Starred Review for
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Frannie
in Pieces When
15-year-old Frannie stumbles upon an elaborately carved box bearing her
name as she is sorting through her late father's art studio, she assumes
she has found a birthday present that he made for her before his recent,
untimely death. Inside she finds a handmade, 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle;
assembling it distracts Frannie from her grief and her growing obsession
with death. But sometimes, usually when she is exhausted, the connected
puzzle pieces seem to pull her inside them and transport her to a
foreign place where she sometimes glimpses or even talks with a younger
version of her father. In deftly conjuring up the magical element of
this otherwise realistic novel, Ephron (How
to Eat Like a Child) explores themes about
“puzzling” relationships, the process of mourning (which leaves
Frannie “in pieces”) and seeing the larger picture. Frannie, an
artist like her father and at odds with her more conventional mother and
stepfather, feels too much pain to connect with anyone else, including
her best friend. Whether or not Frannie's journeys into the jigsaw
puzzle are figments of her imagination (plenty of evidence suggests they
are not), her brief visits to its world have a profound psychological
effect, answering some of her questions about love, art and life. Truths
about Frannie's long-divorced parents emerge suddenly in a gratifying
climax that forces Frannie, and readers, to reassemble her picture of
her family and herself. With this imaginative and insightful first YA
novel, Ephron, co-screenwriter for The
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, should easily
capture a new audience. Ages 12-up. (Oct.)
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