Girl in Pieces is a famous young adult novel by Kathleen Glasgow that tackles some hard-hitting topics like mental health and addiction. Only three months after its release, it went to number seven on the New York Times bestsellers list for young adult books.
Comparing it to Susanna Kaysen’s work, Refinery29 said Girl in Pieces can is “Girl, Interrupted meets Speak.”
This article will review Girl in Pieces and take a look at some of Glasgow’s other famous books.
About the author
Kathleen Glasgow is the author of the New York Times bestseller Girl in Pieces, You’d Be Home Now, How to Make Friends With the Dark, and the co-author of The Agathas series. She obtained an MFA in Poetry from the University of Minnesota and currently lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Her books are inspired by her own experiences, and she hopes that by reading her books people will find the courage to share their own troubles.
Supportive of aspiring authors, she offers many encouraging tips about how to start writing to her young adult readers.
A review of Girl in Pieces
Girl in Pieces (Random House, 2016) is a book about mental health intended for teen & young audiences. Describing it as “heartbreaking and thick with emotion,” SLJ recommended it to “avid fans of Jennifer Niven’s All the Bright Places or Susanna Kaysen’s Girl Interrupted.”
It is a deeply moving portrait of a girl, Charlotte Davis, who is the main character of the novel. During her 17 years of life, she has lost too many people to count, including her father and best friend. Every new misfortune in Charlie’s life is a new scar, which eventually lands her in a mental institution after a suicide attempt.
When her grandmother’s insurance runs out, she is forced to survive on her own. With no support from her abusive mother, she follows her crush Mickey to Tucson, Arizona. Unfortunately, he doesn’t reciprocate her feelings.
To occupy her mind, she gets a job as a dishwasher at a local diner. But it isn’t long before she enters a destructive relationship with an old drug-addict musician Riley West. However, Charlie Davis soon realizes that looking for comfort in another person won’t solve anything and that she must find the answers to recovery within herself.
This book paints a raw image of a person haunted by the past but fighting for the future. “It is a haunting, beautiful, and necessary book…(that) will stay with you long after you’ve read the last page.“ (Nicola Yoon, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything)
The book is “equal parts keen-eyed empathy, stark candor, and terrible beauty,” (Jeff Zentner, author of The Serpent King) and forms a close emotional bond between Charlie and the readers, forcing them to cheer for her during her journey to get better.
In addition to 4.7-star customer reviews on Amazon, it received positive reviews from the Irish Times, Goop, Kerry Kletter, Kara Thomas, Julie Schumacher (the author of the New York Times bestseller Dear Committee Members), and Charles Baxter (the author of The Feast of Love). In addition, it was given starred reviews by VOYA and Booklist.
Other books by Kathleen Glasgow
Kathleen Glasgow has also written other books, not limited to the young adult genre.
You’d be Home by Now
You’d be Home Now is another book about mental health struggles and drug addiction. Inspired by the author’s own experience with drug abuse, the novel follows the story of sixteen-year-old Emory Ward and her junkie brother Joey.
Their lives completely change after a girl dies in a car accident, which reveals the depth of Joey’s addiction. Emory, a rebel herself, is appointed as his guardian when he returns from rehab after four months. However, together with the rest of the townsfolk at Mill Haven, they open up about their problems and slowly move toward recovery.
How to Make Friends with the Dark
How to Make Friends with the Dark is a haunting book about a sixteen-year-old Tiger Tolliver. Left all alone after her mother dies, she goes from one foster home to another. The reader suffers with Tiger through her grief as she keeps wearing the same dress she wore when she had her last argument with her mother. When she discovers a sister that she didn’t know she had, they start to search for their father.
The Agathas
The Agathas series (Delacorte Press) includes two books that Kathleen Glasgow wrote together with Liz Lawson. These young adult mystery novels follow Alice and Iris as they solve mystery cases in their town with the help of Agatha Christie books.
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FAQ
Is Girl in Pieces appropriate for a 13-year-old?
Since the book covers many serious topics, the recommended age is 15+.
Is Girl in Pieces an LGBTQ book?
Girl in Pieces doesn’t feature any LGBTQ characters.
Is Girl in Pieces triggering?
The book includes triggering content such as physical abuse, drug addiction, alcoholism, smoking, mental health, self-harm, suicide, depression, anxiety, and homelessness.
Is Girl in Pieces a romance novel?
Girl in Pieces is a rare book about mental illness that doesn’t solve issues through love and romance but focuses on the main character’s internal progress.
