34 Pieces of You

September 24, 2012
Rodrigues's (Not Anything) intricate but sometimes wallowing second novel follows the lives of three teens connected by volatile high school senior Ellie, who overdosed on pills. With skillfully intertwined perspectives, the novel jumps between the months before and after her death. "Ellie had this way of pushing me past what felt logical into some other realm of what felt good because it was so wrong," says best friend Sarah, who is sinking after Ellie's death. Sarah's parents fail to notice that her quiet, 15-year-old sister, Jessie, is physically wasting away, the result of keeping secret her romance with Ellie. Meanwhile, Ellie's brother, Jake, is wracked with guilt for leaving her at home with their drunken mother and failing to return from college in time to save her. Rodrigues's moody vignettes, which are punctuated by stark fragments of Ellie's writing, strike a tone of despondency that sometimes drowns out her precise, poetic language. Yet clearly drawn characters and insights into one individual's profound influence on the lives of those around her result in a haunting read. Ages 14âup. Agent: Steven Chudney, the Chudney Agency.

January 1, 2013
Gr 9 Up-This is a moving, alternative-voice novel, but it takes a little time to get into the story. The three main narrators all deal with death in their own ways. Ellie and Sarah overdose on pills and alcohol one night, and Ellie dies but Sarah survives. Sarah is left with the guilt of being left behind and not stopping her friend. Jake, Ellie's brother, is filled with regret for not coming home sooner when Ellie begged him to. Jessie, Sarah's younger sister, has a more ambiguous role to play; she is holding her secrets and mourning Ellie's death with no one to turn to for help. Each person must deal not only with what happened before and after the night Ellie died, but also find a way to share the burden of guilt and remorse. While the story is put together well, switching among characters can be confusing, especially at first. The narrative jumps from present to past with each character, so readers slowly start to figure out what happened when. There are many tough issues in this novel: alcohol and drug abuse, sex, eating disorders, cutting, bullying, and suicide. The author handles them candidly, but not graphically.-"Natalie Struecker, Rock Island Public Library, IL"

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2012
Grades 8-11 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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)