Sadly, this book disappointed me. I began it with no expectations, not knowing anything about it. I ended it with more questions than I started. And not in a good way. Granted, The Missing Pieces of Me was easy to read and easy to follow, but exactly to where did we follow it? It's as if she finished the book only to have her editor ask her for more pages, at which point she infused another story inside the main one.
What is this one about? If you ask the author's website here is your answer:
What is this one about? If you ask the author's website here is your answer:
 | More than anything, Weezie wants to please her momma. She babysits her spoiled half-sister, Ruth Ann, and little Jackson. She makes tea for Momma in Gramma Emmeline's beautiful teapot. She even tries to cook dinner. But nothing turns out quite right. Momma is never pleased. |
If you ask me, the intelligent reader, what the book is about, I would give you a different answer. The book seems to have an identity crisis. Just as you're figuring out that Weezie's mother is stressed and uncomfortably resentful of her illegitimate daughter and her absent father, the story shifts to Weezie's fixation on a stray cat. After a while, the storyline shifts to her search for information for her father (which comes way to easily). Finally, the book moves to a story about dealing with revelation and loss, but fails wholeheartedly to resolve either. And at some point that cat gets injured, but we don't know how.). When it's convenient, Weezie recalls her deceased grandmother, who she clearly misses as the one adult in her family who might have been a reasonable role model.
The Missing Pieces of Me made me uncomfortable, but I'm not sure that was the author's intention. I'm all right with a character thinking her mother hates her, but this character never finds out differently. Her mother doesn't change her point of view considering her daughter, and her daughter doesn't ever discover that she was misreading her mother.
When a grown man, Weezie's brother's estranged dad, drives off with Weezie on the back of his motorcycle, Weezie's mother is right to call the police. Why this man, who otherwise seems to be in the middle of becoming a more responsible father, puts her in this kind of situation is inconsistent with his developing character.
Additionally, there's a teenage pregnancy here with no talk about it being an issue. In fact, it's just accepted as a normal thing that happens. While it does occur more often than I'd like to admit, that's not the message I want my daughter picking up when she's twelve.
Why is Weezie's mother is constantly angry? It's obvious she has made her bed. She clearly has a record of making bad choices in her life, but she takes out her anger on everybody else. She doesn't like her daughter's friend Calvin, pushing her instead to another classmate in the neighborhood. When Weezie gets close to her new friend, her mother resents the new girl. She never has anything positive to say about anything, and she clearly likes Weezie's siblings more than Weezie.
Is the book about the anger of a parent? Is it about a girl finding her missing father? Is it about the dangers of talking to strangers? Is it about a stray cat? A dead grandmother? A kind neighbor? Lying to show up a bully? At any rate, not a single one of these themes is brought to a close. In the end, Weezie's mother still does not like her, Weezie still doesn't have any direction in her life, her grandmother is still dead, her father remains absent, the bully is still there, her original friend remains distracted, and the cat is still feral.
The Missing Pieces of Me made me uncomfortable, but I'm not sure that was the author's intention. I'm all right with a character thinking her mother hates her, but this character never finds out differently. Her mother doesn't change her point of view considering her daughter, and her daughter doesn't ever discover that she was misreading her mother.
When a grown man, Weezie's brother's estranged dad, drives off with Weezie on the back of his motorcycle, Weezie's mother is right to call the police. Why this man, who otherwise seems to be in the middle of becoming a more responsible father, puts her in this kind of situation is inconsistent with his developing character.
Additionally, there's a teenage pregnancy here with no talk about it being an issue. In fact, it's just accepted as a normal thing that happens. While it does occur more often than I'd like to admit, that's not the message I want my daughter picking up when she's twelve.
Why is Weezie's mother is constantly angry? It's obvious she has made her bed. She clearly has a record of making bad choices in her life, but she takes out her anger on everybody else. She doesn't like her daughter's friend Calvin, pushing her instead to another classmate in the neighborhood. When Weezie gets close to her new friend, her mother resents the new girl. She never has anything positive to say about anything, and she clearly likes Weezie's siblings more than Weezie.
Is the book about the anger of a parent? Is it about a girl finding her missing father? Is it about the dangers of talking to strangers? Is it about a stray cat? A dead grandmother? A kind neighbor? Lying to show up a bully? At any rate, not a single one of these themes is brought to a close. In the end, Weezie's mother still does not like her, Weezie still doesn't have any direction in her life, her grandmother is still dead, her father remains absent, the bully is still there, her original friend remains distracted, and the cat is still feral.
