Charlotte Davis is
in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people lose in
a lifetime. But she’s learned how to forget. The broken glass washes
away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don’t have to think
about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever.
Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you.
Every new scar
hardens Charlie’s heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much.
It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to
happen before you can find your way back from the edge.
A deeply
moving portrait of a teenage girl on the verge of losing herself and the
journey she must take to survive in her own skin, Kathleen Glasgow’s
debut is heartbreakingly real and unflinchingly honest. It’s a story you
won’t be able to look away from. @goodreads
MY REVIEW:
4 STARS
LIKE
A BABY HARP SEAL, I'M ALL WHITE. MY FOREARMS ARE thickly bandaged,
heavy as clubs. My thighs are wrapped tightly, too; white gauze peeks
out from the shorts Nurse Ava pulled from the lost and found box behind
the nurses' station.
Like an orphan, I came here with no
clothes. Like an orphan, I was wrapped in a bedsheet and left on the
lawn of Regions Hospital in the freezing sleet and snow, blood seeping
through the flowered sheet.
The security guard who found me was
bathed in menthol cigarettes and the flat stink of machine coffee. There
was a curly forest of white hair inside his nostrils.
He said, "Holy Mother of God, girl, what's been done to you?"
My mother didn't come to claim me.
But:
I remember the stars at night. They were like salt against the sky,
like someone spilled the shaker against very dark cloth.
That mattered to me, their accidental beauty. The last thing I thought I might see before I died on the cold, wet grass.
There
are many people out there with some kind of mental illness, I'm one of
them. I have many disorders but I have never been a cutter. One of my
friends of many, many years, was a cutter. It's not a pretty thing for
anyone. She doesn't do that any more, thank God, but she still does have
her mental issues.
I have known a lot of people throughout my
life with mental disorders. A lot of them were older people, some have
committed suicide, and one was the nicest old man I have ever met - but
he had to have an older son live with him and his mom so he wouldn't
have an episode and hurt her. He was schizophrenic, had a wonderful job
until he retired and like I said, was a wonderful man until the day he
died of old age. You don't really know people when your hidden behind
the internet. Some have family members or friends with mental disorders
and can or can try to relate.
I read these types of books to
gain more insight into people with the different disorders. And the
author's note is sad, I will add a little excerpt from it at the end.
This
book is about Charlie Davis, she's a cutter and she tried to kill
herself. She had a bad home life with her mother after her father died
and she took to the streets. She was with some really messed up druggies
at one point and almost sold to a sex house. She's only seventeen.
Charlie
gets put in the mental facility after they release her from the
hospital. I felt like she was slowly starting to find a little bit of
herself. And then they just release her, I mean can we not focus on
taking care of OUR people!
Charlie has friend from her past,
Michael, that sends her a bus ticket to come and live in Arizona with
him and his mom gives her some money too. She ends up finding a job
washing dishes, moves into her own place (not a very nice one) and gets
with some older man who is on his own downward spiral. I was afraid for
Charlie there for a bit, but she is also an artist and Michael's
landlord notices her because she is an artist too, has a studio,
teaches, etc.
After a little bit of stupidity I like the way the
ending happened and felt like things were finally looking up for
Charlie, which she needed so badly.
Some places I felt the book
dragged but that's just me. This isn't a book about happy go lucky times
and fairies around every corner. It's just an author that is telling a
story, an author that seems to know things from a personal perspective.
And
remember, don't treat people with mental disorders like they are not
real. Don't treat them like they are not lovable, not fun enough, too
sad to talk to, blah blah blah. Show some kindness and respect what a
person is going through. I'm not saying be their best friend, just don't
be a bully or a jerk! Portions of the Author's Note:
Years ago, I did not want to write this story.
Years
ago, on the city bus, making notes for another story I was writing, I
glanced up when I felt someone slide into the seat next to me. I planned
to give her only the most perfunctory of glances and go back to my
notes, but then my breath caught in my throat.
She had skin like mine. Feeling my eyes on her, she hastily slid down her sleeve, cloaking her thin, fresh red scars from view.
I can't tell you how much I wanted to pull up my own sleeves and say, "I'm just like you! Look! You are not alone."
But
I didn't. Frankly, I was unnerved by her. After years of wearing long
shirts, hiding what I had done to myself, in the hopes that I could
"have a life," I found myself reeling back to when I was at the very
depths of myself, more alone than I have ever been in my life.
Years
ago, I didn't want to write the story of my scars, or the story of
being a girl with scars, because it is hard enough being a girl in the
world, but try being a girl with scars on your skin in the world.
I
let that girl get off the bus without saying a word. And I shouldn't
have. I should have let her know that even mired in the very depths of
herself, she wasn't alone.
Because she's not.
You are not
alone. Charlie Davis's story is the story of over two million young
women in the United States. And those young women will grow up, like I
did, bearing the truth of our past on our bodies.
I wrote the story
of Charlie Davis for the cutters and the burners and the kids on the
street who have nowhere safe to sleep. I wrote the story of Charlie
Davis for their mothers and fathers and for their friends.
Charlie
Davis finds her voice, and her solace, in drawing. I find mine in
writing. What's your solace? Do you know? Find it and don't stop doing
it, ever. Find your people (because you need to talk), your tribe, your
reason to be, and I swear to you, the other side will emerge, slowly but
surely. It's not always sunshine and roses over here, and sometimes the
dark can get pretty dark, but it's filled with people who understand,
and just enough laughter to soften the edges and get you through the
next day.KUDOS! ♥
If you know someone who self harms, get help right now.S.A.F.E Alternatives: selfinjury.com 1-800-DONTCUT
To Write Love On Her Arms: twloha.com
Mental Health America (MHA):
mentalhealthamerica.net/self-injuryDEPRESSION:Teen Lifeline: teenlifeline.org; 1-800-248-8336 (TEEN)
National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI): nami.org
Teen Mental Health: teenmentalhealth.org
SUICIDALNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline: suicidepreventionlifeline.org; 1-800-273-8255
NEEDS A PLACE TO SLEEPNational Child Abuse Hotline: 1-800-4-A-CHILD (1-800-422-4453)
National Runaway Switchboard: 1-800-RUNAWAY
GOODREADS REVIEW:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1814832755
AMAZON LINK TO THE BOOK:
https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Pieces-Kathleen-Glasgow/dp/1101934719/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480085310&sr=8-1&keywords=girl+in+pieces
