Book
Pieces
Record details
- ISBN: 9781416927037 (hbk.)
- ISBN: 1416927034
-
Physical Description:
print
168 p. ; 22 cm. - Publisher: New York : Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, c2013.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | Companion to: Iceman. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Brothers -- Death of -- Juvenile fiction Interpersonal relations -- Juvenile fiction Donation of organs, tissues, etc -- Juvenile fiction Death -- Juvenile fiction Grief -- Juvenile fiction |
| Genre: | Psychological fiction. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at BC Interlibrary Connect.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terrace Public Library | YA Lyn (Text) | 35151000392860 | Young Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Reshelving | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2013 March #1
When Lynch published Iceman in 1994, it was his second novel. Almost two decades and dozens of books later, Lynch returns to Eric and Duane, siblings and best friendsâthough things have changed. Pieces opens in a hospital as Eric struggles to accept Duane's death and to consent to organ donation. A year later Eric must decide if he wants to meet the recipients. He attends a high tea where he meets the beneficiaries: sweet, friendless Phil; obnoxious masher Barry; and fragile, beautiful single mother Melinda among them. Eric feels ready to move on, until Martha, Duane's ex-girlfriend and Eric's eternal crush, appears, determined to meet the recipients herself, and things become messily human. Lynch paints a cast of indelible characters, even secondary players, with a deft, sensitive hand. And despite the specificity of Eric's circumstances, his complicated, shifting emotions are immediately resonant. Though the complex family dynamic (and strange affinity for death) explored in Iceman adds nuance to the proceedings here, this novel stands on its own, rewarding new readers with a tender exploration of just what it means to be whole. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews. - Horn Book Guide Reviews : Horn Book Guide Reviews 2013 Fall
Lynch first explored the closeness of brothers Duane and Eric in Iceman. But now Duane is dead, and Eric struggles to cope. Since Duane was an organ donor, parts of him are technically alive in others, and Eric sets out to find them--and his beloved brother's essence. This intriguing premise gets sidetracked with a host of characters and Eric's own ill-defined quest. - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 2013 February #1
A teenage boy seeks connections with the people who received his beloved brother's donated organs in this darkly humorous novel by the author of Inexcusable (2005). A year after his 20-year-old brother Duane died in a diving accident, 18-year-old Eric still can't seem to move forward. In an attempt to keep the "nothingness that is filling the Duane space" from taking hold, he reaches out to three of the donors who received his brother's "pieces." After meeting shy, redheaded Phil, brassy Barry and sweet single mom Melinda, Eric finds himself constantly asking the questions, "Who are these people? Who are they, to me? Who am I, to them?" Duane's outspoken and softhearted ex-girlfriend Martha dispenses advice and comic relief as Eric puzzles out the answers and tries not to fall for beautiful Melinda, who is eight years his senior. As these unusual relationships take root, Eric realizes that what the donors are to him is a freshly minted family that helps ease the pain of the one that he lost. Each character springs fully formed off the page, and Lynch's irreverent, inventive dialogue crackles, turning what could have easily been a maudlin soap opera into a sharply observed story of real human connection. Readers will be pleasantly reminded of the snarky stylings of John Green and Ned Vizzini. Exceptional. (Fiction. 12 & up) Copyright Kirkus 2013 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved. - Library Media Connection : Library Media Connection Reviews 2013 August/September
Eighteen-year-old Eric has only one really good friend-his older brother, Duane. When Duane suffers irreparable brain injuries from a diving accident, Eric and his parents must make the painful decision to take him off life support and donate his organs. In the aftermath, Eric distances himself from his parents and seeks comfort by getting to know some of the people who have received his brother's organs; Eric yearns to find something of Duane in these new relationships. Eric finds friendship and a reluctant family among them, the only lasting gift his brother left behind. Both heartbreaking and heartwarming, this book is a touching tour through the experience of losing and finding different kinds of love. Although the story touches on mature topics like drinking, domestic abuse, and sexual relationships, Eric's strong sense of morality distances him from these behaviors, making the content approachable for a wider age range. Jenny MacKay, Children's Author, Sparks, Nevada [Editor's ote: Available in e-book format.] RECOMMENDED Copyright 2012 Linworth Publishing, Inc. - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 2013 March #4
"I am seventeen years old. Or I was, before my big shitslice of a brother went diving into the quarry and broke his neck and his skull and my grip on the world... Now I'm about seven," says Eric, who still feels unmoored and angry one year after his brother's death. Unable to connect to his parents and weighing whether to enter the Navy, Eric seeks out the recipients of Duane's organ donations in hopes of finding solace. Obnoxious Barry has (and intends to abuse) Duane's liver; a gentle teenager, Phil, is overcome with gratitude for Duane's inner-ear bones; and an attractive young mother, Melinda, has his kidney. Readers get to know Duane through the conversations Eric keeps up with him in his mind, and Duane's snarky philosophical phrases ("It's a long fall, off a high horse. Remember that, Brother") appear between chapters. When Duane's pushy ex, Martha, reenters Eric's life, she ignites familiar and confusing emotions. Using succinct prose, Lynch creates a smart, raw story about redefining oneself after loss. Ages 12âup. (Feb.)
[Page ]. Copyright 2013 PWxyz LLC - PW Annex Reviews : Publishers Weekly Annex Reviews
"I am seventeen years old. Or I was, before my big shitslice of a brother went diving into the quarry and broke his neck and his skull and my grip on the world... Now I'm about seven," says Eric, who still feels unmoored and angry one year after his brother's death. Unable to connect to his parents and weighing whether to enter the Navy, Eric seeks out the recipients of Duane's organ donations in hopes of finding solace. Obnoxious Barry has (and intends to abuse) Duane's liver; a gentle teenager, Phil, is overcome with gratitude for Duane's inner-ear bones; and an attractive young mother, Melinda, has his kidney. Readers get to know Duane through the conversations Eric keeps up with him in his mind, and Duane's snarky philosophical phrases ("It's a long fall, off a high horse. Remember that, Brother") appear between chapters. When Duane's pushy ex, Martha, reenters Eric's life, she ignites familiar and confusing emotions. Using succinct prose, Lynch creates a smart, raw story about redefining oneself after loss. Ages 12âup. (Feb.)
[Page ]. Copyright 2013 PWxyz LLC - School Library Journal Reviews : SLJ Reviews 2013 May
Gr 9 UpâIt has been three years since the events recorded in Iceman (HarperCollins, 1994), Lynch's novel about 14-year-old Eric, a tough and angry hockey player who struggles to understand his feelings and his place in his family. In those years, Eric has given up the sport and, more significantly, his older brother has died after a diving accident. At the start of Pieces, Eric is attempting to process his feelings, especially now that bits and pieces of Duane have been transplanted and live on in the bodies of strangers. Eric initiates a meeting with three of the recipients: a sweet teen named Phil, who benefits from Duane's inner-ear bones; the "überhot" Malinda, a young mom who received Duane's kidney; and the antagonistic and heavy-drinking Barry, who lives thanks to Duane's liver. Eric is both comforted and shocked by the trio, but, along with Duane's former girlfriend, Martha, the five quickly become embroiled in one another's lives, and Eric and Martha find the freedom to grieve and move forward. Lynch is known for his gritty novels with flawed protagonists. He does not disappoint here, once again giving readers characters with emotional and psychological complexity. A long time coming, this sequel is a sophisticated, extended look at a teen's maturation and growth through a series of dynamic life changes.âJennifer Miskec, Longwood University, Farmville, VA
[Page 118]. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. - Voice of Youth Advocates Reviews : VOYA Reviews 2013 April
In an effort to reconcile himself to his brother Duane's death a year before, Eric, from Lynch's Iceman (HarperCollins, 1994), goes looking for the recipients of Duane's organ donations and tracks down three of them: an eager-to-please teenager; a harried, young single mother; and a young man Eric quickly writes off as an egotistical jerk. Eric's tentative, confused, often angry interactions with these three, as well as Duane's ex-girlfriend, form the core of this powerfully emotional novel of grief and loss, which should resonate with more literate fans of Kokie's Personal Effects (Candlewick, 2012/VOYA August 2012) Since writing Iceman, Lynch has become best known for his award-winning, provocative novels like Freewill (HarperCollins, 2001/VOYA August 2001) and Inexcusable (Antheneum, 2005/VOYA December 2005). Like those novels, the narrator's full character is hidden from himself, but here the depths of anger and violence are better developed and motivated, creating a much more fully realized protagonist. And though the situations are more mundane, they are even more closely and tenderly depictedâparticularly affecting is a set-piece at a four-year-old's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. The side characters share in Lynch's more traditional focus on deep characterization, and the whole novel is pervaded by his more recent innovations in dexterous, vivid, often elliptical prose, resulting in a novel that for the first time brings all of Lynch's many talents together in one place.âMark Flowers 5Q 4P J S Copyright 2011 Voya Reviews.
