34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues

34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues

Review of 34 Pieces of You

Title & Author:
34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues
Publisher:
Simon Pulse
Publication Date:
September 04, 2012
Pages:
336
Source:
BEA

A dark and moving novel—reminiscent of Thirteen Reasons Why—about the mystery surrounding a teenage girl’s fatal overdose.

There was something about Ellie… Something dangerous. Charismatic. Broken. Jake looked out for her. Sarah followed her lead. And Jess kept her distance, and kept watch.

Now Ellie’s dead, and Jake, Sarah, and Jess are left to pick up the pieces. All they have are 34 clues she left behind. 34 strips of paper hidden in a box beneath her bed. 34 secrets of a brief and painful life.

Jake, Sarah, and Jess all feel responsible for what happened to Ellie, and all three have secrets of their own. As they begin to confront the darkest truths about themselves, they will also find out what Ellie herself had been hiding all along…. – Goodreads

Well, I typed up this very long review of 34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues and then I closed Microsoft Word, whoops. Devastated and what not. Which is kind of how I felt while reading 34 Pieces of You, ironically.

Because 34 Pieces of You is a brilliantly done book. The story is heartbreaking and touching in every possible way and the writing style itself is freaking beautiful and the way Carmen Rodrigues organized it is so creative and purposeful. Everything about 34 Pieces of You spoke to me.

There’s so many issues in 34 Pieces of You. Carmen Rodrigues touches on drugs, alcohol, sex, overdoses, suicide, self-mutilation, sexuality, rape – a lot of real life issues that affect teens in a direct way. But she doesn’t smash these issues in the face and tell you to look at them. The issues, rather than the focus of 34 Pieces of You, are just another part of the story that’s being told.

I loved the way Carmen Rodrigues told 34 Pieces of You from three different perspectives with huge time jumps all over the place as well as the notes Ellie left behind. You would think that would get confusing, but I had absolutely no problem following along with 34 Pieces of You and each POV change and time jump made the story even more beautiful.

34 Pieces of You had me in legit sobs. For the last quarter of the book I had to keep taking breaks because I couldn’t see the words through my tears. When I closed 34 Pieces of You, I immediately ran through the house crying to get on Goodreads and Twitter to tell everyone how beautiful and heartbreaking and sob-worthy 34 Pieces of You truly is.

And, for those of you who like kissing, there is a bit of a romance thing going on in 34 Pieces of You. And it was an awesome romance because it was so organic and slow-building and wasn’t super rushed. I thought Carmen Rodrigues did a fantastic job with that.

34 Pieces of You by Carmen Rodrigues is dark, but beautiful story. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to read a book that will make them feel. 34 Pieces of You is a brilliantly written book with such depth and importance and I can’t wait to read more from Carmen Rodrigues.

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