34 Pieces of You (Reprint)

by Carmen Rodrigues

After Ellie dies of a drug overdose, her brother, her best friend, and her best friend's sister face painful secrets of their own when they try to uncover the truth about Ellie's death.

• ISBN10: 1442439076
• ISBN13: 9781442439078
• Publish Date: 11 June 2013 (first published 4 September 2012)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Imprint: Simon Pulse
• Edition: Reprint ed.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

When I purchased 34 Pieces of You I was in a huge YA Mystery phase. Like all my books, this one was on my shelves, collecting dust for ± 7 years, before I finally decided to pick it up. Maybe if I had read it then, I would have enjoyed it more, but 34 Pieces of You isn't what I expected. It reads more like a contemporary than a mystery.

34 Pieces of You is told through three PoVs - Sarah, Jessie and Jake - who were all a part of Ellie's life. The PoVs are pretty similar and while the characters are messy, toxic and have gone through messed up situations, they aren't compelling. Ellie is probably the most complex character. She's dark, broken, destructive and manipulative and while there are scenes that show her good and bad sides, I didn't care for her.

My main issue is that 34 Pieces of You is shallow. There are a lot of serious issues and potential triggers that are touched on, but aren't explored in depth. (On that note: please check trigger warnings before reading this book.) It also feels like these issues are included to make the story seem more edgy.

I also don't get the point of this book or what it was trying to achieve (which could be a 'me-issue'). The story is told through alternating timelines, but there isn't a substantial plot and I didn't care enough about the characters to just go with it. I also don't understand why the 34 notes are included. Maybe it's to give more insight about Ellie, but it doesn't have much to do with the story and feels gimmicky.

34 Pieces of You is a quick read, but because I didn't care for the characters and felt like there wasn't a solid plot, it's also a forgettable read.

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Carmen Rodrigues pens a chilling dark and emotionally powerful novel, that will deeply move readers beyond the telling. Remincent of Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why, 34 Pieces of You is a haunting mystery of a young girl's fatal overdose. Ellie is an exceptionally intriguing and complex character. There seems to be a dark cloud surrounding her, revealing something very broken and dangerous. She's full of painful depression and the absence of any hope to act as a healing balm for her fractured soul.

The only person who seems to know anything about the hidden world of pain that Ellie hides beneath her exterior, is her older brother Jake. Once he moves away to college, she really starts to unravel bit by bit, piece by piece until one night it goes too far. Ellie begins to really spiral out of control one by taking too many pills with her friend Sarah and not waking up, leaving her friend to cling on for dear life and deal with the guilt in the aftermath from the fall out of her death. There are 34 strips of paper and each one of those strips, unravels the mystery of why Ellie comitted suicide. Unfortunately, each one of those strips of paper, also hold a great weight of guilt heaped onto those who cared about her and couldn't or didn't see the signs or witness the clues as to what exactly was going on in her world.

34 Pieces of You is a powerfully shocking and incredibly gripping novel that many young adults could benefit from reading. It is a beautifully written heart wrenching tale of painful youth, full of dark agonizing hidden secrets, and growing up. Rodrigues does a magnificent job of creating a world that stays true to the youth of our time without employing the help of gimmicks or devices meant to come across as cool or hip. It is a wonderfully written and powerfully thought provoking novel, that will leave readers emotionally spent. Carmen Rodrigues packs an incredibly overwhelming amount of shock, pain, and terrible secrets into this story. She is definitely an author that readers will want to keep an eye out for, as she handles senstive subjects such as drugs, suicide, sexual abuse, and so many more issues in such a realistic, raw, and honest way.