Description Share Post Pieces of Us Stewart Foster (Simon & Schuster) Louis sees beneath Jonas’s skin, the skin he hides so carefully. It seems he overlooks Jonas’s silences and baggy jumpers, his fears and lack of commitment. In fact he seems set on encouraging the real Jonas, toward a glorious 1990’s summer and thus a relaxation of his anticipations. However, what if something happens to Louis? After all, isn’t Louis the one who seems able to make things happen? In fact, isn’t he the one who acts on impulse, holds his dreams close, and his secrets closer? What Pieces of Us might Jonas’s writing reveal of both young men, on the cusp of adulthood, as he remembers? Then again, might Louis’ generosity extend toward a wider friendship circle that encompasses Jonas too, even after Louis is gone? Stewart Foster is a truth-teller. It seems as though he’s able to burrow so as to expose his characters’ fears and feelings in every book he writes. Just think of Check Mates, for example. However here, there’s something more heartfelt, almost raw. It means we feel powerless alongside Jonas, while railing at the unfairness of the service station job, for example. Then again, we feel helpless as we struggle to encourage Jonas as Louis sees him. However, Louis? The dreamer, the one who’s so nurturing and fragile, in turn? We love his hopes, warmth and confidence. Then again, we mourn with Jonas alongside charting their friendship through Jonas’s lyrics. Bookwagon recommends Pieces of Us highly to all our older, teen readers. This is a hard-hitting, wonderful novel. Its subjects of bulimia, mental illness and grief are more appropriate for readers over the age of 14, or so.
