Margie Gelbwasser

Four teenagers from two families--sisters Katie and Julie and brothers Alex and Kyle--meet every summer at a lakeside community in upstate New York, where they escape their everyday lives and hide disturbing secrets.

Pieces of Us

Alexis Rader

this book will pull at your heart strings and make you cry. lots of sexual content but so amazing that it will definitely stay with you for a while after reading it.

Dina

Okay, first of all, let me tell you that while I don't really have a problem with this sort of thing, and even after reading some of the reviews here, I didn't expect this book to get that dark.

So if you're one of those people who read the reviews so you can get a feel for a book before actually committing to reading it, know that there are many triggers here. There's a lot of abuse here, in the form of violence and non consensual sexual situations. There is also an overall negative feel around the victim and many slurs, and also a lot of misunderstandings regarding these sensitive situations.

You get 4 POVs from 2 brothers, Alex and Kyle, from Philadelphia and 2 sisters, Katie and Julie, from New Jersey. During the summer, they all go to this place with their Russian families and that's basically where they meet. They sort of lead double lives. During these summers, they all pretend to be someone they're not during the other three seasons, back home.

Obviously, these lies never stick, and something happens that will eventually - and inevitably - ruin the painting. When it does, it goes bad. Really bad.

I have to say that I only really liked one character from beginning to end, and that was Kyle. I wasn't too big on Katie in the beginning, but then things happened and I wanted to hug her forever and stop her from making bad choices and just find her some help, really. Julie was okay in the beginning, but I ended up the book feeling such a deep hatred for her, you have no idea. Alex was ups and downs. In the beginning, I liked the summer version of Alex (or Sasha, as they called him), but eventually, it all crumbled down and he only made things worse for Katie in the end. I sort of understand how he thinks about things a certain way, given what happened at home after his father died, but still... Either way, I hate Julie more. She made everything about her when she wasn't even close to the real problem.

Anyway, it was definitely a heavy and emotionally dark thing to read. I punched a cushion a few times because certain characters were driving me up the wall, but it was so... raw at the same time. I'd find myself conflicted most times. I'd think "don't worry, Dina, this is all fictional, this never happened". But then again, another part of me would go "actually, although this particular story is fictional, this happened (and still happens) to so many people out there in the real world" and it would make me sick to my stomach considering this harsh truth.

I particularly liked the last pages with resources for people needing help fighting these situations. That was a nice touch.

All in all, it was a really good book, a solid 4.5 stars, even if I can't give it that. It really got to me. I kept going from anger to sadness between pages, and would occasionally yell a victorious "yes!" whenever a character got to hear some really hard and well-deserved truths. A lot of people in this book could do with a few reality slaps. Or punches. But, yeah, I'm going to cool off a bit now. This book messed me up.

Jessica Nottingham

Pieces of Us was one of the toughest reads that I've ever had. I ultimately finished the book, but it was more out of morbid fascination than anything else. The characters here are so broken, so lost, so disturbed, that I wasn't sure if there was any saving grace to them. By the time I finished reading my only thought was, "So what does this teach me?" I'm not even sure if this rambling paragraph makes any sense.

What I can say about this book is that it is very realistic. Despite the fact that I didn't always love the characters (and in fact I hated a few of them with a white hot rage) they could very well exist in this world. I think what threw me off most is that the characters in this book are so young and yet so far off the beaten path. I know there are people like this out there, but it really terrifies me to acknowledge that.

At the end of the day, I just feel torn about this book. It gutted me and left me feeling empty. There are good points in it. There is hope at the end, but the majority of it is just depressing and dark. This is about the longest review that I can write because, even weeks later, I'm still not sure how to express how I feel.

Pieces of Us

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