34 Pieces of You [Hardcover]

Carmen Rodrigues (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 4, 2012

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 thirty-four clues she left behind. Thirty-four strips of paper hidden in a box beneath her bed. Thirty-four 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 confront the past, they will discover not only the darkest truths about themselves, but also what Ellie herself had been hiding all along….

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Ellie died and Sarah did not. At first this is all anyone knows. There were pills and there was booze, but were the girls planning a double suicide? The three teens closest to Ellie are left to sort it out. Sarah had seen Ellie act with inexplicable cruelty and kindness throughout the five years of their friendship. It was Ellie who taught Sarah to escape emotional pain through self-mutilation. Ellie’s older brother, Jake, knows the terrible secrets of Ellie’s childhood. Now he is burdened with the memory of Ellie’s frantic phone calls just before she died. Sarah’s younger sister, Jess, may be keeping the truest secret of all: a box hidden under Ellie’s bed containing 34 mysterious notes. Told from the alternating viewpoints of Jess, Jake, and Sarah, the story is most moving when portraying the grief of those left behind after a teen’s death. Recommend this to readers looking for something similar to Thirteen Reasons Why (2007), by Jay Asher, and remind them to keep a box of tissues nearby. Grades 8-11. --Diane Colson

Review

"A realistic journey covering both before and after the death of a loved one, 34 Pieces of You will appeal to fans of serious, realistic fiction such as Cut by Patricia McCormick and Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson."

(Shanyn Day,Shelf Awareness )

"[C]learly drawn characters and insights into one individual's profound influence on the lives of those around her result in a haunting read." --Publishers Weekly

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (September 4, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1442439068
• ISBN-13: 978-1442439061
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #152,574 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Carmen Rodrigues is the author of 34 PIECES OF YOU and NOT ANYTHING. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

For the latest news or additional information, visit her website at www.carmenrodrigues.com.

Become a friend on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/thisismyhandstand.

Follow on twitter @ThisIsMyHndstnd

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Find Yourself in "34 Pieces of You" September 24, 2012

By WTF Are You Reading? Book Reviewer

Format:Hardcover

Ellie was beautiful...Ellie was smart...Ellie took too many pills...and now Ellie is dead.

This book gives readers an all too real snapshot of just what happens when someone commits suicide.
Though the pain may be over for the person in question; the wounds and devastation left for family and friends of the lost loved one never ends.

In most cases, the people left behind are asking themselves and all who will listen one question.
WHY?

"34 Pieces of You" will haunt all the secret places and darkest corners of your mind. As you make your way through its pages, you will find pieces of yourself.

You may be Ellie, a person who for whatever reason has felt or is feeling that things would be "so much better" for everybody if...

You may be Jake, the sibling that has to go through life with the "if only" that losing a brother or sister causes.
If only I had stayed.
If only I had been there.
If only...

You may be the girlfriend or boyfriend whose heart is now in taters. The one blaming him or herself for not "loving your lost love enough."

You may be Sarah, the best friend, the shadow, the first one to see all the signs, but not be able to read them. The last one to see, hear, or speak to that person. Your pain being just a little different than the others because...

I thought you said that you would never leave me?

These are the stories that are told with heartrendingly elegant style in 34 Pieces of You.

This book reminds readers that every link in the chains that form the emotional bonds that we need in life is important. When Ellie breaks her chain, the weaknesses created by the loss of her strength allow all the inner demons in the lives of those she loved and that her presence kept at bay, to reek unchecked havoc in their lives.

Ellie told her story...In 34 pieces.
34 scraps of frayed paper.
34 reasons WHY?
34 questions answered too late.
34 cries for help unheard.

I recommend this book to anyone who has ever considered or attempted to take their own life.
Please know that life is so precious. YES, EVEN YOURS!
There is help there for the asking.
and...
YOU ARE LOVED!

Need help? In the U.S., call 1-800-273-8255 National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

This review is a cross post from my blog. I was in no way compensated for my views and all opinions are my own.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely, absorbing read. It will swallow you whole. May 2, 2013

By Rebecca A Germain

Format:Hardcover

I really don't have the time to leave a proper review of this book, as I am at work, but I felt the need to at least pass along this note to future readers: You should read this book. If you are teenager, you should read this book. If you are a mother or a father with a teenager, you should read this book and then give it to your kid. This is a book skillfully written on a serious and tricky topic. There are so many YA books out there that touch on this subject without the careful thought and intuitive craft that Rodrigues displays here. If you must choose between one of those books and this one, I hope you will choose wisely and leave the bookstore with this in your hands. Lovely, Carmen. Truly.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Review from So Many Books, So Little Time October 2, 2012

By A. Mason

Format:Hardcover

I saw that many were comparing this book to Thirteen Reasons Why. And while I knew many loved that book, I didn't. I didn't find myself caring about Hannah (the girl who committed suicide) in that book and so I was hoping that this book would be different since suicide is such a tragic and important topic. Unfortunately, I pretty much felt the same way about Ellie as I did about Hannah.

Yes, I get that Ellie had an extremely hard life and went through things that no person should ever have to go through. But I wanted to FEEL for her. And to feel for her, I had to like her. And I just didn't. I didn't like her personality at all. There was nothing that made me care for her.

And at the beginning, I felt that way about the other narrators in the story, the people that were closest to her. But as the book went on, I felt myself feeling sorry for those people. I never changed my mind about Ellie, but Sarah and Jake and Jessie started to grow on me. Especially Jessie (although I won't give away why). By the end, I actually cared about them.

I wish I could have cared more about Ellie. It's unfortunate that she was written in a way that I just didn't.