By: Elizabeth Joy Arnold Publisher: Bantam Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Bantam Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 480 Publication Date: July 31, 2007 Release Date: July 31, 2007
Product Description: Beautiful, heartbreaking and insightful, this captivating debut novel explores the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood in a story that will resonate with readers of Judy Blume's Summer Sister, Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper and Elisabeth Robinson's The True and Outstanding Adventures of the Hunt Sisters. In Pieces of My Sister's Life, Elizabeth Joy Arnold paints a wise and sensitive portrait of the passions that shape our lives, the pain of dealing with a loved one's illness, and the incredible gift it is to be a sister.
Two sisters who shared everything. One unforgivable moment. And a second chance...
Once, Kerry and Eve Barnard did everything together: sailing the Block Island harbor with their father, listening to their neighbor Justin's magical fairytales, and all the while longing for their absent mother. They were twin girls arm in arm, secrets entwined between two hearts. Until the summer of their seventeenth birthday, when their extraordinary bond was shattered. And thirteen years later, it will take all the courage they can summon to put the pieces back together-at a time when it matters most.
Kerry hadn't heard from Justin in years-and his news takes her breath away: her sister is ill. And so Kerry must return home to confront Eve, to heal their old wounds, and to build a relationship with Eve's young daughter, who sees in Kerry the mother she once had. But most of all, Kerry must try to forgive her sister for her crimes...and both must forgive themselves for the one tragic night that changed everything...
Loved this book.... What a great first novel by Elizabeth joy Arnold. The time reading this book just passed by so quickly, I could not seem to put this book down and was a very quick read for me. In the fashion of other great authors, like Lavyrle Spencer, etc. this novel just tugs at your heart from the very beginning. It's realism captures the reader as you go through the lives of twin sisters enamored for the same man and its conclusion will surely grip your heart. I highly recommend this book to all of you lovers of realistic fiction. I gave it five stars!!
Promising but seriously flawed I finished this book but found myself increasingly frustrated with it as I read. Arnold is a gifted storyteller, there is no question about that; but the book is incredibly melodramatic. The twins reel from one improbable woe to another. It became almost a game for me to imagine what misery would befall them next.
It was the over-dramatization that to me robbed the book of its power. Arnold has been compared to Jodi Picoult but, to me, in this book at least, she has quite a distance to go to find herself in Picoult's league. She simply stretches reality too far. I can imagine someone I know experiencing Picoult's characters' problems; not so here. It's simply too far-fetched. Another difficulty is that the dialogue, particularly in the second half, doesn't ring true. Perhaps that's because the situations being discussed are themselves too unbelievable.
I also found the characters hard to like, particularly as the book wore on. The characters are completely self-involved. Justin behaves terribly; it's hard to imagine a boy, then a man, with whom two girls fall passionately in love could be so weak and indecisive. I kept hoping Kerry would wise up and realize he's not worth all this angst. And there's very little good to say about Eve. Kerry should have thrown up her hands and said, You two deserve each other. Good luck and God speed.
Arnold is a talented writer but I hope she recognizes that in future books, her stories would be better served by challenging but more realistic situations. She needn't throw in everything but the kitchen sink.
5 stars PLUS LOVED this book -caught me a little off guard because it had started a little slow for me but it picked up -it was a mix of stories that came together nicely! The author gets my high praise for her great writing skills and also my attention to look for her other writings!
It's OK, but able to put down. The book was Ok, but not the kind you can't put down. The premise that twin sisters, who are inseparable as children, do not speak to each other for years is a bit far-fetched.
No love for these characters! I had a really hard time getting into this book. The storyline, and any plot having to do with cancer, is always a tough read for me, but this one was especially hard. I found myself not being able to feel anything but disdain for both Eve and Justin and pity for Kerry. By the end, I just wanted the book to be done so I didn't have to waste anymore precious reading time on it. I don't recommend this book at all. I was looking for a light summer read, but this was just sad and depressing.
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