A Story of Grief & The Value of True Friendship
Book Review of Pieces of You by Glaiza De Leon
Published: August 9th 2024
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25 (4.25 stars)
Genres: Young Adult (YA), Contemporary Fiction
Disclaimer: Thank you Glaiza De Leon for sending me this book. All thoughts and opinions are 100% honest and my own.
CW/TW: Death, car accidents/crashes, bullying and grief.
Love & Loss
Wynter struggles to fit in. She doesn’t have many friends. But when Lucas suddenly shows up they bond over their shared passion for music and books. Soon his friendship is all she needs.
However, their perfect harmony comes to a screeching halt when tragedy strikes.
Drowning in her grief, Wynter is left to struggle with a loss she can barely comprehend. She has to learn how to navigate everyday life all on her own. Without Lucas, Wynter is left without her guiding light, her platonic soulmate, her reason to smile.
A Touch of Home
I absolutely love reading books by Australian authors, especially when they’re set in Australia. While reading Pieces of You, every time I came across something either iconic to Australia or something that I recognised from my own life, I smiled.
Referring to school years and terms, Questacon, Sheppard’s pie, The Blue Mountains and COO-EE (which I learned the Aboriginal history of thanks to Glaiza). It’s these little details that make this book feel like home.
Multitudes of Grief
Pieces of You is a slower-paced book where the reader joins Wynter on her grieving journey. Glaiza did a fantastic job of not only capturing Wynter’s grief, but the grief of other characters and how each of them were affected differently.
Many different characters either share Wynter’s grief or have their own experiences. Each person’s grief is explored in some way, shape, or form throughout the story, helping to emphasise that each person experiences grief differently and that we all have our own stories and paths to healing.
Helpful Anxiety Representation
I really appreciated how Wynter’s mum has taught her to deal with her anxieties. The main coping mechanisms throughout the book are positive affirmations and box breathing.
Box breathing is a deep breathing technique used to slow down your breathing to calm your nervous system and lower your stress levels. This is done by breathing in for four counts, holding for four counts and exhaling for four counts. It is also referred to as square breathing. Wynter does a great job of explaining this and utilising it when necessary.
A couple of the positive affirmations used throughout the book include:
Count your blessings.
I am capable of loving and being loved. Today I am grateful for music. The healing properties melodies have.
And of course Wynter’s go-to affirmation:
I am braver than I think, Stronger than I feel. I have the courage to face my fears.
Forgiveness & Platonic friendships
One of the main themes of this book is the importance of platonic friendships and how fulfilling true friendship can be – especially in high school. This is an important message as in life, literature and media, there is a huge focus on romantic relationships. However, I would argue (and I assume Glaiza would, too) that platonic friendships are a fundamental human need and are just as rewarding, if not more, than romantic relationships.
As a Young Adult book, Pieces of You explores different friendship dynamics in a simple way: how friends are made, how friendships are maintained, and how they end.
Throughout Wynter’s grieving process, she learns to forgive not only people who have wronged her but also herself and Lucas for things they had no control over. This is yet another important message that is expressed well, especially for a young adult audience.
Books and Music bring people together
Music is one of the key aspects of Wynter’s friendships. She and Lucas play the piano and share their passion for composing music throughout their relationship. Wynter also briefly bonds with Stacey over music and composing.
As a reader, I always love it when characters in books are also readers or they fall in love with reading. Wynter and Lucas’ little book club was the initial foundation of their friendship and continued as their friendship grew over the years.
It was touching how Wynter’s reading alone was one of the things that she thought made others think she was odd, yet it’s the reason for her greatest friendship and also continues to help her bond with friends as her story unfolds.
Books mentions in Pieces of You:
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- 1984 by George Orwell
- Little Women by Louisa ay Alcott
- Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
- We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
- A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Lord of The Flies by William Golding
- The Robot Who Looked Like Me by Robert Sheckley
Favourite Quotes
“You’re not supposed to have it all together one hundred per cent of the time. No-one is. We’re all imperfect, but the important thing is we never stop trying. To be kind. To be forgiving. To be honest. And we never stop trying to face our fears.”
“You are strong, Wynter. But being strong doesn’t mean you have to endure all the heartache alone. It takes great strength to seek or accept help. Always remember that.”
Final thoughts
Pieces of You is such a beautiful and touching story. I doubt that anyone could read it and feel nothing. This book had me tearing up the majority of the way through.
It’s such raw story about the multitudes of grief, the value of friendship and it “challenges the conventional notion that romantic love is paramount during high-school”.
This is a perfect story for anyone that likes contemporary YA stories that deal with heavier themes.
Author’s Website | Amazon
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