A Story That Doesn’t Piece Together // A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

A Thousand Pieces of You  by Claudia Gray
Published November 4th 2014 by Harper Teen
Classified as Romance, Science-Fiction, & Young Adult
Obtained as Ebook

   

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their groundbreaking achievements. Their most astonishing invention, called the Firebird, allows users to jump into multiple universes—and promises to revolutionize science forever. But then Marguerite’s father is murdered, and the killer—her parent’s handsome, enigmatic assistant Paul— escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite refuses to let the man who destroyed her family go free. So she races after Paul through different universes, always leaping into another version of herself. But she also meets alternate versions of the people she knows—including Paul, whose life entangles with hers in increasingly familiar ways. Before long she begins to question Paul’s guilt—as well as her own heart. And soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is far more sinister than she expected.

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Content & Trigger Warnings

Rape (debatable), and drug abuse. If I missed any, please let me know!

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Let’s Make Some Waffles

The Story

In a family full of physicists, Marguerite’s right-brained tendencies set her apart. While she spends her afternoons painting portraits in the comfort of her bedroom, her world-famous parents and her oceanographer sister crowd around the kitchen table to discuss the possible existence of other dimensions. As an aspiring artist, Marguerite has no need for that science mumbo-jumbo in her life. Or at least she doesn’t, until that so-called mumbo-jumbo gets her physicist father killed. And the murderer just so happens to be her parents’ trusted research assistant, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome (A.K.A. Paul Markov).

Going into A Thousand Pieces of You, I was hoping for an inter-dimensional murder mystery with a headstrong heroine who was hellbent on bringing the gavel of justice swinging down on her father’s murderer, no matter how many worlds she had to travel to do it. What I got instead was a wishy-washy attempt at believable Sci-Fi and a predictable love triangle with an obvious winner.

Now, that’s not the book’s fault. I should have seen the signs; in the Goodreads blurb, Paul The Murderer is referred to as “handsome and enigmatic.” Eye roll.  A Thousand Pieces of You is a love story. Sure, it may be wrapped up in shiny Science Fiction trimmings, but it’s still a love story. And you know, some people might like how the cheesy romance and the very soft Sci-Fi elements all piece together (pun intended), but I was not one of them.

The Characters

Marguerite has a Premium Membership for the Typical YA Heroine Club, which means she is exactly the sort of character that I don’t like reading about.  She is “average looking,” is constantly being saved by the attractive men in her life, and said attractive men trip all over themselves just to spend a moment in her exalted presence. I think we’re hitting most of the stereotypes that I dislike here.

We’re pretty different, for sisters—she’s average height while I’m tall; she’s athletic while I’m anything but. She inherited our parent’s love of science and is following in Dad’s footsteps by becoming an oceanographer; I’m the odd duck in the family, the artsy one. Josie’s laid-back while I freak out about every little thing.

During her inter-dimensional travels, Marguerite finds herself in many dangerous situations. Okay, duh. This is a book and nobody wants to read about how she visits the dimension of Sunshine Rainbow Pony Land and has a grand old time. But every time danger strikes, the love interest comes riding in on a white horse, spouting some nonsense about needing to protect her and keep her safe.

The risks don’t matter. You’re the only one who matters.

I get that when you love someone, you naturally want to keep them safe. You want to protect them. But if that’s the case, Marguerite is WAYYYYY too loved because she is always  being saved. Can she even tuck herself in at night without the help of her love interest? I don’t know. Probably not. Too dangerous.

The Setting

What kept me vaguely interested in this meh blah bland story were the different dimensions that Marguerite travels to. Each one is defined by a single concept, so I guess you could say that they are one dimensional dimensions. Hahahahaha. Just cracked myself up there….. In all honesty though, even this wasn’t enough to save my opinion of the book. It’s disappointing that even the supposedly “science-y” aspects of this book only serve as a backdrop for the love triangle and a contrived way to fulfill trite romantic fantasies.

Other Notes

• Everything is too convenient. In the second dimension that Marguerite visits, she is a Russian Duchess and Paul just so happens to be her personal bodyguard. Wow. In a world full of millions of people, the one person she is looking for ends up right next to her. That makes things easier, doesn’t it? Too easy. I understand that Gray is trying to perpetuate the idea of fate connecting people across dimensions, but it just didn’t work for me.
• Oh, here’s a plot hole. Oh, there’s a plot hole. And another! Yes, plot holes everywhere!
• How is it that nobody notices that Marguerite is highjacking the different dimension’s bodies? Like, how does she not get caught? She is pretending to be a Duchess and has to write letters to foreign dignitary and attend Imperial balls, AND NOBODY NOTICES THAT SHE’S WINGING THE WHOLE THING? Nope. See bullet points one and two above.
• There is a sex scene that is supposed to be romantic, but I found it to be highly controversial. The author touches on the ethicality of the act briefly, but not enough in my opinion. Liam @ Hey Ashers wrote a very long blog post discussing this in more detail, which can be read here. (Be warned that Liam’s article contains spoilers). I’m unsure if I agree with everything Liam says, but I do know that the whole thing just left a sour taste in my mouth.
• THIS BOOK HAS ONE OF MY LEAST FAVORITE TROPES: THE WHOLE WE GOT WET AND IT’S COLD SO WE HAVE TO TAKE OUR CLOTHES OFF TOGETHER TO KEEP WARM THING.

My Rating

Another Opinion

Just because I didn’t like A Thousand Pieces of You doesn’t mean you will dislike it too. It also doesn’t mean it’s a bad book; it just didn’t work for me. Shanah over at Bionic Book Worm wrote a wonderful review for A Thousand Pieces where she rated it five stars. If you want to read another opinion, click here (and even if you don’t, you should check out her blog anyways because it’s great).

Have you read A Thousand Pieces of You?

What did you think about it?