Pieces of Me by Natalie Hart follows the story of Emma, a British woman working in Iraq to interview those seeking visas to America, and Adam, an American soldier working as a medic. They are brought together by one of Emma's unlucky-in-love friends, who is busy chatting up Adam's friend.
Following the trauma of a bomb blast close to where Emma works, she finds herself drawn to Adam and his calming, reassuring influence. Sure enough, after a fairly swift courtship, they end up getting married and moving back to Adam's home town in Colorado. This perfect set-up is unfortunately way too short though, and Adam is whisked back to Iraq, leaving Emma feeling unsettled and decidedly bored. She manages to find a new circle of friends and gets involved with helping out an Iraqi family.
Unfortunately, just before they come home, Adam's unit is targetted and one of his colleagues is killed. This deeply affects him and his relationship with Emma suffers, to the point where she has to decide whether she wants to stick around or go back home to the UK.
While I felt sorry for Emma, I found it hard to really empathise with Adam, who seemed totally selfish. I appreciate how hard it must be in the armed forces, especially when this kind of tragic event happens, but Adam refused all offers of help, both professionally and personally. I would have preferred to see a few chapters offering a narrative voice to Adam from time to time, to get the insider's view on how he was feeling, to help continue to connect with him and see him in a positive light. However, I suspect that this is a fairly honest and realistic account of how military families get on, and this really made me think.
It's an interesting novel, that provides you with more questions than answers. It would be great for reading groups, who would enjoy discussing who is right and who is wrong, or what could be put in place to help military families in such cases.
star rating : 4/5
RRP : £8.99
- Paperback: 352 pages
- Publisher: Legend Press (4 Oct. 2018)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 9781787198036
- ISBN-13: 978-1787198036
- ASIN: 1787198030
Disclosure : I received a copy of the book in order to share my honest review.
It's probably not for me. As you say, it will be an interesting material for a discussion in a book club.
ReplyDeleteDef sounds good for book club
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