Book Details
- Date Read: January 22, 2022
- Publication Date: August 2018
- Rating: 2.0 / 5.0
- Format: Audio Book
- Page Count: 480
- Listening Time: 16 hours 5 minutes
- Print Publisher: William Morrow
- Audio Publisher: Blackstone Audio
Pieces of Her Book Review
In Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter, the reader follows the life of a thirty-something woman, Andy, living with her mother, Laura, in a small and quiet community until they both experience a traumatic event while in a restaurant. During an active shooting event, Andrea sees another side of her mother and becomes the center of a national news event. As she flees and tries to stay safe, she pieces together who her mother was in her past.
The story unfolds through clues and small snippets of information along the way, however as a reader it seemed fairly clear what was happening early on and the pieces of information along the way didn’t build a puzzle for me. Instead, they added more trauma and detail to what already seemed spelled out.
Watching Andy make poor decisions and be so slow to understand what was happening around her was at times frustrating and made the stories go by slowly. Perhaps it was that the author packed so many things into one person’s life story or perhaps it was that she used serious topics like the predatory nature of some healthcare companies or violence in cults as points in the mystery without giving proper depth to their reality.
I understand this will become a Netflix 8-part series and I think the pace could be better in television. I can’t say I’ll be tuning in unless it is done quite differently than the book. The idea was intriguing however the execution wasn’t captivating.
Content warnings: gun violence, sexual assault, cults
