I read Life in Pieces 'cause the author needed reviewers and the book sounded interesting. Plus, I wasn't going to pass up a free book. Ultimately I'm glad I read it, it is a very unique and well done story. Life in Pieces is actually three different stories of a life, thus the title. The three stories can effectively be called past, present, and future. The book refers to them as Memory, Thought, and Prediction.
Memory, focuses on a teenager/young adult as he graduates high school and goes to college. It's a coming of age story as the main character, an extreme introvert with next to no friends, finally makes several friends and feels his life of depression turn around for the better in college. Unfortunately soon there's trouble in paradise as he falls in love and this new relationship drives a wedge between him and his friends. This is my favorite of the three stories, perhaps since I can relate the most and am around the same age as the main character here.
Thought, focuses on an unemployed man with a wife and child. His wife works at a job she hates and wants to be a stay-at-home mom. The man wants a job so he can support his family. As the story progresses the man grows more and more hatred towards the unsuccessful job search, and the relationship between him and his wife undergoes a greater and greater strain. Eventually it reaches the point where, justifiably blaming the government for the problems of the economy, he decides to run for office and make some changes, which only increases the strain between him and his wife up to the breaking point.
Prediction, focuses on a strange old man as he recounts to someone the relatively recent chain of events which lead up to why he's currently in the diner that day. His story is by far the most unusual of the three and it's rather difficult to put into words in any simple way. It's probably best just to read it for yourself.
This book is simply put, awesome. It gets nearly everything right. A great storyline as the three pieces all work independently yet also make sense together. Characters with real depth, believability, and relatability. The book is also quite insightful about life itself. All in all an impressive accomplishment. But it's not perfect. The biggest flaw with this book is on a technical level, there are typos and multiple instances of a similar word in place of the correct one. These flaws aren't too many to disrupt the flow or enjoyment of the book but they are nonetheless annoying and being a self published book is no excuse for any lack of quality. Thankfully one advantage of an Ebook is that it can be updated if needed. So all things considered I fully recommend the digital version of this book, but the typos make it not worth shelling out the money for the physical copy.
Peace.
