2 different people got it for her.

As someone who has had a history of self-injury and has struggled to overcome bad situations, I deeply identified with this novel. I felt that the writing style, which is intentionally disjointed, is an honest representation of the chaotic, troubled mind. I relate to this book in the same way I relate to "Wintergirls" by Laurie Halse Anderson. I would liken it more to that than "Girl Interrupted." While such novels can be difficult to read, I believe they are necessary; I believe many girls and women move through fractured (so to speak) and I think it's important to talk about that and tell those stories (fiction or real) so that others understand that this is not an anomaly and that they are not alone.

Note: Heavy profanity

I really liked it. A Girl in Pieces, or 3 parts for this book. The first part being very troubling and upsetting for me to read. It needed to be, though, because it was honest. There are truths, and then there are stripped away truths that bypass hope. That's the first part, and it's not easy to read. It leads to the second part, though, and, if I'm being honest, it became slightly annoying at times as she kept looking for boys to save her. I knew it was all leading to the clichéd "save yourself" discovery, but it still took a long route to get there. But when it gets there (third part) boy howdy, is it good. During the second part I was prepared to give this book only 3 stars, after starting at 4, but then it had a good finale, so it got bumped back up to 4. "You can't really get rid of what you used to be."

Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow is a startling portrait of one girl's journey through mental illness, self-harm, and her road to recovery.

You know those books that you read that you just know will stick with you for a while? This is one of them. Days later, and I'm still chewing on some of what I read. The images. The emotions. The hope through darkness. This book was fantastic in all the right ways.

The writing is impeccable. From the opening chapter, you find yourself sucked into Charlie's world. Through mental illness and despair, you're with her all the way as she tries to put the pieces of herself back together. I appreciated the rawness of the book--it's not pretty or neat, and it doesn't pretend to be.

The pacing of the book is perfect. I found myself quickly turning each page to find out what happens next.

Charlie's story is a tough one to read. How far can a person fall and still be able to crawl back out? Charlie is adrift, alone, and desperate. You can't help but want to wrap her in a hug as you're reading the book. When Charlie meets Riley, I was instantly worried. I knew it would either be a blessing or a pitfall. The interactions between Charlie and Riley are some of the best in the book. The author captured the emotions of a complex relationship perfectly.

I loved the ending. It's gritty, yet hopeful. It ends on a high note, but at the same time, it isn't a fairytale ending. Not everything is going to be okay. Charlie still has a long way to go.

The characters are breathtakingly realistic. Charlie is so raw, so vulnerable. She bares it all--take it or leave it. Riley is a bit of a train wreck, but a beautiful train wreck, and I couldn't help but find him a compelling character. The secondary characters are also wonderful--unique and beautifully written.

Have I convinced you to read this book yet? There are some self-harm triggers, but this was a powerful and intense read. I loved every minute of it. 

Trying to review Girl In Pieces is like trying to explain why I love my husband. How do you wrangle such emotion into words? I've been gearing up to review this book for a year. Longer. I'm terrified to even try, because there's no way I can do it justice. Because this book, you guys. This BOOK.

Remember in high school when you had either zero friends or a ton of friends, but you had nobody who actually "got" you? When the only thing that got you was the music you funneled into your brain through your headphones? This book is that friend that gets you. That friend who speaks your language. That friend you've been waiting your whole life for.

I first read it on my Kindle, and highlighted...like, the whole book. All of these delicious lines that are words, but they're also art. Like for instance: "Underneath these new scars, I can see the old ones. My scars are like a dam or something. The beaver just keeps pushing new branches and sticks over the old ones." Visual and conversational and painful and so apt. Somehow Kathleen Glasgow combines the adolescent psyche, the teen girl's interior monologue, with the paint strokes of van Gogh and the punch of Henry Rollins.

The book has "language." The book has "content." The book has "triggers." As someone who was locked up as a teen, punishment for getting loud in the fight against her abusers, I'm here to tell you: this language, this sexual/chemical/self-abusive content, it's real, real, real. This is what throwaway kids are feeling and saying and living, right now, today, all over the place. Might it be painful for readers to encounter? Sure. Is it way way more painful for adolescents to live through on their own? God, yes. If this book lands in those kids' hands...salvation. Recognition. Validation.

For those who need to pitch pebbles at the book for "bad language" or "too many issues," I say, reader, please. If your life has been vanilla soft serve, or if that's where you choose to live, great. Perhaps consider not reading books about the lives of hard-living youth. Or if you do read 'em, and choose to review 'em, try a line like this: "Too real, too painful, for me." Full stop.

For the rest of us who eat chocolate, fudge ripple, black cherry, rocky road, this BOOK. This book. This book.

Girl In Pieces is the journey of one girl overcoming her horrific past to be something better than she thinks. Charlotte aka Charlie Davis is a seventeen year old from Minnesota who cuts herself to escape the pain from all the losses she has dealt with in her short life. After getting out of a hospital and discovering that her mother doesn't want her there anymore, Charlie takes the risk to move to Arizona to be close to one of her friends. While there, she discovers how strong she really is and who of her new friends will she be able to trust in the long road to recovery that will show her where and who, she is meant to be!

My heart is still aching for what Charlie went through and this book will bring out emotions in you that you never thought was possible. I don't want to give much of anything away from what I read but the part in Arizona and with a certain boy named Riley will have you glued to the book just to see how Charlie gets through everything. It's the perfect book that shows that you can be at the very bottom of the pile, with good friends and the will to survive, anything is possible. I truly believe this book should be a required reading for teens to get them talking about this sensitive subject and to maybe just save a life by just caring for someone in a good kind of way. The way this book is writing out is perfect because it's like reading a diary and that's awesome for what this story is saying.

Thank You to Kathleen Glasgow for writing a book that made me want to read more books by you from now on!!

I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from First In Line!

Please Note: I received an ARC copy of this book as part of Nori's Sunday Street Team blog tour in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence the opinions in my review in any way.

Wow, this was a brilliant book! One of the reasons I read is to catch a glimpse of lives and situations that I don't know much about. I can't know what it's like to be homeless and desperate, to be in so much pain that it can't be expressed by simply screaming and throwing things. This book shows one girl's struggle with self-harm and her long road to a healthier life. The characters are memorable, the situations, terrifying. But there is a great sense of self determination that kept me enthralled.

What I Liked:

Characters:
Charlie is just so messed up. After her father dies, her home life becomes unbearable. She becomes homeless after a fight with her mom and things go from bad to worse. It is heartbreaking. In a smart move by Kathleen Glasgow, Charlie's backstory is presented in bits and pieces. As the story progresses, we see how she got tangled in this predicament.

Damaged people tend to find each other, and it seems inevitable that Charlie gravitates to other people with issues. Is it that she feels less judged? I don't know, but you can see that there will be a rocky road ahead if she hangs with these people.

Portrayal of Self-harm:
This book bluntly shows how and why people hurt themselves in ways such as cutting and drug/alcohol abuse. It does not glamorize or sugar-coat anything. Due to this, it can be very hard to read at times. If you know anyone with these problems, it could be very upsetting (I cried several times). But I think this book gave me a much deeper understanding of this problem, and for that, I am grateful.

What I was mixed about:

Setting:
This really is a quibble, but why is every coffee shop a haven of quirky characters? This is the second book I have read lately where a person is new to town and finds refuge in a funky coffeehouse. And (of course) Charlie finds a job there almost instantly. I had no idea that it was so easy to get a job these days!

I do get that the coffee shop is an important aspect of the story. But couldn't it be something else, like a bookstore, or a Goodwill?

Overall, this is a very special book. It is a story of overcoming adversity and finding your self-worth. I highly recommend this.

Let me just start by saying I could not put this book down once I started reading it. In today's world many teens face many trials in their lives. It is a sad truth that often goes unlooked. This is a fantastic book that looks at the mental health of some teens, especially those that are dealt a very hard lot in life through no fault of their own. It also shows that there are always people out there that care, and that can help. That no matter how far down you think you are that you can always rise up again. This may be a hard read for some of you out there. It does deal with self harm, and goes into detail at times. But it is wonderful to see the characters grow throughout the story as well. And once you start reading it if you are liked me it will be hard to put down. I just had to keep reading to see how things worked out for Charlie, and the other characters as well. Her perserverence through the novel was really something amazing. I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to include any spoilers so I will just give a bit of info...
Charlie is a teen girl put into a mental health facility. She doesn't want to speak to anyone. She has been through things she would rather not relive even in her own mind. She is abandoned, and has hurt herself in more ways than one. She has been in some dangerous situations. She hurts inside and out. There are other girls like her in ways while being different in the facility with her. She gets out of the mental health facility and has to learn to cope in the real world. She has to learn to do things on her own, and she tries her best to break her habits of self harm. She wants so badly to be normal, to be happy, but in a world full of problems she doesn't know where to begin. As much as she tries she just can't seem to get a step up...
I can't give away any more than that, but I definitely recommend you give this book a read especially if you are a fan of Thirteen Reasons Why, Girl Interrupted, etc.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book as a Blogging For Books member in exchange for my unbiased review. All opinions expressed are solely my own.

How much loss can a seventeen year old girl take before self-destructing? For Charlotte Davis 'Charlie', it involves a father's suicide, rejection and physical abuse by her mother, an escalating loss of self esteem that's replaced by self-hatred, bullying and looks of horror from other girls, all of it incrementally ramped up as her cutting on both her arms and other parts of her body spiral out of control. Add in the guilt she feels when her only close girlfriend cuts so badly, she ends pretty much a vegetable in an institution hundreds of miles away and you have the perfect storm for Charlie to self-destruct. However, her latest attempt to dull her pain by cutting, while darn near killing her, results in her being institutionalized on a psych ward with other self-destructive girls. She's nowhere near recovered when her stay is truncated due to lack of insurance coverage. She makes tenuous connections with at least one other girl there before a final rejection by her mother. That results in her making a geographical cure from Minnesota to Tucson Arizona in where she hopes her guy friend Mikey, who she thinks might be boyfriend material, will be her salvation.
What she finds there is completely unexpected, serving up fresh pain, some additional self-destruction and some real surprises. Mature teen readers not bothered by grittiness or strong language will find this one heck of a read. Having worked with teen girls like Charlie on an inpatient adolescent psych ward, as well as having been in recovery for more than 35 years, helped me understand where the story was going and why. It's pretty close to how some of the girls I worked with saw life and may well be that story which opens the door to a better life/some real hope for teens dealing with similar issues. It's well worth adding to school and public libraries where issue-oriented fiction is valued.

Charlie Davis is the title girl in pieces. Physically, she is mostly in one piece, in spite of being a seasoned cutter and in spite of a recent attempt to end it all by cutting a little deeper. After her father's death, her mother's abuse became too much for her and she ended up on the streets. Her suicide attempt has failed and now, instead of being homeless or, worse, in the hands of a man who wanted to pimp her out in exchange for a roof over her head, she is at a treatment facility. She has no idea who is paying for it but she is overjoyed to be there. Unfortunately, her luck runs out and the facility is releasing her to her mother. When her mother tells her that she isn't coming home with her, Charlie is lucky not to end up on the streets again. Instead, she is given a bus ticket to Tucson, where her friend and former crush Mikey lives. Mikey is currently on tour with the band he manages but while he's gone, he invites Charlie to stay in his place. Charlie hopes that when Mikey gets back, he will give her a shot at being his girlfriend but several things come between them, including a man named Riley, who gives Charlie a job washing dishes at his sister's coffee house. Riley is obviously trouble but he's highly attractive trouble and Charlie has a hard time staying away from him.
I'm not going to give you a full synopsis of the book or you would have no reason to read it. This book gives hope to those of us who are screw ups in one way or another and lets all those girls (and some boys) out there who are cutting themselves that they are not alone. Charlie is one of the most screwed up characters I've come across recently and if she can heal, so can we all.

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 highs and lows. Yes, there is plenty of hope that you can be much better off ten years down the line, but when you battle with anything so deeply destructive and chronic, there is no such thing as "all the way better."

Girl In Pieces deals with this truth so beautifully. Too many books end with the character entering therapy and a false *nudge* to the reader that the character will then be miraculously cured of their ailment. Instead, the majority of Girl In Pieces takes place after Charlotte leaves the nest of therapy, and it explores the many, many, many, step ups and step downs to living with her tornado. It's chillingly real, hauntingly beautiful, and above all - a necessary narrative.

Girls, and all people, who are trying to OVERCOME need this narrative. Girls need this narrative. They need to not hate themselves for being unable to achieve the myth of "all the way better." They need to know, and perhaps more importantly their friends and caretakers need to know, "all the way better" is a myth. When someone suffers from any type of chronic mental or physical disorder or addiction, it will always be with them. They can pull their life together, but the threat of falling backwards will always be hiding in the corner. Society needs to readjust their understanding of what "recovery" means, and I genuinely believe Girl In Pieces is a book that will help with that understanding.

I could talk about the million other reasons I love this book, but simply, beyond the importance of the message, Glasgow's prose isn't 5/5, it's 10/10. And I'm picky. I really am. But this is the type of prose that will inspire me to work harder, to become a better writer myself.

I'm so honored I had a chance to read this breathtaking novel early, and I hope all of you will read it too. I cannot wait to see what Glasgow writes next.

I knew right away a few teens I could put this book into the hands of. I LOVE a book like that! I have some students who are always interested in this kind of... psychology story? That's not how most people would probably describe this book, but I have a few teen girls who love learning about how people's brains work when they are different from their own brains. So they love Girl, Interrupted and this book made me immediately think of that one. Charlie is so broken and we not only want her to be well and get through her heartache, we're working to piece together what it is that broke her. We get it in bits and pieces, a beautiful type of frustration, forcing us to read on. We wonder if we'll ever know. We wonder if she will be better. We watch on pins and needles while she makes decisions that sometimes make us cringe and sometimes make us cheer. I felt like it was moving slowly at times, not the plot so much, but the getting through the book. I think it's my own reader issue, though, as opposed to a book issue. I've been breezing through things pretty quickly and I didn't move through the pages as quickly as I wanted to

For the last year it seems, I would walk by this book on the shelves and every single time it would catch my eye, but I would never pick it up. I don't know what was stopping me, I didn't even know what it was going to be about, but I'm glad I didn't pick it up then. I don't think I would have been ready for it like I was now. This book punched me in the heart. I read it in a day simply because I couldn't stop. I was either on the computer, on my phone or on my tablet reading it. I can recall anything from my day, except this book. I loved in and I'm not sure how to describe why I loved it so much, other than the fact that I understood Charlie. The writing was amazing and the characters were such a great mix, but they just seemed to get it and it was so refreshing. Even when the drama happened and I knew it was going to happen, it still hurt. This book made me tear up more than once and now I want to carry it around with me everywhere. I've only encounter a few books that make me want to read them again as soon as I finish them and this has easily made the list.

This is one of the most profound and powerful books I've ever read. Kathleen Glasgow tells us the story of Charlie, a girl who manages the enormous pain in her life with self-harm. The story is ultimately one of magnificent hope, all the more so after witnessing Charlie's journey wrought with danger, despair, doubt and self-loathing. Glasgow's writing mirrors the story - raw, tragic, stark and utterly beautiful - with some scenes evoking a visceral response. Her characters are rich and complex and in Charlie, she has crafted a character both vulnerable and resilient. It is impossible to read this book and not be moved by Glasgow's characters or the poetry of her writing.

Charlotte Davis ("Charlie") may look like an average seventeen year old but she has experienced more pain and heartache than some people twice her age has. She has lost her father and best friend while was "abandoned" by her mother who couldn't deal with the lost of her husband. Charlie learns to deal with the pain with the best way she knows how. With each cut, she tries to forget the pain and hurt but with each cut it adds a new dimension of pain and hurt. Will Charlie be able to forget the past and move on? Will Charlie be able to be happy?

The novel is a deeply heartbreaking, honest, raw and an engaging read. Once, I picked up the book I found it hard to put it down. Charlie's character is dynamic and realistic that is hard not to root for her. The novel was emotionally draining at points especially for so "many bad things" to happen to Charlie. As a reader, you feel for her; you want to take her up in your arms and tell her everything will be okay. A highly recommended book for any YA fan or anyone who has ever felt "lost" in life.

A small side note, the novel does have graphic and sexual language.

**Disclosure - I received an uncorrected copy of this book in exchange for an honest opinion**

Charlie doesn't have anyone in the world. She's broken and her soul has shattered due to all of the horrible things she's been through. The pain often becomes unbearable and when she wants to make it stop for a while cutting is her only way out. Charlie has scars on her arms and legs, because she doesn't want to remember what happened to her father or the things an evil man has done to her when she was vulnerable and she also can't cope with what happened to her best friend Ellis, the girl who tried to end her life. Charlie's mother can't take care of her daughter and when after a long time on the streets Charlie finally ends up in a treatment center where they can do something for her, she has to leave because there's no money to pay for her stay. Charlie is on her own again. Will she be able to find a way to put the pieces of her life back together and make it whole again all by herself?

Girl in Pieces is an impressive emotional story. Charlie has known very little love in her life. Her childhood was unhappy, she lost the only friend she had and the boy she loved with all her heart didn't love her back. Charlie has to find a way to be more than just an invisible person who doesn't speak and that isn't easy. She cuts herself because she can't cope with the abundance of emotions that are constantly overwhelming her. Kathleen Glasgow describes her pain in a beautiful raw and realistic way. She knows what she's writing about and isn't afraid to show others what it's actually like. I found that incredibly brave and it made the book even more terrific and special for me.

Charlie is a sweet and talented girl. She's craving love, she wants to belong and she'd love to finally feel welcome somewhere. It's a sad situation and her despair radiates off the pages. It isn't easy to read about, but Kathleen Glasgow's amazing writing and skillful translation of feelings into words made it difficult for me to put Girl in Pieces down. Charlie tries to pick herself up, but she's quite naïve and hasn't seen much of the world and the people in it yet. She's only seventeen, so she still has a lot of living to do. I kept hoping the broken girl would get a chance to heal. Because of this I couldn't stop reading to find out if she'd actually get there.

Girl in Pieces is a book about big problems and tough situations. Charlie's issues resemble those of a lot of girls and I love that Kathleen Glasgow gives them a voice and makes her readers understand how and what drives someone to self hurt and mutilate. I was shocked by some parts of the book and I often had tears in my eyes while reading about Charlie's struggles. There's only one person who can change Charlie's life and better days will only come when she's ready to face this. Girl in Pieces is an incredible book, it's a strong thought-provoking story with a clear powerful message for everyone who feels broken in any kind of way.

I loved it and all of its heartbreak. It's a book that supports Hemingway's assertion on how to write (you just sit down at the typewriter and bleed.) The author bared all and told all, and I think it's stunning. The tone and the plot are sad but hopeful. Even in beak moments, there's a dear, unspoken voice that reminds us we aren't actually alone as we may think and events aren't as certain and final as they appear.

Don't listen to the "Girl, Interrupted" comparisons. Other than a short period with the same institutional setting, they are very different.

The author isn't preachy about it, but clearly we fail these girls and women. Not just by making it half-impossible to get suitable care without money, which is a damn shame (just read Beth Ditto's own autobiography in which she says she was hospitalized when she really just needed a very long hug from a sympathetic person), but also by misunderstanding self harm in the first place and labeling those who cut or attempt suicide as untouchable freaks. To paraphrase something Oprah used to say, everybody's got problems but wearing them on the outside seems to invite others to forget their own struggles and judge you for yours.

I will say I am very, very weary of the current trend of putting "girl" in a title of a story about a woman. I told myself I wouldn't read another one, but in this case, Charlie is 17/18, so it applies.

We've read a lot of expressive works on the male experience of self harm/mental illness/alcoholism/youth, going back to Salinger and also the beat generation, etc. Now, we have a work of fiction like this and nonfiction like Sarah Hepola's Blackout, among others, to present the female experience. So, good for Glasgow. I think she wrote it in the hopes it would reach those who needed it, and I think it will.

Wow. Where do I even begin reviewing a book like this?

I self-harmed for a little over 5 years so I'm fairly open-minded when it comes to book with characters who also self-harm. The truth is there aren't many of them but the ones I've read are quite good. Girl in Pieces is more than good. It's harsh, brutal, raw, honest, and powerful. Sometimes I found it overwhelming, sometimes cliché, but it's always nice to know you aren't alone--that you were never alone in your pain.

Seventeen-year-old Charlotte "Charlie" Davis lives in a rehab center with other at-risk teens and young adults. She earns the nickname "Silent Sue" because she won't talk. She chooses not to talk actually. She's a self-harmer--a cutter--who uses broken glass to forget about her dead father, uncaring mother, and best friend whose gone. While the glass builds walls around Charlie's heart, it doesn't make the pain go away. Soon she'll find you might just have to fall apart one more time before you're willing to put yourself together again.

Possible spoilers and trigger warnings! Please read at your own risk.

This book throws punches. It's not light, delicate, or flowery. It's written with pure, burning emotion. Charlie's lived a hard life. It's obvious from the very beginning especially with the situation she finds herself in. There's a doctor whom the girls have nicknamed "Casper", who takes a particular interest in her and Charlie's roommate, Louisa, who also has deep, dark troubles of her own. Charlie tries to hold on the past but the truth is, she's stuck in the past to the point where she won't move forward. But when she reconnects with an old friend named Mickey, Charlie clings to what little hope she has to eventually leave the center.

And she does. She finds herself miles and miles away, working as a dishwasher in a little cafe called True Grit. She meets a few eclectic individuals, none more intriguing than late-20s Riley West, once a famous musician but now dead bit who sucks cigarettes like they're water and drinks beer like it's his lifesaver. While both drawn to one another, Charlie and Riley walk down a scarred path, each with demons of their own, as Charlie feels abandoned by the one friend she has left.

Despite how heavy this book is, there are small tokens of kind gestures and meanings--spots of kindness and hope if you look close enough. Charlie does eventually get better but the process is slow. It's like that saying "two steps forward, one step back." You rise but you also fall. This is true for Charlie.

Eventually, Charlie falls back in love with drawing and when a harrowing event takes her out of home, she finds solace in the silence with two of her co-workers, Linus and Tanner, siblings who bring Charlie with them to see their grandfather Felix in New Mexico. Charlie needs healing and I think she finds a bit of it there. Actually, I think she finds more of it there than she ever did anywhere else. I also think she needed to find out who she was now as herself and alone. While it doesn't "cure" her, it helps her, and we find Charlie able to move forward.

This isn't super relevant but I usually always read the "author's note" at the end and I can't help but respect the author for being brave and writing such a story and also sharing her story. It helps me realize that I was never alone either although it may have felt like it many, many times when I self-harmed. I'm glad you shared your story and you wrote Charlie's.

It's true, at first I did not like the book, but in part two (the book is divided into three parts), I really started liking it. Charlotte, better known as Charlie Davis, sadly has had a life that we don't want to acknowledge exists in the good ole' U. S. of A. She has experienced abuses and a horrible young life to become a 17 year old with a multitude of scars and pain from self-injury. Charlie is in therapy, but is forced to leave before she is victorious over her problems. She can't go to her mom like they suggest. She's not that kind of mom. The guy she thought might have a romantic interest has a girlfriend - and it is not Charlie. She gets a job washing dishes and lives a life of extreme poverty while hooking up with an older man who is likeable - except he's messed up with alcohol and drugs. Will she ever escape this mess of a life? She escapes some bad moments through her art, but she just seems so entrenched in the cesspool of life, and when things happen which are downers, she really doesn't have a support system to lean on. Will she ever escape the poverty and habits of self destruction that have been ruining her life?
I know there are girls who will appreciate reading a book that touches on their emotional turmoils including the feelings of wanting to be loved and sometimes doing something for someone which they know isn't the best, but just so the person will like them. I did not care for the overuse of the f*** word. It did not need to be a part of most everyone's speech. That is the part that really led to me disliking the book throughout the first part. This TAYSHAS award winning book opens your heart to the situations some young people are living through - or not.
I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

‘Girl in Pieces’ is the debut contemporary young adult novel by American author, Kathleen Glasgow.

I’d been hearing quite a lot of buzz about Kathleen Glasgow’s debut. Every blogger whose opinion I value was giving it 5-stars and warning that this was a book to break your heart and open your eyes, and now that I’m out the other side of it … they’re not wrong.

‘Girl in Pieces’ begins thus;

****
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 cigarettes and the flat stink of machine coffee. There was a curly forest of white hair inside his nostrils.
He said, “Holy Mother of God, girl, what’s been done to you?”
My mother didn’t come to claim me.
But: I remember the stars that night. They were like salt against the sky, like someone spilled the shaker against very dark cloth.
That mattered to me, their accidental beauty. The last thing I thought I might see before I died on the cold, wet grass.
****

And with an opening that raw and beautiful, I was hooked.

The girl lying on the cold, wet grass is 17-year-old Charlie Davis, whose father committed suicide, her abusive mother kicked her out of home and a tragedy has befallen her best friend – a tragedy Charlie seems hell-bent on repeating for herself. Charlie is institutionalised, and in diary-entry style the book takes us through her group therapy and release.

The comparison to Susanna Kaysen’s 1993 memoir hit 'Girl, Interrupted' (which was adapted into an Angelina Jolie Oscar-winning movie) is absolutely spot-on, but with a perhaps more satisfying examination of why Charlie is existing on the fringe. There’s something generally about ‘Girl in Pieces’ which feels at once 90s retro, but with unflinching YA modernity. Glasgow’s book reminded me of landmark YA fiction – 1971’s 'Go Ask Alice' or 'Cut' by Patricia McCormick, and of Australian YA such as 'Diary of a Street Kid' by Margaret Clark and the works of Scott Monk. It reminds me of the time when authors were first writing about the things teens weren’t supposed to be reading, let alone living … homelessness and drug use, self-harm and sexualisation.

Something about Glasgow’s writing also reminds me of Janet Fitch (and again that 90s feel, for her 1999 'White Oleander' in particular) mixed with a little 'How the Light Gets In' by M.J. Hyland – it’s in the raw rhythm and cadence, the look-you-dead-in-the-eye grit on the page and for how these books share female characters who envision a single person can save them, but they eventually realise they need to save themselves and fast.

And yet it’s frustrating for me to keep describing Glasgow in terms of who she sounds like and reminds me of, because Girl in Pieces deserves praise for being utterly unique too, and Glasgow’s voice being a booming debut … it’s just, I think, that to read a first novel that’s this accomplished and assured has me comparing her to well-known writers and coming up baffled that she doesn’t yet have a backlist I can trawl through, a previous book to dive right into. How can a debut be this damn good? Where has Kathleen Glasgow been hiding all this time?!

This book hurts, but it’s what I call a ‘necessary read’ – for I feel better for having known Charlie Davis, and reading Kathleen Glasgow for the first (but surely not the last) time. This one is a favourite of the year, for me.

It’s been about twelve hours since I finished reading Girl in Pieces and scenes from the novel still play in my head like film strips. This debut novel by Kathleen Glasgow is masterfully constructed and presented. The chapters frequently just pieces as the title would indicate.

Charlie is seventeen years old and has been living on the streets since her mother kicked her out of the house, and then her best friend, Ellis, whose family she started living with, blamed Charlie for the drugs that actually belonged to her boyfriend. Charlie’s always cut herself, but after a particularly bad event, she winds up in a psychiatric hospital with other girls who self-harm. From there, Charlie goes to Tucson courtesy of Mikey, an old friend of hers who Charlie’s always had a crush on.

What makes Girl in Pieces so affecting is that nothing is glossed over. Charlie’s pain, her self-loathing, her distrust, all ride very close to the surface, the reader feels them intensely. If you’ve ever been affected deeply by addiction of any kind, whether your own or someone else’s, you will recognize the darkness for what it is. You will recognize a pervasive sense of lack of control, of pessimism, of fear, of the always palpable sensation that this “thing” is too big and will swallow everything. References are made to the “cereal eating you up” rather than you eating the cereal.

This is probably just the kind of book that I would have stayed away from because of its dark subject matter, but a few months ago I blithely started entering to win all kinds of ARCs, shall I say, heedlessly. The first error book was The Red Bandanna and you can read that review here; it’s a book about 9/11 and I have been zealousy staying away from those books. And, simply, any books in which you know pain in reading is going to be involved like Girl in Pieces, which I also received through an ARC contest. Let me state simply, I am fervently glad that I have read both of these books. Sometimes you have to revisit pains of all types in order to learn more about yourself and appreciate more fully and more exactly your life without pain or darkness.

Girl in Pieces isn’t an easy read. It’s not supposed to be. As I mentioned above, the chapters are sometimes short fragments, like pieces to a puzzle. They are observations. They are like the jagged lines etched on flesh. They are the sketches of the people you see. Sometimes the invisible people on the periphery of your existence.

I loved the characters in Girl in Pieces. I understood Charlie being enamored with Riley, the once significant music star. I understood that he was a mess, a charming mess, and that he had the capability to bring her down with him. With the exception of Wendy (and she’s not given enough book-time to warrant it), all of the characters are developed. These are like real people and even though they have their foibles, I liked reading about them, spending time with them.

And, despite its darkness, I was sorry to read the final page and leave this novel, although I felt hope at its finale.

I received an ARC from Random House in exchange for an honest review.

I was lucky enough to meet Kathleen Glasgow at the Read Savannah event last month. She participated in a YA panel with a few other authors & when asked why she wrote this book she answered because ‘the story needed to be told.’ I couldn’t agree more.

I devoured this book as soon as I got my hands on it. Charlie is in treatment & it’s a Girl, Interrupted type facility where the staff is attempting to help the girl’s heal with too little resources & too little time. Charlie is booted out before she is ready to tackle the world again & we see her try to navigate through this next step in her life. She has no support, moves several states away & gets a job at a coffee shop. She is TRYING- the reader knows she’s giving it all she’s got to stay healthy & stop the self harm. Then we meet Riley, an older guy who works at the coffee shop with a damaged past. We see their relationship unfold & my god- it’s painful.

This book was hard. It was so hard to read the details of Charlie cutting herself & to imagine the hurt & pain she must have felt. As Kathleen reveals the layers of Charlie’s past, it’s uncomfortable, shocking & heartbreaking but we all know Charlie. Even if you don’t have a personal connection with self harm, we’ve all been in pain, felt alone, screwed around by a guy, been uncomfortable in our skin, felt unsure about the future & struggled to find our own strength. There’s one part in the book where Charlie is watching Riley flirt with her friend & it felt like a kick in the stomach to relive the anguish of an unsure teenage girl.

This book is so incredibly beautiful, alarming, IMPORTANT & so well written. I’m thrilled I had the opportunity to meet Kathleen & thank her for her bravery & honesty in writing this for all the Charlies of the world.

"Girl in Pieces" by Kathleen Glasgow is not the book for you if you like your stories fluffy and cozy.
Because this book is brutal in its intensity. It's page after page of heartache and heartbreak. Page after page of pain, sorrow and despair.
But that's life. Some aren't lucky to have a happy and cozy life. Some have to fight their way through pain so intense that it threatens to eat them alive. Pain that makes them their own worst enemy.
This is the kind of life that Charlie lives. There is nothing pretty about it. At all.
She's 17 and a cutter. But she's so much more than that. She's a lost girl who doesn't know how to find herself and how to find her strength. She's suffered loss, abuse and tragedy. And she just doesn't know how to hold on anymore. For her, even living life one moment at a time is barely possible.
Saying she's got it tough is an understatement. And it doesn't get much easier throughout the book. I was expecting the usual hardships followed by sunshines and flowers and birds singing. But that wasn't the case.
It was unrelenting sorrow and sadness throughout most of the book and yet there was hope mingled into it all. It wasn't big gestures and events, but the small fire inside of Charlie that kept her going. A fire she didn't even know she had.
Her journey was uncomfortable to witness. There were times I wanted to put the book aside, read something happier. I didn't want to be confronted with all of this anguish. But at the same time I owed it to Charlie to read her story, to stick with her and listen to her voice. I couldn't just stop reading. I needed to know what happens to her, if she makes it or not. It was tough and touching and devastating to be immersed in her world and in her head. Just thinking about it it I'm tearing up again.
And it wasn't just her pain that was hard to bear. Most people that were in her life didn't live the house and picket fence dream. They were all damaged in their own way and did terrible things to themselves or others.
Their was an honesty about this story that left a strong impression on me. It made the story real and even though fiction, it gave people a voice, who are rarely heard.

5+ the-tears-just-keep-coming stars.

Girl in Pieces is not your average story of a girl who is struggling, but instead feels like so much more. Based on the synopsis, I already expected this to be a heavy book, but it was even heavier and more intense than I expected. This book hit deep and was hard to read at times, but also impossible to put down.

First, I thought this was a great portrayal of mental health. Charlie goes through so many ups and downs and they are all completely sporadic and unpredictable. She may take ten steps forward one day, three steps back the next, and then no steps either way after that; the unexpectedness of everything was truly spot-on. You can feel her descent and her tiny victories and the guilt and shame she feels when she thinks she has messed up. Charlie wants to get better, she is trying really hard to follow the rules laid out by her doctor, but sometimes she just messes up, and that is normal and realistic. This is actually something that I really liked about Charlie - she never seemed to be intentionally self-destructive. She truly wanted to better herself and do what it takes to become better, but she was trapped by feelings of being damaged and unable to be loved 'like a normal person.'

In a weird way, I also sort of liked the fact that Charlie was essentially kicked out of her psychiatric hospital because her insurance funds disappeared. How realistic and lifelike is that? I've never read a book about psychiatric wards and mental health that really touched much on that aspect, and I think that's so important. So many people seem to forget or skim over the fact that to be in a psychiatric ward or receive quality help can be extremely expensive or require insurance, so sometimes those that need the help the most can't get it, and that's a horrible problem in our society that has yet to be resolved.

Glasgow's prose - wow. It's effortlessly brilliant and emotional. It flows in a poetic fashion at times, but other times it is raw and blunt and cut up. No matter what, though, it is almost always captivating to read. Glasgow does not shy away from heavy topics, and instead treats them with the care and occasional force needed to make a point. There are certain areas where we seem to get a more harsh inner dialogue from Charlie and it reads so passionately and is so emotionally charged - it's really just some superb writing.

One of my only issues with this book was my connection with Charlie due to the writing style, however. At most points in the book, I felt completely sucked in, right there with Charlie, feeling what she was feeling, experiencing those events in her life. But at other times I felt rather disconnected and as if I was watching everything happen from outside of a foggy window, if that makes any sense. So while I didn't mind the writing or my connection to the story, this somewhat uneven narration drew me out of my reading concentration sometimes.

Take a deep breath before starting this one because you'll likely be holding it the entire time you're reading. What a beautiful, weighted, perfect story that I didn't know I needed until I read it!

I'm tired of drunk and desperate. I'm tired and angry at me. For letting myself get smaller and smaller in the hopes that he would notice me more. But how can someone notice you if you keep getting smaller?

I absolutely love Charlie. She is anything but perfect. She's messy and a little messed up. Her support system is worse off than she is, at best. So much bad shit has happened in her life and yet, she's still here. She makes it clear: she's not trying to die by suicide. But how do you live when you never really have?

The book starts off with Charlie's hospitalization. Charlie isn't saying a word but her message is loud and clear: bad stuff has happened and her self harming behavior took a turn for the worse. Her body is riddled with scars from cutting and her self-worth is minimal. She's homeless, the walking wounded, and her friends and family have enabled her in some fashion. Upon a too-soon release from the institution, she heads out to a friend's place. From there the story develops into her journey of healing and growth.

I had recently finished Exit, Pursued by a Bear, and was pleasantly surprised by how the main character handled her trauma. I was equally surprised with Girl in Pieces because while Charlie's journey isn't straightforward (it's very much one step forward, two steps back for quite a long time), it's clear she understands what she needs to do and is fumbling through figuring it out. Her small triumphs made me smile and cheer for her. Her backslides made me sad and I hoped for her the way you would a good friend who's struggling.

I remember when the publisher's representative handed me a copy of Girl in Pieces. She told me it was one of the best books coming out this fall and also one of the most emotional releases. She couldn't have been more correct. This is a story of mental health that gets it right, not because the adults are so great and because the person gets what they need (they aren't and she doesn't), but because Charlie navigates through this period of time and comes out at the end. Sometimes that's all you can hope for. And it's enough.

Girl In Pieces is an angst-ridden train wreck. It's heart wrenching and tragic, there's no way to sugar coat it. The author puts you through the emotional wringer. You'll simultaneously *need* to put this book down to catch your breath, but find yourself unable because you also *need* to know everything turns out okay for Charlie. There is a deep, dark, secret haven to be found in self-harm, one that is difficult to grasp unless you've found yourself dragged to that low point. If you don't know how it feels to find yourself gasping for air, drowning in your own self-deprecation and trying so hard to find a way out... you can't understand where this main character is. You should still read it. This amazing, fascinating book will force you to confront a place where I guarantee you at least one of your friends or family members is or has been at one point, and offer you the motivation to hold their hand while they find their way out. If, however, you are unfortunate enough to know this kind of darkness intimately, you're going to find an incredibly powerful message in this novel: you are never completely healed. The only way to survive is to take one day at a time. I appreciated this book more than the author could ever understand. THANK YOU for being brave enough to write it.

*I received a complimentary copy from Blogging For Books, and voluntarily reviewed*

From the first few pages, I knew that this book would be something special. At 10% on my Goodreads update my status was: “This book. That voice.” I haven’t read such an emotionally gripping and poignant book in a long time. Charlie’s voice is rich, broken, and beautifully tragic. She bares her soul to the reader and has overcome so much that you’ll want to weep for her pain.

This book is intense and not for the faint of heart. The subjects are raw and gritty and graphic. There are times when, if you’re even remotely queasy when it comes to blood, that you might feel a little sick. Self mutilation/harm plays a major role in this story and the psychological reasoning behind it is dark, honest, and could be dangerous or cathartic to some readers.

Sometimes contemporary books can feel contrived, this is seedy, and twisted, and full of anguish and suffering that many young people, unfortunately go through. It feels absolutely real and honest. Heartbreaking and yes, it will make you angry and maybe even open your eyes to all of the hurt around you that you overlook everyday.

The writing style. Holy sinful writing gods. Beautiful. Potent. Full of soul. It’s imperfect. There’s some poetry thrown in here and there, but that voice. It reads like a diary.

Girl in Pieces reads like two books. The time that Charlie spent during her recovery and the life she builds after. There are flashbacks sporadically as well. The first half of the book is like therapy. You’re introduced to everything that got Charlie into the position she’s in. You meet other girls who also self harm for whatever reasons. Each character is unique and memorable. You’ll want to know them, to get to the heart of why they feel the way they do.

The second half was not my favorite. It slows down considerably. Charlie is building a new life for herself and everyday is a struggle not to cut. The memories of her past haunt her, but so is oh so strong. She’s a fighter, through every negative thought, every memory, she battles herself. You see the struggle and wonder how she copes, but there’s hope for a future where she’s better, where she can be and love herself.

There’s a stunning plot twist. I was so surprised and disgusted. Just wow. You never know people.

The romance is messed up. Toxic in some instances and good for her in others. Through love, Charlie begins to see a new side of herself, a beautiful side. She begins to truly look at herself, but the risks and decisions she makes, the way she puts herself in danger is most definitely not okay. She sees it, but doesn’t feel worthy or secure in herself enough to say no. THIS is so important. An examination of why people stay in bad situations and how to rediscover your worth.

Side note: I strongly dislike this cover.

When I was in high school, I had a friend who cut herself. Her life was quite broken and she dropped out of school during second year of high school. She used to show me her scars and wounds. I felt painful even by just looking at it. I lost contact with her and I'm still wondering if she's doing fine now. Girl In Pieces reminds me of my friend.

The story is presented in 3 parts. It's like 3 different stages of Charlotte Davis's life. Reading them made me felt like taking a roller coaster ride (especially in part 2).

When I was first reading part 1, I felt confused and disturbed. The chapters are short, the writing is a bit poetic most of the time and I couldn't understand the thinking mechanism of Charlie. Charlie is known as "Silent Sue" in the mental health facility because she's not talking much. From time to time, little pieces of her past will be told.

"I cut because I can't deal. It's as simple as that. The world becomes an ocean, the ocean washes over me, the sound of water is deafening, the water drowns my heart, my panic becomes as large as planets. I need release, I need to hurt myself more than the world can hurt me, and then I can comfort myself."

Unfortunately, Charlie has to leave the therapy center prematurely because of lack of insurance coverage and her family members are unable to afford to pay for her fees. In part 2 after she's been discharged, she's on her own. Even with the help of her close friend, Mikey, I was worried about her. Apparently she hasn't recover completely from PTSD and she seems like she's still hiding in that turtle shell and not ready to come out. Even though this part did bored me sometimes, I was very excited to see the twist of a plot that finally shed some light on Charlie's life.

I mentioned about roller coaster ride and I mean it. The incidents that happening around Charlie made me wonder how can a person gets so much s*** in her life? Whenever I see there's a bright turn, something bad happened.

"People should know about us. Girls who write their pain on their bodies."

However, the ending is what I wish to see. I'm so proud of Charlie. Her childhood is broken, her teenage life is far more broken to be mended. But she is strong. She didn't give up on living in a normal life even though she might not experience it before. Her character is complex, developed and I adored her for having an artistic talent that allows her to speak with her own voice.

"Everything Casper wanted me to say I've drawn instead. I have a voice. I have a place for my voice."

I found this book very realistic probably because the personal connection for the author in regard to self-harm and recovery. I'm so glad that this book is able to published after nine years of journey.

Girl In Pieces is a story about self-saving and not giving up on oneself even though how messed up one's life is. It's a survival story with a lot of heart-wrenching and intense moments that make you question life.

Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow is a phenomenal read. She has taken readers into a portion of humanity's darkest moments to show what some go through in life. These kind of reads are frightening. Because they show what could and does happen to others. The greatest conflict ever is pain. Pain is the pressure life puts upon us. Here, we see what a young teenage girl has to take. Life pulled the rug from under feet more times then I or the character herself would like. Pain is that numbing sensation that eats at our souls until we can't feel anymore. Kathleen Glasgow depicts a realtor protrait of suffering and survival. Emotional and physical pain. Life isn't pretty nor easy. It's a constant battle against our demons and the bad that comes our way.

Girl in Pieces is is deep. Keeps readers turning the pages. I found myself lost within Charlotte's life. I was placed immediately into her shoes. I cried so hard. The frustrations and anger came off the pages until life situations took that away. Then, there was nothing. Yet, in that moment pain was at the core. Women everywhere think they have it hardest and that no one else knows...this read shows that not everyone has it well. Even thought it's fiction the tale was so believable, I could have sworn it was nonfiction. Heart wrenching, beautifully told, and well-developed. Kathleen Glasgow has brought a masterpiece into the world.

To be completely honest, it has taken me a few days to gather my thoughts and write this review. I am at a loss for words and this book really got to me. I wont go in to details about how, but in some ways Charlotte (Charlie) is very easy for myself to relate to. With that said, I need to address the fact that this book is not for sensitive readers. Well, it can be, you just need to read with caution because there are some situations in this book that can potentially be triggering.

"The world becomes an ocean. the ocean washes over me, the sound of water is defeaning, the water drowns my heart, my panic becomes as large as planets. I need release, I need to hurt myself more that the world can hurt me, and then I can comfort myself."

It was nice to see Charlie's journey and her strive to get better. She did not have many people in her life to help her, but the few she did have were absolutely amazing. I adored Charlie when she got the courage to no longer cover her scars. It takes a lot to look at your past and be okay with it. It takes a lot to learn from your past and grow positively from it. Charlie's story is really sad and is basically one bad situation after another. How much hurt and disappointment can a girl take? In the end she forms a few new friendships and rekindles a few old ones, which I enjoyed to see because Charlie deserves something good in her life. This book was full of so much hurt and sadness that I am really happy with the ending and the friends Charlie gained. This book had me hooked from the first page! I could not put this book down.

Girl In Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow is a delightfully, disturbing story. That is the easiest way to describe this book. Girl In Pieces will have you, as the reader, in pieces the whole time. I can't remember how many times I cried while reading this book. The photo above is probably one of the best book photos I have ever taken. I saw this side walk and knew that this story would look perfect laying on a cracked sidewalk.

"I'm so lonely in the world, I want to peel all of my flesh off and walk, just bone and gristle, straight to the river, to be swallowed."

Kathleen's writing is so real and raw that it is almost hard to read sometimes. It was as if I was almost reading someone's diary. It felt like I was learning a story about someone that I wasn't suppose to know. Girl In Pieces has some extremely dark moments, but who's life doesn't? Everyone has their moments. As I mentioned above, Charlie was very easy for me to relate to. I felt everything she felt and that is what made this book so intense to me, as the reader.

If you are ready to take a look into the life of a teenage girl, who doesn't feel like she belongs anywhere but doesn't want to die, then this book is for you. Many girls feel like this daily and I don't think people notice or bother. I do hope this book brings a little awareness to self harm and that people can learn from Charlie's friends, parents, and life experiences.

I am now a huge fan of Kathleen Glasgow.

Glasgow’s writing 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 an artist when it comes to building tension, revealing the ache. And there is a lot of ache in this book. My chest felt tight with fear and compassion for Charlie, a homeless 17-year-old cutter.

While Charlie is in therapy, her counselor reminds her to breathe. I had to remind myself to do just that as I read these pages because I wanted so badly for Charlie to survive. I wanted to heal her and comfort her and make the world a better place for her.

Glasgow’s debut doesn’t shy away from the physical act of cutting or exploring the physical and emotional residue left behind. We see Charlie hide the shame of her scars. We know Charlie feels unloved and unloveable because of her scars. And yet the thing she keeps so dear, so close to her is her “tender kit” the small safety blanket (shards of glass, gauze and ointment) that she uses to drain the pain from inside. Her tender kit is her comfort because people are unreliable. People hurt. Cutting transfers that pain for a brief swell of moments.

This is a book about survival. The horrors of physical survival when you are homeless: getting food, daily shelter, remaining safe in the unprotected dark. It is a book about emotional survival and how one teen works through the pain of abandonment and abuse. How she deals with the scars that her family, strangers, and even friends have etched into her heart. It is a book about embracing your art & your voice, finding a way to set the beautiful parts of you free in the world. For Charlie, that was her drawing. Her art was her language, and it was beautiful.

GIRL IN PIECES is an intense and gorgeously written book about survival and the kind of precious hope that can spring from the most desperate of wells. After being with Charlie on her journey of survival, it was a gift to see her gather her pieces and begin to thrive.

Charlotte "Charlie" Davis has faced more heartache and pain in her 17 years than most people experience in a lifetime. Self harming gives her control, but one night, Charlie takes it too far. Just as she is beginning to get well, both emotionally and physically, insurance issues forces Charlotte out of the mental health facility that has been keeping her safe. Unable to go home, Charlie embarks on a journey to a possible happy future. When her problems threaten to take away everything she has gained, will Charlie be able to get a future she deserves?

To be honest, I listened to most of Girl in Pieces thinking that Charlie's issues must be dramatized. I wish that the author, Kathleen Glasgow, had placed the Author's Note up front, as her personal story helped to give me perspective over Charlie's. Girl in Pieces shows the stark reality of life for many in our society: there are many who suffer in silence because of their horrific conditions. There are many who must eat out of dumpsters, who harm when they do not know how else to control their lives, and those who must live in substandard conditions. Girl in Pieces is a raw, unflinching account of one such person and I applaud author Kathleen Glasgow for having the courage to tell Charlie's story.

Girl in Pieces shows a very realistic side to self-harming. It is so very raw, that it shook me to my very core. Normally, I would have eaten this book up, but the beginning was very hard for me to get through. Charlie’s thoughts are very realistic and I could relate to all the thoughts she was having about self-harm.

I’m so happy I read Charlie’s story in Girl in Pieces because it’s the rawest one I’ve read to date, especially when it comes to cutting. The thoughts that Charlie would have throughout the story used to be my own a while ago. We sought out self-harming as our release.

Kathleen Glasgow went full in with topics such as self-harming, drug and alcohol addiction, suicide, death, and self-esteem. Girl in Pieces describes all the feelings and thoughts that a person who self-harm has. The author didn’t sugar-coat any of it. It also shows the dangers of self-harming and abusing of drugs and alcohol. When it came to self-esteem, Charlie had the lowest of the low. She felt she really was unlovable and that she was all alone in the world. The written words in these parts felt like they were coming from a real, living and breathing person, not from a book character.

I’m glad the author wrote this story for everyone to read because it needs to be read. Something that I liked about this book is that it explored forms of self-harm that aren’t mentioned much, such as burning, pulling hair, among others. Self-harm tends to be overshadowed or not talked about in Young Adult novels, when they should be. This type of story will motivate readers to find out more about self-harm. Also, many readers will relate to this story in so many ways.

Things are never easy in real life, and they were never easy for Charlie. When things would start to get good, they would start to go bad again, which is exactly how it is in real life. Real life never gives you a chance to breathe, and Glasgow brought that into the story.

Girl in Pieces is so very raw and poignant. It’s also dark and petrifying, but it’s also hopeful.

A bold and emotional tale of a young girl suffering from a mental illness, Girl In Pieces, is a tale like no other. From the beginning of the book, Charlotte Davis is at rock bottom, where a lot of us have been before or are at in the current moment. The setting of the book is mainly at a mental institution, where through a long and trying journey, Charlotte, or Charlie, strives to fight her illness and regain her sense of independence.

The empathy I felt for Charlie is what really drove me into reading this story so quickly. One may not be able to connect with the character instantly if they haven't undergone anything similar to Charlie's story; however, if one keeps reading, the experiences this girl is coping with are almost unimaginable. To read of a 17 year old girl going through such trauma, is heart breaking and devastating. I admit I cried more than once while reading. Kathleen Glasgow, has such a uniquely intense and blunt style of writing that draws the reader in and puts them right there in situation with her character. I truly felt like I was walking in those halls with Charlie. I could almost feel the pain on my own arms and my heart, well quite frankly, it's been a very long time since I've read something that was so real and truly authentic.

The topics Glasgow covers are legitimate real life issues, such as drugs, sex, violence and discrimination from health care to patients on any type of state funding , making this a perfect crossover book for adults too. I myself am 30 and was utterly and completely captivated by this novel.

Charlie is a very complex character fighting to overcome a mental illness but at 17 years old is still trying to find her own identity as well. I truly appreciated that this novel didn't focus too much on a romance, considering Charlie's state. I think the book community needs more of young men and women pulling themselves up, saving themselves from real life situations. Glasgow portrayed exactly this. I was mesmerized, and completely enveloped by this story and would recommend this to all.

From cutting and suicide to addiction and abuse, Kathleen Glasgow’s well-written, character-driven debut novel does not shy away from a number of serious, relevant, tragic issues, making it a difficult book to read—but also worthwhile.

Glasgow explores the complex and painful process of healing, as main character Charlie begins the novel in a treatment facility before later venturing into the real world. Day by day, she works to piece her life back together in a healthy way, and amidst a cast of thoughtfully portrayed characters, she has moments of great success and then equally great failure. Many moments frustrated me, because I quickly came to care about Charlie and wanted the best for her, yet through every page, her journey feels authentic—heartbreakingly and hopefully so.

With its multitude of profanity, drug use, and sexual references, I know Girl in Pieces is not one to recommend to everyone. But I liked it, and for the reader interested in contemporary stories involving heavy topics, this is definitely a book to add to the TBR list.

Thanks to Blogging for Books, I received a copy of Girl in Pieces and the opportunity to provide an honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, and all the opinions I have expressed are my own.

Harrowing. Beautiful. Exquisitely written. Unputdownable.

Just a few ways to describe Kathleen Glasgow's tremendous debut. As a teenager, I remember devouring GIRL, INTERRUPTED. And more recently as an adult, I had the privilege to lose myself in another book in ways I hadn't since my teenage years, with Hanya Yanagihara's A LITTLE LIFE. In so many ways, GIRL IN PIECES, belongs beside both of these works.

GIRL IN PIECES begins with Charlie finding herself in treatment for self-harm. She keeps to herself, not even talking to the other women she shares her space with, who are also the first people she's met like herself. Slowly, the reader is given glimpses of where Charlie came from. How she arrived at this point in her life. Charlie's life has been hard -- you don't end up with her set of life experiences because anything's been handed to you. But treatment is, in a way, a chance at a turning point. Except that like so many things in life, it, too, is a stage, and she needs to figure out some things on her own.

I'm wary to say too much of the plot for fear of spoiling the book. It's so much about Charlie's journey, the people she meets both in MN and in Tucson, and how much they shape her journey -- how much she lets them shape it. It's a book about relationships, not just the ones we have with other people -- boys, family, friends -- but the most important one, the one we have with ourselves.

I hope this becomes required reading for teens in the way that SPEAK is, because I believe it's just as illuminating. A privileged glimpse into behavior that's often misunderstood. No life is a throwaway. Everyone deserves the chance to put together the pieces.

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 Charlie, a girl who has lived an incredibly painful life and experienced more sorrow in her seventeen years than most do in a lifetime. She's haunted by many demons- her father, her best friend, her relationship with her abusive mother, her time spent on the streets. Charlie carries scars both emotional and physical- she's a cutter, which is her way of dealing with the pain, and her skin bears the marks of her trauma. As she struggles to make a new life, Charlie has to learn to live in her own skin and make peace with herself, even as external influences threaten to bring her back to dark places.

This was a book that sucker-punched me in the first page, that grabbed me by the throat and didn't let go. Kathleen Glasgow has such a totally original, immersive way with words. This is the kind of writing that feels fully, shockingly inventive. Charlie's voice is raw and hurt and sad, so sad, but she can also be hopeful and funny and strong and dynamic. I love that she is an artist and uses her drawings to channel her energy, both positive and negative. The emotions she channels into her art are visceral. Every time she pulled out her sketchbook, or got excited about the prospect of creating art, I wanted to cheer for her and hug her and tell her how amazing she is. Because she is amazing. She is learning that she can be loved, despite being told girls like her, girls with scars, are unlovable. And she is learning about a different, very important kind of love- the love she has for herself.

The sentences in this book are haunting, lyrical, sparse, purposeful. While the words aren't easy to digest, there is so much raw beauty in them, a tenderness pulsing under the surface, a hope brimming through even Charlie's ugliest thoughts. Charlie is a survivor, and I don't doubt that her story will change lives. As a reader, I will certainly never forget her.

A heartbreaking, beautiful debut that I will be recommending to everyone. GIRL IN PIECES is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Once again, this is a book I was glad I read, but not necessarily one that I enjoyed reading. There's lots of pain here, and it's real and well described. Cutting is a serious problem, and probably one of the most underestimated and misunderstood.

Charlie is a teenage girl like many others, with one difference. When she feels empty or discouraged, she cuts herself. Why? Because she's in so much emotional pain that she is numb.....and cutting hurts, giving her the ability to feel the pain......which is at least something to feel. It also can give her a feeling of something she controls, unlike her day to day life. There's a level of honesty offered by this author that is heartbreaking and yet inspiring at the same time.....that someone in such emotional pain can perhaps find a way out of the horror of cutting. One you will remember long after you finish it.

"Girl in Pieces" is an extremely emotional book. Charlie's story hooked from page one and I spent one day reading the book from start to finish.

"Girl in Pieces" follows the story of Charlie (real name is Charlotte). After not getting along with her mother, she finds herself having to survive on the streets. She does thinks that are unthinkable to survive and that a girl her age should never have to go through. She is a cutter and cuts herself really badly. She finds herself in a psych hospital. There she slowly starts to talk with the girls and doctor that is there but she has to leave before she's ready because the money that is being paid to let her stay has run out. From there Charlie goes to Arizona to be with an old friend, Mikey. She meets people there that will change her life, some for the better, others not so much.

The book is both sad and hopeful. Charlie's story seems so bleak at times and I think all readers of the book cross their fingers hoping that she will be okay. Kathleen Glasgow's writing is really well done. She handles the difficult topic of cutting in a respectful manner that doesn't shy away from the horribleness of it. This book may be difficult to read and if you or someone close to you have dealt with cutting, you may want to avoid this book. But I think that this is a beautifully written book that deserves to be read by both teens and adults. I highly recommend giving this book a try.

Kathleen Glasgow has handed us her heart within the pages of this book. In this chilling reality which so many people live.

A girl lost in her own skin, not knowing who she really is or if she can survive and back away from the edge. Charlotte is broken, she has no one left to fix her, to put the pieces of herself back together. She is on the edge and about to fall over.

As I read page after page, I realized I was not reading a simple book I was privy to someone's innermost thoughts. I could feel the sorrow and angst rolling off of Charlotte. The bitter pain of not having anyone left to turn to. The cool smooth glass as she rubbed it between her fingers. I could feel the ridged bumps of scars upon scars as she ran her hands over her arms. It all but ripped my heart out.

Every word written upon the page felt alive, it felt as if the story was a deep ocean swelling with emotions, crashing down on the reader. I felt the raw honest devotion poured into each individual character. I love the way the book is written, how it starts off short and poetic, giving us a taste of how it must feel to be inside Charlottes mind. Then it blossoms into a rhythm that envelops the reader in the bumpy road of self healing Charlotte takes.

Charlotte as a character embodies the very thing people wish to ignore, she is an in your face wake up call without having to say a word. She fights for herself, even when she thinks she's failed she is still fighting. That is the best message anyone can give is to never stop fighting for yourself. No matter who left her behind, No matter what happened to her. No matter what got in her way and once again shoved her to the ground or caused her to fall back into old habits, she took a look at herself and decided to change and change she did.

She proves that no matter how far you fall you can always get back up, as long as you never give up on yourself.

Kathleen put so much of her heart into this book I would swear it became a living thing. Thank you for sharing yourself with us.

**I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book, the words above are my honest opinion of the book. My review has not been altered or affected by the author**

This is such a dark work, and the main character is so fragile that I found it incredibly difficult to read. At the same time, those circumstances made it incredibly compelling to read. Charlie is in such a black hole, and her battle to resurface feels heartbreakingly believable. I think it is this honesty that makes the story an engaging perspective for a wide range of readers. Those who have battled the dark themselves will nod their heads in acknowledgement, and those who have never gone there will gain empathy. The most obvious comparison is to Girl Interrupted, though that book feels positively lighthearted compared to Girl in Pieces. And while this is a rather bleak coming of age tale, I found it inspiring. Charlie is fighting to regain power over the instincts that have kept her alive, though victimized. She is trying to regain the humanity that life has stripped away, and her journey combines the normal roadblocks we all encounter plus the ones unique to her. Her smallest triumphs feel like a big deal for her and for the reader. This book isn't for everyone, but more mature readers ready to tackle an honest, powerful and emotional read will probably be glad they picked this one up. Languages and situations are intense, so it really is going to be most appropriate for mature high school readers, but adult readers will find it just as compelling. I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Source: Delacorte via Netgalley
Disclaimer: I received this book as an ARC (advanced review copy). I am not paid for this review, and my opinions in this review are mine, and are not effected by the book being free.

I wanted to read Girl In Pieces because I am drawn to the stories about mental illness and this one is about a cutter who is currently in treatment. Honestly though, I almost didn't want to stick with it because it is not in a traditional format. The "chapters" are short, generally a page or less, and it is almost like diary entries. I am not always so much on that sort of format, but it did catch my attention.

The intensity, emotions and eventual road to healing, understanding and some sort of life after recovery are all themes explored and what are universal in this type of story, and what kept me from not finishing.

Charlotte begins by mostly telling us about the others in treatment and group with her, and this works because we see what she notices, what of herself or her past that she latches on to. I felt for her, and its hard to see someone struggle with pain and depression and loss in these destructive ways.

Bottom Line: Worth a go round if the subject interests you.

Every now and then you get a book that shines a light on a part of life you hadn't noticed before, or at least, hadn't paid much attention to. The way that some people, mostly young girls, deal with stress and the angst of growing up in a world that might not make much sense is hidden from view. When we see it, the cutting, the self abuse, the over-control, we pretend it doesn't exist. It makes us feel nervous. Charlie, the hero of her story, is trying to recover from cutting for stress relief. She has many scars, which makes her recovery difficult, until she finds people who understand addiction and recovery. Recovery is not a one and done sort of thing. It is long term, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute sort of thing and is never finished. We can be happy for Charlie as she reaches for happiness and sanity. We can feel with her the reality that she will always be a cutter and will always need support to keep from falling back into despair.
I can't say that I enjoyed this book like I do my science fiction or thrillers. There is mystery here. How did Charlie get to this place and why does she want to both stay and leave? Can she get better? Will she become the artist that is in her? We can only hope so, because Charlie is still very young,
I received my copy of this book from First In Line at Random House for this review.

I wish I'd had this book years ago when I was in high school (and no, I was not a cutter or a homeless youth but I so needed to read that someone else felt as helpless and awkward and pained as Me) and again a few years ago when I became friends with a young woman who was a cutter. Story is the great educator, healer, mirror, and this powerful story does all three. Everything that could go wrong in Charlie's life has gone wrong. When we first meet her she is in psych word following a particularly vicious incident of self-harming. Bit by bit, her what's led her to this place is revealed to us, and no surprise, it isn't pretty. And in the painful truth that makes up the lives of the broken, it doesn't get prettier. This book is exquisitely written and at no point does Kathleen Glasgow take the easy way out - there are times we are so frustrated with Charlie, scared for her, hurting for her, hopeful for her, but nothing is easy, nor should it be. When I finished this book I wanted to call every teacher, every parent, everyone I know and tell them to read this book (don't worry, I will!), not only because it deals so beautifully with a specific issue, but because it deals so wonderfully with the universal themes of feeling like an outsider, feeling unloveable, feeling invisible. This book is a jewel and a treasure.

Girl in Pieces is an amazing novel. I finished this one up today and it felt like a mic drop moment. The author tells an important story that is so, so compelling and tells it in a way that is absolutely unforgettable. Brilliant characters come to vibrant life, completely ready to break your heart. The story travels at a fast clip, with short chapters in the beginning that lend the story an unexpected energy and drive.

Young adults who enjoy gritty, realistic stories will revel in authentic dialogue, raw emotion, and keenly perceptive insights into a world that few understand but all will find fascinating, I was not surprised to read in the final author's note that Girl in Pieces was inspired by the author's life. The insightful observations and gripping events feel so real that it's hard to tear yourself away.

Charlotte's struggles are unique but young readers will find it surprisingly easy to identify with her pain. This is what makes this not only an excellent book for teens who struggle with self harm issues but for any person who has ever felt overwhelmed by a life that is too large and out of control. Girl in Pieces goes on my list of best YA books of 2016 and is a must read for any adult or high school student.

I think I’ve said this everywhere, but here I am saying it again: GIRL IN PIECES by Kathleen Glasgow was my best surprise of this year!
I started reading this book without high expectations. I didn’t add it to Goodreads, because I never put attention to it before, but it amazed me from the first chapter. The writing of this book is raw and beautiful. I just couldn’t stop reading.

Girl in Pieces is about Charlie’s journeys to overcome her dark past. She’s probably the most broken and damaged main character I’ve met yet. Her story is heavy and painful. It was brutally honest.
There are so many things I loved about this book. It was perfection.
Writing: Beautiful, poignant, haunting.
Characters: Realistic, well developed, unforgettable.
Plot: Brutal, honest, gut-wrenching.

This book made me feel! It made me understand Charlie in a way I would never before. This book was hard to read sometimes because it’s cruel and there’s so much pain, but it was necessary. This book is POWERFUL.
All characters in this book are dealing with their own problems, just like every person in real life. Sometimes Charlie is with wrong people for the wrong reasons, like you, like me.
And just when I thought: “Finally! Something good’s about to happen” I was wrong again. There were so many things I didn’t see coming.

I don’t think I have enough words to describe how wonderful was this book, but I do think it’s a necessary read. Kathleen Glasgow’s debut is one of my favorite pieces of literature of this year. I would never forget it.
Girl In Pieces is a beautiful book with messed up characters learning from their mistakes. It’s heartbreakingly captivating and hey, there’s a word I learned just to describe this book: spellbound.
I loved it. I highly recommend it to everyone.

In Girl in Pieces, we meet seventeen-year-old Charlie Davis. She is disenfranchised, struggling to deal with her father’s suicide, her abusive mother, and her year of homelessness. The last straw, her friend Ellis is in the hospital probably brain dead from a cutting incident. As the book opens, Charlie is being released from the hospital for her own cutting episode that almost kills her. She goes from the hospital to a mental health treatment facility, but just as she is starting to get the treatment she so desperately needs, the insurance money runs out. Rather than going to live with her negligent and abusive mother who is too busy battling her own demons to care about her, Charlie hops a bus to Arizona to be near her friend Mikey, a boy she “like-likes” but unfortunately does not feel the same way.
Charlie’s story is told in diary like entries that makes the reader squirm, and rail against every bad decision Charlie makes, it makes you want to reach out and shake her to tell her you are not alone. You don’t have to be one of the "girls who write their pain on their bodies"
Girl in Pieces is not so much about healing, it is about the struggle to get there. It is well written, poignant and really makes you like you are part of Charlie’s world.

There are those rare books that make writers want to be better writers. This is one of those books. After only a couple chapters, for me, it became on par with the distinct voices of Julie Berry's ALL THE TRUTH THAT'S IN ME, Halse Anderson's WINTERGIRLS, Demetrios' I'LL MEET YOU THERE, and Scott's LIVING DEAD GIRL. Charlie's words and story and cries for help crawl deep into the reader. Charlie is a cutter, a self-mutilator. She's a girl who's been through more in her less than two decades than most people have to go through in a lifetime. And from the very onset of this novel, the story feels like a Long. Slow. Deep. Cut. With thick glass. It is painful. At times excruciating. But the brilliance lies in how Glasgow makes you care so much for Charlie despite how hopeless a character she seems. Often, issue books have characters that seem whiny or thick-headed. Charlie is never that. She is blunt. Matter-of-fact. Her brokenness just IS. The reader can't stop reading because they are invested; they want to make sure Charlie is okay, gets some relief, feels more than the need to harm herself. Many of the advanced reviews suggest this book will save lives, and I agree. For those dealing with this disorder, Charlie confirms they are not alone and there is hope. I bow to Glasgow, and I thank her for working so hard on a novel that will most deservedly place itself among YA's best.

*Original review on Goodreads and My Blog*

My original review was rather lengthy so I will keep it short here. I thought this book had a very powerful meaning. It's a book about many different mental disorders, the main one being cutters or self abusers. I have many mental disorders myself but I have never been a cutter but I can relate in ways what they go through. I had a friend that was a cutter for years but luckily she got through it.

Even though the book was great, the most powerful part of it to me was the Author's Note. Kathleen Glasgow wrote some things about herself in that note that really touched me and made me feel for her and those of us of any disorder that are NOT ALONE.

Thank you ♥

When I read Girl In Pieces there were so many times where I held my breath because it hurt to read it, but in the best way of reading a book. The writing is so painfully beautiful. You know and you fear that Charlie is going down the path to bad behavior again with Riley, yet you kind of can’t help but like/love Riley. He’s charming and endearing, although he’s damaged too. They’re like two damaged souls that you’re sure will be bad together but you still want them together. At least I did.

My heart hurt while reading GIP, and I felt a pure sadness for Charlie, but it’s beautiful the strength she possesses when she has choices to make. I honestly don’t think I’ve read a book that has made me have such a strong physical reaction to a book – like my heart lurched in agony for what Charlie was experiencing.

Kathleen Glasgow has written GIRL IN PIECES in short, sparse paragraphs to capture the intensity and passion of the story, and it works. It’s definitely a hard read, but so very worth it. Reading GIP ripped my heart out, pulled it to pieces and put it back together, slowly. It’s a heart-wrenching story of a courageous and strong girl who is in immense emotional and physical pain and I loved immersing myself in the story.

Surviving in life can be challenging, but especially when things seem to be working against you. Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow follows a teenage girl through her recovery as she slowly confronts her past.

Charlie Davis has been dealt her share of bad things in life. Being homeless, being used, being hurt by those around her. When she's gone so far as to need to be hospitalized for the self-inflicted wounds she cut into her skin with glass, Charlie tries to get better--or if not better, at least functional. After her surprising release from the rehab center, Charlie travels half-way across the country to be near her friend Mikey, who hopes to be be a good influence in her life.

Quickly paced with the brief entries toward the beginning that become slightly more lengthy and elaborate as Charlie begins to use her voice and experience life again. There are a lot of bad decisions made by the characters throughout the story, which made it difficult to continue rooting for them and rather made me frustrated with them--but I know that this might make other readers enjoy it all the more.

Kathleen Glasgow’s debut novel, Girl in Pieces, is a powerful story about self-harming. The main character, Charlie Davis, has been rejected by her mother and by her classmates. The only way she can release the blackness that builds up inside is through cutting pieces out of herself. She keeps her instrument of choice, a thick piece of broken glass, in an old first aid kit she calls her tender kit.
Most self-harmers try to hide their self inflicted wounds and scars and so move largely unnoticed through society. This book helps explain their thought processes and why they do what they do. It also highlights how little help the mentally ill receive. Since the greatest number of them are between the ages of twelve and twenty-four, this YA novel will help bring understanding and insight to a underserved segment of the population.
The author did a fantastic job with a difficult subject. It’s a intense, unvarnished story that evokes strong emotions. I found myself really rooting for the main character to rise above her past and to overcome her disorder. An engrossing read for YA and adult readers alike.

This was a pretty tough book to read. Seeing everything that this character was going through it was hard not to care for her. At some point I wanted to yell at her some of at some of her life choices. She seems to find herself with the wrong type of people who can make things worse rather then better for her. Shes young and still learning and needed someone to be there. Someone responsible who can help guide her in the right direction. It was hard seeing her the way she started and seeing her get better but once she got out then things started to go down more and it was just though to read. It was hard seeing her trying to improve herself and things just get shot down an nothing seemed to go her way. When it came to that ending I loved how real it was. Things just didn't suddently turn out perfect and her life is all great. Overall I really loved this book and found it hard to put down. It was dark, emotional and I really found myself hooked from the very start. I recommend you lovely readers to check it out.

There are books that speak to you personally and then there are stories that invade your soul. Words and writing that absorb into you somehow. This is one of those stories for me. This beautiful, tragic story of one girl trying to survive completely split me open emotionally. Charlie is desperate and hurting, she's been abandoned in every way and just wants to feel something, to be needed. I was there with her the whole story, even when I was cringing at her choices, watching her dive deeper into the abyss. Glasgow's prose take you on a journey of self discovery. I found myself re-reading sentences and crying because she got it so right, what it feels like to want to feel but hating to feel too. She tapped into something deep here and I suspect a lot of readers will feel the same as I do. It's safe to say I'll be first in line to buy whatever Kathleen Glasgow writes in the future.

A poignant, important story of survival and hope that cuts deep. It's a hard ride but damn is it worth it.

This book is beautiful. It's intense and raw, but not without hope. Glasgow's writing is absolutely gorgeous: lyrical, fresh, and realistic. The books organization is brilliant, honestly. The way the earlier chapters are arranged on the page is so inventive and perfectly fits what's happening to Charlie at that time. They are flashes, snapshots. Charlie is our narrator, our window into the story, and she's a deeply developed, completely believable character. The reader follows her journey, watching her meet a fully realized cast of characters. We want so much for her to find her place in a difficult world. The settings of the novel come alive: the harshness of Minnesota, the sun-soaked desert of Tucson. Charlie's scars are physical and emotional, and she has to find a way to deal with them. Her struggle is heartbreaking and real. Glasgow--and by extension Charlie--tells this story with such deep honesty that the book just sparkles. I found myself limiting how much I read in one day because the book was so lovely that I really wanted to savor it. This book will give courage and hope to a lot of readers.

Who are cutters? Why do they cut? What can be done to get them to stop? Do they want to stop? Can they ever live a “normal” life? Will anyone ever love them? Can they ever love themselves? Can “regular” people learn to see beyond their scars? Can THEY learn to see themselves beyond their scars?

Seventeen-year-old Charlotte Davis answers these questions and more as she narrates her personal story of abuse, neglect, fear, despair and homelessness in short, revealing chapters. Charlotte’s narrative is a small window into the souls of the millions of teens who feel the only way they can release their personal pain is through self-mutilation.

“Girl in Pieces” is raw, truthful, despairing and inspirational. It will stay with you long after the last page is turned. Several copies should be in every public and high school library to show these teens they are not alone, and that they are loved.

Highly recommended for ages 16 and older.

(3.75 stars)
Walking through the book store one day my daughter says out of nowhere that she wanted to read Girl in Pieces. This book came along at the perfect time in my life. This book became my first buddy read with my daughter. In the months prior to starting GiP, she had a friend going through some of the same things as Charlie. It was a great way for us to discuss the situation. It does read a tad differently than most books I’m used to. It’s told with shorter diary entries but once I got used to it and was invested in Charlie’s recovery it flowed much better. It’s a good way to explain to children or young adults that not everything is always tied up in a pretty little bow. I thought this was a very good debut novel and I am looking forward to what comes next.

First off it has to be said trigger warnings for self-harm (mainly cutting) with reading Charlotte's story, also drug and alcohol abuse. I say this only because I understand some people have a hard time reading about certain addictions. You follow Charlotte's story from in rehab and then her recovery in the real world after rehab. I found the story to be very sad and touching. I have to commend a good majority of friends and complete strangers who stuck around to help Charlotte through all the ups and downs. I wasn't a fan of Riley's ending. I thought he got more fanfare than he deserved. I wanted to see him suffer more for his actions. I acknowledge that Charlotte's mom recognized what she couldn't be in a parent but what a let down. The audio reader did a fantastic job voicing the conflicting choices Charlotte had to constantly fave and I would recommend the audiobook.

Girl in Pieces is 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.

Maggie Stiefvater puts my thoughts about the book into words well.
This book "is unflinching in its portrayal of self-harm, homelessness, addiction, and desperation) but it has such a sweetheart, 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 mirror the teen characters is genuinely inspired, and the resulting fictional neighborhood dynamic felt intensely real. Girl in Pieces prioritizes characters and their complicated truths in a similar way. I also appreciated the writing style and "format", if you will. I recommend this for older teens (14+) and adults who read YA." Not on my top list of books, but certainly worth a read. I would like to see a short film or full-length film of this book.

This was definitely a YA book, but it's one of those that adults would like as well. While I am a little squeamish with the subject as a whole, the book only implies the subject and looks back at the history. And, of course, the thoughts as Charlie contemplates doing it again.

This book really delved into the thoughts behind a recovering addict. The story is told in such a way that it's not boring. While seemingly sad, it is interesting and entertaining reading. I enjoyed this much better than Gillian Flynn's "Sharp Objects" which dealt with the same subject. There seemed to be more character development and I felt a closeness with Charlie who was always getting her heart broke.

Thanks Random House Children's and Net Galley for allowing me to read and review this e-galley in exchange for an honest review.

This was such an emotional reading experience for me that I struggle to describe it well. The writing is like nothing I have ever read--so piercing and beautiful and brutal and raw and true--that it truly has to be experienced first hand. There were passages that were so stunning, so shockingly brilliant that it quite literally took my breath away.
The story itself is made of the darkest dark and the brightest glimmers of hope and the ever uncertainty of which side will win out. The main character Charlie is complex and tough and yet so vulnerable and deeply wounded that the reader aches for her to find peace and love and a world that is safer than the one she has known. The secondary characters are fully formed and realistic; the dialogue pitch perfect.
Overall an intense, gritty, gorgeous read.

I loved this book. Time and time again, I have said I like books that make me feel something, books that evoke emotion. This book certainly does that. It's a book that's very easy to read due to the short sections, but at the same time quite hard to read due to the subject matter. I loved Charlie. I hurt for her. I wanted her to be able to make a life for herself outside of Creeley. I loved Riley. I hurt for him too. Even though I knew the two of them as a couple was a bad idea, I wanted it to work. I wanted them to heal each other. I have no experience with self harm, nor do I personally know anyone that does. As such, I can't comment on how this book would effect someone that has had similar experiences to Charlie. I can and will recommend it to everyone I know as a good read though.

I wish I was good with words because this book deserves good words. I am very impressed with this debut book that jumps in head first with issues no one wants to really talk about. While there were parts of the story that I wanted more of, I realized that reading in first person, she probably only remembered bits and pieces because of her lifestyle. She's telling her story as it happened or happens to her. Charlie made my heart ache and I hated how at such a young age, she's been thrown into such deep s***. Watching her grow and relapse and grow was something that kept me turning the pages.

If you liked white oleander, I really think you'll like this one too.

I've actually been struggling with how to review this book since i finished it a week ago. I gave it 4 stars because i usually reserve 5 stars for the books i really love. this book is phenomenal. but i didn't love it. why? it hit waaaay too close to home, so it was incredibly hard to read. but oh my goodness is it important. i have been in "recovery" for over ten years from self harm. (i use quotes because i never got professional help). I was lucky that i was able to do it on my own. but my life was nowhere near as hard as Charlie's. i honestly don't want to go into too in depth with my review because one, i don't ever go too in depth, but two, because this book doesn't need a long plot breakdown or anything like that. it's just a raw story about a girl struggling, and trying to get better. so, yeah, i'm rambling again. i'm going to change my rating to 5 stars, because i think this book deserves it. it's a hard read, but a good one.

and i'd just like to add that this is an own voices story... read the author's note.

I chose to read this book after it had been recommended to me by a close friend. Upon reading this book, I got pulled in. It starts out with a mystery and keeps getting more suspenful. I fell in love with the characters and their backstorys. The protaganist pulled at my heartstrings espiecally because I could relate with her and feel her pain as my own. I think every person could connect with her character since she really embodies the truth of human experiences. The author attacked a really intense theme of overming pain, and hope. Its a story of a girls journey to recovery yet everyone who reads it will feel like they are on it with her. I think everyone should try to read this book, as long as they arent too young (15 plus). It tackles alot of adult concepts. I think it will help everyone gain some sort of understanding of mental illness. Its the type of book to stay with someone forever.

GIRL IN PIECES is the debut novel of Kathleen Glasgow, University of Minnesota MFA graduate whose own 12-year residence in the Frogtown neighborhood of St. Paul brings a familiarity of place to Twin Cities readers. For some, the familiarity may end there; for others, it may only begin. The book’s main character, 17-year-old Charlie (Charlotte) Davis, is a cutter: a practitioner of self-harm, the deliberate act (according to Glasgow in an end note to the book) “of cutting, burning, poking or otherwise marring your skin as a way to cope with emotional turmoil.”

One (of many) successes of this beautifully written story is how Glasgow makes Charlie’s self-injury comprehensible and, arguably, inevitable. By the time she’s 17, Charlie has been abandoned by both parents, many friends and even the institution (a self-injury rehab clinic) to which she has been sent. Her compulsions and addictions are never romanticized but neither are they unforeseeable, given Charlie’s history of homelessness, abuse and neglect. When Glasgow describes Charlie’s “tender box”–the box of supplies she keeps to cut and, paradoxically, to salve and bandage her wounds afterwards–the notion that any human being would be so wanting for comfort, however expensively gotten, is a real and heartbreaking epiphany. In fact, in Glasgow’s sensitive telling of a girl in many, many pieces, the reader may well ask, Why have we allowed this? much sooner than Why is she doing this?

The book is full of other well-drawn, if not always likable, characters. They include an older man (near 30) with whom Charlie enters an ill-advised, co-dependent relationship. Can co-dependence actually occur in a relationship with a minor, or is it simply abuse because of Charlie’s age? To what degree can Charlie fully participate–even love–in such a relationship? How and when do healing and forgiveness occur in each party, after so much damage is done? These questions present themselves as perfect opportunities for discussion, either within or between generations of readers.

A few older women characters are particularly engaging. An art teacher named Ariel has the perhaps unattractive job of saying and doing some things to Charlie we, ourselves, might like to say and do:

"[Ariel] moves quickly, reaching around me to grab my wrists. She flips my arms so the raised lines are visible. Instinctively, I stiffen and try to pull my hands back, but she tightens her grip. Her fingertips are tough with callouses.

She makes a growling sound. “You girls today. You make me so...sad. The world hurts enough. Why...chase it down?"

And yet we learn that, like everyone, Ariel has demons of her own that propel her to a better understanding of Charlie (who, after cursing right back at Ariel in the above scene, gains Ariel’s respect for being “a girl with teeth.”) Another very sympathetically drawn adult female character is a young woman named Linus. She works with Charlie at a coffee shop and in one scene shows the younger girl such honest kindness it literally brought this reader to tears.

Written in short, first-person/present tense segments, the book moves along at a rapid pace and with more than sufficient suspense to keep the reader entirely engaged throughout. There is tragedy and loss aplenty but there is also hope. “How are you going to live this hard life, Charlotte?” is what Ariel ultimately asks, and Glasgow answers it with so many different examples of self-care—art, love, kindness—that I’d recommend this book to an audience far more comprehensive than its YA marketing suggests.

I highly recommend GIRL IN PIECES, not only for its finely written story but also as a jumping off point for discussion between and among mothers, grandmothers, daughters and sons.

*****
This is a wonderful story of a young girl in tremendous pain who realistically tries to create a life for herself after being treated for self-harm. The story of her life unfolds gradually through the book and slowly the reader understands a world they may know nothing about. This is a painful read but engrossing...I loved it. I could relate to many parts of it, as could any reader who has experienced deep pain.

I think it would be appropriate for young adults but also for others (like me) who are older but who enjoy learning via the experience of fiction, experiencing through fiction, something so difficult and raw yet so worthwhile. Excellent read.

Highly recommended.
*****

So often, books about mental health use the MC's condition as a shortcut to dramatic effect, in service of some greater theme that is totally off the mark, rather than as a medical diagnosis that is often pushed under the rug to make society comfortable.

Not the case here. This book is all about Charlie, someone who is full of deserving of beautiful things, but almost every support system around her has failed in some way. It is respectful of her experience and feelings. It is respectful of her reactions. It is respectful of the unique challenges she faces, and the thirteen-times-as-hard ways in which she has to work to face them.

And the story makes it clear that her good and bad decisions alike are NOT. HER. FAULT.

A lot of people need this book. Such a moving debut.

I just finished reading this novel a couple of minutes ago, and I just want to say how beautiful and true and diamond-hard it is. I won't rehash the plot, which you can read up above. I WILL say that Glasgow can write like nobody's business and that there's a level of honesty here (about pain of every kind, about love, about what we do and don't owe each other, about what a dangerous game hope is, about how two wounded people can help each other OR wound each other even more) that's just extraordinary. I felt enormously for the heroine, Charlie Davis-- and despite the nightmare she lives through and the harm she does herself along the way to clarity, she is EVERY INCH a heroine.

Girl in Pieces is like an emotional rollercoaster changing the characters feelings as well as yours. If you’re looking for a scary and deep type of book, this is the one. As you read the book, you become the character. The lesson that this book teaches you is that even the hardest obstacles in life can’t knock you down. You just got to rise back up and defeat the problems life gives you. Every book has a character that can change your life. As for Girl in Pieces, I would like you to meet the main character Charlie, also known as “Silent Sue”. She’s been through tons of downs in her life but she’s trying to fix that. Next, we have Riley, he’s the player. Then Linus and Tanner are both one of my favorite characters because they’re the peacemakers. Lastly, we have Mikey which is Charlie’s best friend.

Throughout Girl in Pieces, I really noticed some factors I liked and disliked. This book gave me spooky vibes as I was reading it. My favorite types of books to read are the ones that make me feel a certain way. Another thing I liked is how the pace of the action in the book was going. Everything was timed right and it made me want to keep reading the book. Not all the action was squeezed into one chapter, it was spread evenly throughout the book. Finally, I really enjoyed how the book was written. Chapters were short but interesting. It also contained tons of dialogue so I knew what was going on and when it was going on. So with that being said, the author’s craft was well put. Sometimes in the book, I didn’t really like the way some parts ended. Also, some parts were very predictable. Now, overall I think this is an amazing book read but I don’t recommend it for sensitive readers because of some of the content.

Wonderful, wonderful book. It's a "teen" book in that it is written about a 17 year old, but it's not a child's book. I'm 40 and loved it. Initially I bought it because I saw it in the bookstore, liked the cover, and saw that the quote was from a Belly song (I wore out my two Belly CDs twenty years ago). I can't speak for men, but I think any girl/woman who has ever felt uncomfortable in her own skin would get something out of this book. This book brings me back to a time before suburbs and children, when friendships were the "be all end all" and you found interesting people everywhere.

Best things? The character explication and the descriptions of the places in the book Very, very real, flawed, full characters. Beautiful descriptions of Tucson and NM. I loved the boarding house she lived in, and hearing about the small spaces.

A+++

"I remember the stars that night. They were like salt against the sky like someone spilled the shaker against very dark cloth. That mattered to me, their accidental beauty."

I love love LOVE that quotation. It sort of sets up the entire novel. This book is about learning to embrace beauty, no matter where or who it comes from. I read this book about 6 months ago, and I still can’t stop thinking about it. I had gone through something similar to the main character a few years back, and the way that the author handled such a delicate topic blew my mind. This book definitely isn’t for people who have trouble reading about depression, but I would absolutely recommend it to people who have struggled with depression and/or accepting oneself and one’s circumstances. I would also suggest this book to fans of “We Were Liars” as Glasgow utilizes a lot of the same sort of metaphors and short, fragmented sentences.

I can't remember how I stumbled across this book but downloaded it. I found it pulling me in quickly and I drawn into the Charlie's life. I found myself feeling sad for her and willing her to be strong and not go back into old habits, but also remembering she's a kid desparate for love and attention with a lot of baggage. You get to hear her inner fight and feel her try to come out on the right side of life despite a rough start. I'm glad I took a chance with this book.

This book. Ugh. It is not an easy book. But in all the best ways. It deals with heavy subjects and Glasgow doesn't shy away from any of them.

Charlie is a 17 year old homeless teen, who deals with the pain in her life by cutting. She's ashamed of her scars, and feels they make her unlovable.

So, as you can see, not light subject matter.

But Glasgow handles the topic with wonderful prose, full of tension, and perfect sparseness when it's required. And mostly I just cared deeply about Charlie and wanted things to be better for her.

Definitely recommend for fans of Girl, Interrupted.

Book #90 Read in 2016
Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow

Charlie is a 17 year old who manages her pain by cutting herself. As the book opens, Charlie is in a mental ward. Insurance runs out and her mother boots her to the curb. Charlie heads to Arizona to her friend Mikey's place and gets a job as a dishwasher in a coffeehouse. Will she be able to make it on her own? Will she be able to resist hurting herself? This book is emotionally brutal and raw but is one that a reader will not be able to put down. I received a copy of this book from the store Vine in exchange for a honest review.

Kathleen Glasgow’s debut novel, Girl in Pieces, tells the story of Charlotte “Charlie” Davis and her experience with death, abuse, self-harm, and the road to recovery.
When we first meet Charlie, she is mute and in a hospital after events that aren’t shared with the reader right away. This is the pattern that Glasgow follows. She doesn’t give us the whole story up front, for any of the characters in the young adult novel. Instead, she allows us to meet each person as you would in real-life, with limited information. We only learn about characters when they choose to share details with Charlie, and us.
There are plenty of characters to meet in the novel. From Charlie’s time on the streets to her time in the hospital to her time trying to create a “normal” life, each person that she comes across is well developed and important to her story.
Not only are the characters beautifully written but so are Glasgow’s rich descriptions which haunt the reader long after they put the novel down. The descriptions of Charlie’s feelings and self-harm are graphic and uncomfortable…but in the best way possible. It becomes easy to relate to the main character. I immediately felt as if I understood Charlie. I found myself nodding along with her inner monologues and rooting for her as she took baby steps into the world after her hospitalization.
Charlie’s story is the most accurate portrayal of self-harm and the desire for wellness I have ever read. Glasgow’s portrayal of mental health is spot on. Her debut novel, Girl in Pieces is an important story that should be read by anyone who has dealt with mental health issues, anyone who knows someone who has, or anyone who wants to read a great story.

I really liked this book. Sometimes it got slow, sometimes it hurt. Sometimes it made you happy. Self harm is nothing to take lightly. We all have a vice that takes pain away, most of the time it does cause another kind of pain. From "cutting" "drugs" or "drinking" all the way to "promiscuity" "self-hatred" or even as simple as a "tattoo" it can all be a release of feeling an inside pain. Don't judge people by what you see. Everyone has a story.

Kathleen Glasgow is amazing. She is amazing for a whole bunch of reasons, but I think we should celebrate the most important reason and it is this; she was brave enough to write something so raw and what would be so personally challenging and probably emotionally exhausting.

Girl In Pieces was about a young girl, not even an adult, who by circumstances, finds herself in situations that no person should have to endure; her coping strategies are self-harm which is where the book begins, 17 year old Charlie's stay in a mental health facility, trying to deal cope with all of her issues and struggles.

This book reads like the mind of anyone going through a mental health illness and I have read similar books of the same nature that are written in the same way -- it is pretty much an accuracy of dealing with mental health issues - it's how the mind works; fleeting thoughts, repetitive feelings, anger, sadness, upset, calmness; rinse, wash, repeat.

Girl in Pieces was realistic and an accurate portrayal of someone who is struggling with and who has struggled with mental health illness and still requires help after the hospital stay is over, after the doctors have concluded that you are no longer a threat to yourself. Girl in Pieces is about how sometimes we think we are going so well but can't see the tiny bits of backsliding that are slowly but surely happening. This book is about the process of recovery - about how it isn't and will never be perfect and that a cure is not within the realm of possibility.

Thank God for this book.

It brings truth and comfort to those who suffer mental health illness.

I have been on the search recently for fictional books that will accurately describe mental health issues and I have read a few that I didn't bother reviewing based on how disappointed I was. Mental health isn't a journey whereby the person is only sick until someone comes along and saves them and carries them off in to the fairytale sunset.

Whatever struggles encumber you, you will endure probably for a long time -- it is just that with constant care and recovery, your coping skills become better and you live on the hope that all the things that you see in others will become a part of your life too; calmness, joy, happiness, laughter and a rational sadness that won't spiral out of control.

As if it couldn't get any better, I came across this quote and almost cried with relief;

"There's nothing wrong with you, Charlie. Not one thing. Can't you see that?"
"But that's a lie, isn't it? Because there are so many things wrong with me, obviously and actually. What I want Mikey to say is: There are so many things wrong with you and it doesn't matter."

Sometimes this is the only reaction wanted; for someone not to disregard flaws or fears or imperfections; to address them but to accept them unconditionally anyway. It's okay to acknowledge that something is wrong; it's truth, it's not okay to pretend they're not there to avoid discomfort.

This book had a realistic ending; not a fairytale ending.

And the personal authors note at the end of the book sealed the deal. Kathleen Glasgow was honest about her own experiences and offers hope and advice to those who are struggling.

Girl in Pieces is a hard read, its a dark read and it probably isn't the book for some; it could even present as a trigger to someone going through something; but if you have mental health illness and you want to feel like you've been understood and fairly represented in terms of thoughts and feelings; I recommend this book to you. Maybe it won't speak to you the way it spoke to me, but I hope that it will.

This book was hauntingly beautiful. The writing style wasn’t what I expected but I came to like it. But the descriptions were what really drew me in. Kathleen Glasgow has a way with words that really drew me into the story, made me feel as though I was right there with Charlie. And I loved every second of having my heart ripped out.

I put off reading this book for several years after reading a sample, maybe because it was too raw or too real, I don’t remember why. This book was almost too real, and too deep and almost too long at first that it intimidated me to much to commit to reading it. Now that I’ve read it, I’m left unsure whether it helps or hurts to read about someone in so much pain.

what a downer. King Lear downer. 17 year old Charlotte, her father/gone(suicide), her BFF/gone(coma), her mother kicked her to the streets (living on the streets is one horror after another), she copes by compulsively cutting herself, going so far in her depression to attempt suicide. She flees Minnesota for Arizona where her on sided crush lives and when he only wants to be BFFs she hooks up with a complete lowlife addict. - not for the faint of heart reader.

Ages 16 and up

I just finished Girl In Pieces. I have never felt so connected with a main character before. This story is very much like one I have wanted to write for years. I was both a cutter and a burner because I was unable to cope with emotional turmoil in my youth. For anyone looking to better understand what it is like to be a cutter or perhaps if you have someone in your life that is a cutter or a burner this is something you should read. It is never about attention, it is about PAIN.

Wow. This novel. Charlie's story is told in three parts, and each one is more heartbreaking than the previous. Kathleen Glasgow's writing is perfect for this novel. The story is told beautifully and emotionally, with all of Charlie's lows and highs being portrayed with brutal honesty. Charlie makes a lot of mistakes on her journey, and as she tries to find people that she can depend on for the first time in her life, she also finds out who she is. A really great, emotional ride.

I’m not even going to try to properly review “Girl in Pieces” aside from saying that it is a difficult read about such topics as mental illness, cutting, horrific abuse, and homelessness. It’s all presented in a type of journal format and leaves the reader feeling unsettled – as it should. This novel would make a good jumping point for conversations between parents and teenagers.

This unbiased review is based upon a complimentary copy provided by the publisher.

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.

Theme is interesting but tremendous unnecessary profanity

Totally disappointed

Story seemed quite interesting but would definitely not recommend due to foul language

Would not recommend if profanity bothers reader

Sorry

This book about self harm is eye opening. Not only does it express that like suicide attempts even cutting can cause irreparable brain damage. There are many addictions discussed in this book but there is also the undertone of self love and self respect. A must read for todays youth and those who are a part of their lives.

Here's an example of a beautifully written book that just wasn't for me. I wasn't a huge fan of the movie Girl Interrupted, which this book is rightly being compared to, so I probably should have known better.

This is a heavy book. The subject matter, the characters, the plot are all pretty depressing. I can do depressing YA books, but for some reason, this book left me feeling miserable. If the writing had been anything less than exquisite, I wouldn't have gotten through it.

The book is divided into three parts, and the first part, where Charlie is in mental health clinic is by far the most interesting. The other girls, the staff, the whole structure of living in the clinic was compelling if no less bleak than the rest of the book. Once Charlie leaves the clinic, however, it's still depressing, but not nearly as interesting.

A lot of people are raving about this book, and I so wanted to rave with them, but I'm just not. Beautiful writing, but I wanted to feel more of a connection to Charlie, and maybe ever so slightly more hopeful by the end.

This is a very dark book but written so beautifully that it held my interest from the first word. It is the story of Charlie (Charlotte) who cuts herself when things go wrong. As you read the book you meet her friends who in different ways are just as flawed as Charlie. Certainly this is not a "feel good book" but it is certainly worth your time. Thanks to the publisher for sending it to me.

The hardships of youth without the love and support of a parent can lead to devastated lives. But at some point, even though "scarred" and broken, a person can choose to put themselves back together. Girl in Pieces does a very good job of depicting such a life and that having just a little bit of faith that you were meant to be here can overcome the bad decisions we make in our youth.

I'm honestly in love with this book. With my country having so little bookstores left, I was lucky to have found this one and it honestly caught my eye the second I looked at it. As someone who has experienced depression and has seen others go through worse, the connection with the story was almost instantaneous. I don't know why some say it's too depressive, mostly because such situations actually happen in real life. Never distance yourself from reality. I love the way it was written, it's honestly one of my favorite styles. Amazing, amazing job, Kathleen. Will be recommending this one for sure! :)

A very interesting book. Thought provoking. I find it hard to explain the author's style, but stick with it for the first 25 pages. You will get into it and appreciate it. The characters are well developed. The storyline believable. Look forward to reading some of her other books.

I love this book. It deals with a lot of really dark issues like drug abuse, self harm, homelessness, etc. I've personally had a lot of issues with self harm, suicide attempts, and hospitalization so this book was relatable in some areas. The main character, Charlie, has gone through extremes of the aforementioned topics. The only thing is that it might be Triggering my to some people with mental illness, just a heads up. But I think it's a really powerful book and if you're interested in books about mental illnesses or dark books, you might like this one

I loved this book! I don't know anyone like Charlie or the other characters in the book, but I know that's rare. It's so important for teens and everyone to read stories like these. Charlie is such a great character; I love how she struggles with adulting in the book and all of the relationships she has with friends, family, and boys. It's ultimately hopeful. What a great debut!

I bought this book simply because of the 1 star reviews that were obviously written by all the holier than thou, pearl clutching, oppressed “women” of the world. I can’t wait to LOVE this book!!

While I frequently wanted to shake the main character and yell at her about all of her bad decisions, I was able to empathize with her due to Glasgow's beautiful writing. And though many aspects of the story seemed a bit cliche, I was glad to see that the ending deviated from the usual "girl changes everything about herself to win over a boy" trope.

This is a heartbreaking book that shows how damaging self harm can be,

I knew going into this that it would be emotional and I wasn't wrong, but it was more than just emotional. This book really touched me and the author did such an amazing job with this delicate subject. Her writing was just beautiful and it really made me see a lot of things in a whole new light.

If you are looking for an emotional read that will stay with you for a long time this one is it!

Absolutely loved this one. The writing is extraordinary, hypnotic and lyrical. I love that it took on a really tough subject and looked at it from so many different angles until you felt like you completely understood Charlie. This is an unflinching look at how vulnerable children who are left unprotected can spiral into so much danger. And above all, it's a story about survival and resilience and how to find a way out. CANNOT SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS!

Kathleen Glasgow writes in a way I have never seen before. She uses explicit detail, beautiful description, and takes you on an emotional rollercoaster you have never been on before. You will get to see the world through main character Charlie's eyes; cry with her, hurt with her, hit rock bottom with her, and find new hope with her.
"...once you start self-harming, you can never not be a creepy freak, because your whole body is now a scarred and charred battlefield and nobody like that on a girl, nobody will love that, and so all of us, every one, is screwed, inside and out. Wash, rinse... repeat." (Glasgow page 31)

I am a cutter. A former cutter I should say, yet books about self harm, eating disorders and the like always speak to me. It's rare to find a book written to the young adult demographic that isn't tragically written by someone who doesn't understand. Written by someone who has done more research than soul searching. It's truly rare to find a book as angelic as this one.

I am Charlie, and Charlie is me. If you're looking for a book that speaks the truth, and will absorb you into the story, this is the book for you.

While I am not a teen, nor a young adult, I absolutely loved this story! The story itself is heartbreaking. You can't help but to feel everything the protagonist is feeling; her confusion, sadness, trepidation. You'll want to reach into the story and try to help her! When a book moves you to have all these feelings, you know you've found not only an incredible story, but an amazing author, as well.

This book ripped my heart to shreds, slowly put it back together, then tore it to pieces again. Well-written and moving. It was hard to read at times. My heart ached for Charlie, the main character, but her journey was beautiful in its broken way. I definitely recommend this read!

If you’ve ever had a loved one who was an addict or self harming you should read this heart wrenching story of hitting rock bottom and struggling to recover. So many young teens abuse drugs and alcohol, become depressed, resort to self harm for solace and comfort. Really great book. I love Charlie’s character.

Heartbreaking and thoughtful. I simply couldn't put it down. One of the best books I've read this year. This insightful look inside the life of a self-harmer is tragic and inspiring. A must read for parents and older teens.

I'm very picky with books , it's really hard to catch my attention ... But this book is the best I've ever read , it's a real page turner ... Trust me when I Say this is a really good book and your gonna be really happy with your purchase

My 13 year old grand daughter just finished this book..she told me I should read it..well, I started it and it was definitely hard to do anything else..I loved Charlie..I felt so much for her ..I don't usually read books on that line, but I am so glad that I did..the book was so well written...I would highly recommend this book to anyone...a good lesson for us all..love is so powerful...

WOW... from the first page I was instantly an addict! This book has so much grit and grunge, laughter and sadness, raw emotion and heartbreak. When is the screenplay being written? I want more Kathleen Glasgow

I loved this book, probably one of the more moving and traguc stories that I have read in a long time. As someone who self harmed when I was a teenager, there are parts of this book that my heart hurt to read, however, it paints an accurate picture of hope in the midst of despair.

At this point I am only half way through the book. It is extremely slow! It is hard to remain interested but the author does leave you wondering; is this going to get bigger? Who is this girl, and what will become of her?From the standpoint of an editor which I am not but do have a strong background, the author abuses the use of adjectives to the point it is distracting from both the character and the storyline.
This book does have strong reviews so I will see it through to the end and update.

Girl in Pieces was such a great book about a girl who has been through hell and still is. The characters were great, the writing style was great, the plot was great. I'd definitely recommend this one.

GIRL IN PIECES is one of the most powerful novels I've ever read. It works on the highest levels of art, and yet it excludes no one in its reach.

As a book about growing up female and dealing with abuse and self-destructive coping mechanisms, it compares to Kaysen's GIRL, INTERRUPTED, Sapphire's PUSH, and Anderson's SPEAK. It compares to THE CATCHER IN THE RYE in terms of the power of its voice and the memorable character it brings to life.

GIRL IN PIECES has a universal power. This is not only a book for young women. It is a book for all of us. At its heart, it is a brilliant, tough, touching story about Charlie Davis, a young woman who, by no small measure, finds the strength to survive the pain that came with her particular life. She lights the way for all of us who have ever felt broken or lost.

Just an astounding and amazing book. In its pages I found words for things I could never express. Thank you Kathleen Glasgow for writing my story and the story of so many others. Thank you for having the words.

I absolutely loved this book, you can have a true look inside the horrors of how a former self harmer think's. Another thing, I have huge respect for an author who gives a fan the time of day. I received an email and hand written letter. Major respect.

I wasn't expecting what this book had to offer. I read it on a suggestion and ended up compelled to continue reading. I was first interested by the intrigue of unfamiliarity, and ended up pulling for this poor girl who I felt I knew at some point. Great book! Hated to put it down when I had to.

And once again, here's a YA book that people seem to love (if the 4-5 star ratings on Goodreads and the store are anything to go by) and that I think was just okay.

I loved Girl in Pieces when I started it. It reminded me a bit of Girl, Interrupted with a bit of The Bell Jar thrown in (just not as amazing). You got to find out a little bit about all of the amazing different characters in the clinic, both patients and staff. They were all so engaging. I also loved the way the first part was written. I found the little snippets interesting and they never became too poetic and flowery. However, once Part I was over and Charlie left the clinic, this formerly interesting and unique YA novel became so very generic.

The minute Charlie leaves the clinic, she starts obsessing. I would expect her to obsess over her scars, over her past, over what happened both at the clinic and before the clinic, but no. Charlie starts obsessing over a guy. And the biggest emotion Charlie feels in this book is jealousy. Jealousy because this guy from her past has a girlfriend. Then, she starts obsessing over this other guy. And she starts acting extremely pathetic to get and to keep his attention. Oh, of course, she's still jealous at this stage. She's jealous because the new guy had previous relationships with people that weren't her. She's also still jealous about the fact that the old guy she liked still has a girlfriend. So, she just wants all male attention to go her way...or at least that's what I'm deducing from the fact that she does absolutely nothing in the book but obsess over guys. That makes her boring, in my book. In fact, it seems that all of the other patients from the beginning might've had more interesting post-clinic lives than Charlie. Would've loved to read more in-depth about them.

In the end, I was a bit disappointed in Girl in Pieces. There was an interesting story to tell (particularly the one with the patients in the clinic). Too bad the author got too bogged down with the "romance" and the feelings involved in this "romance" to tell that interesting story. I did think that it was somewhat engaging and it did pick up again a bit in Part III. But the slog that was Part II is a little hard to get over.

Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she's already lost more than most people do in a lifetime. But she's learned how to forget. Girl in pieces is a deeply moving portrait of a girl in a world that owes her nothing, and has taken so much, and the journey she undergoes to put herself back together. I feel like this book had so much potential. The characters are very complex and well-developed. The story pulls you in because you want to know Charlotte's story.

The story had huge potential but for me, it fell short. The first main problem I had with the book was the profanity. That reason alone would have me not give the book a 5-star recommendation. I didn't approve of the fact that God's name is used in vain throughout the book. Kathleen Glasgow did well with her debut novel. I would encourage her to keep writing. She has real talent and I would like to see her develop her writing further.

This book was a platform for her to raise awareness of cutting. I feel that she did that really well. She perfectly described life in the mental hospital. Having been in one I was impressed with the fact that her descriptions were accurate. She also gave you an in-depth look at the thought processes involved in cutting. As well as the battle against your inner demons.

However, I found the story to be very stereotypical. It embraces Hollywood's style of showing mental illness. All the characters were seriously messed up. There was not one character who wasn't involved in drinking, drugs or self-harm. While it is true that some people who struggle with self-harm do it in every area of their lives. It is not true of each person who lives that lifestyle. I would have found it less stereotypical if there were a few characters that were less troubled. Perhaps someone who went to work, family, homelife normal except they cut. I have struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts and I can relate to it being a daily battle. There are other ways to self-medicate that would have presented a more realistic story. Instead of for every character to be into booze, drugs, and sex.

The other thing that concerned me a bit was the very detailed talk around the cutting. Knowing how easily people are triggered that seems counterproductive. Especially when reaching out to others that cut. One really detailed explanation and more subtle hints throughout the book would deliver the message while being less triggering.

I had high hopes when I started the book. I would like to encourage Kathleen Glassgow in future works to spend less of the book setting up the problems. Instead, include more of the redemptive qualities. The book went from sorely troubled to hopeful. But only 4 very small sections of the end talk about Charlie's hope for a better life. In some ways, it ends abruptly without the reader getting a sense of resolution to the story. We never got to see her overcome. I think that could have been shown a bit clearer even as we know life is never tied up with a pretty bow.

I hope to see the author develop her writing more in years to come. However, I would have a friend read it first to see if the profanity was still strong. I don't care to read books high in profanity. If Charlie's story was not so compelling I would have never finished the book. I do not recommend this read unless profanity does not bother you as it appears every few pages. Overall not a bad book. Just not one that is going to stay with you long after you finish it either.

*I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

If you're looking for a heart-wrenching story that will make you cry, pick up this book. (I'm not the biggest fan of crying so this book didn't really do it for me but my students snatched it right off my bookshelf to read.) It's dark and depressing, as the main character faces multiple issues and just tries to keep her head above water. I'd recommend it for someone who likes Ellen Hopkins and her stories.

I'm not sure of the age of the bulk of reviewers here, but think it likely they were not high school or younger. My grandaughter was given this book as an 8th grader, and found it profoundly disturbing. She spoke to us about the book causing bad dreams, as well as causing anxiety (my word). She was only part way into the book and gladly surrendered it. I reviewed the book before throwing it in the trash. I realize adolescents are much more worldly than I, or even my children were, but that doesn't mean it is good or beneficial for their psyche. If you are an adult and wrote a high review emoting on how powerful the book is, I wonder how you would experience the book if you were Junior High or early High School. Movies have ratings, it seems to me some books should also.

I always make myself read half of the book. It's my motto. 50% and if it's still not keeping me enthralled then I need to call it quits. That's exactly what happened here. I'm a reader of everything dark so the subject matter didn't bother me. I just think how it was written was what bothered me. Almost like each short chapter was a diary entry. I just felt incomplete and I couldn't connect any way. I hated that. I really wanted to love it but Girl in Pieces just didn't do it for me. . I wanted to say that I loved to cover. It was different and eye catching to me. That's what made me want to read this book. I never read a blurb. I go by a cover. I love going in blind.

Thank you Blogging for Books for providing with an arc in exchange for my honest review!

My daughter carried this around for months, underlining, writing in the margins and using post-it notes. I am not impressed nor would I suggest anyone of teenage years read this. Now I have no daughter. She was 13.