A Million Little Pieces

A Million Little Pieces is a book about a young man by the name of James Frey, who has an addiction to drugs and alcohol. At the beginning of the story James checks into a drug/alcohol rehabilitation center in Minnesota and befriends two people. One’s name is Lilly, a young woman addicted to crack. The other one’s name is Leonard, a middle aged criminal, also addicted to drugs. James grew to love Lilly and secretly meets with her on occasion. I say secretly because in the clinic men and woman are not allowed to interact with each other. The two meeting together and loving each other gave me a romantic feeling because it made me feel good about the two having something positive in their lives. In one point of the story, Leonard tells James a deep story about how he got to the clinic. This story that he told him made me feel the bond between the two because it showed lots of emotion. James and his family attended a Family Program at the clinic, which is a family meeting to discuss James’s issues and progress. James learns that his grandfather was an alcoholic. His parent’s believe that this could be a reason for his alcoholism, but he doesn’t want to believe that that is why he is an alcoholic. He thinks it is an excuse for his weakness. I think when someone has an addiction, whatever it is, they tend to become defensive and try to make excuses when someone brings up their addiction. So, James realizing that his alcoholism was a weakness made me feel good for him. From here on James starts to change positively. At the end of the book , James finally was ready to leave the clinic. He got picked up by his brother and friend and asked them immediately to take him to the bar. So, they took him to a bar and asked the bartender for a whole pint of whiskey. He looked at it, smelled it, then asked the bartender to poor it down the drain. This was the best part of the book to me because it made me feel tremendous for James to finally overcome his addiction. It was a good feeling to know that a long-time drug and alcohol addict could have the strength to ask the bartender to poor that pint of whiskey down the drain; especially after seeing some alcohol for the first time in a long time.

Liar by Justine Larbalestier

I think that this book’s title is the best title the author could have picked to fit this mysterious story. When I first read the beginning of the book I was thinking to myself, I wonder if this girl, Micah, is going to try to lie to me, the reader. I thought no, she can’t fool me. Sure enough she has admitted to lying once to me as far as I have read. She lied about her Uncle being dead because she was told not to tell anyone about his existence. Besides that one lie she has admitted to, she lies about unnecessary things a lot of times. For example, when the police questioned her the first time about her knowing Zach or associating with him, she said that she hasn’t, which dug her into more trouble. Also, when she told Sarah that she had seen Zach late Saturday night, when she had not, which also dug her into more trouble. I can only come up with two reasons why she lies so often. I think it might be because of her disease that she claims to have since she was born. If it is true that she has this disease, I can understand why she lies so much. Other than that, I think that she just lies all of the time because she gets a great thrill out of the person that she is lying to’s reaction. Plus, she has a dad who lies for a living, basically, so that can also be an influence. Overall, I think this book is interesting and the title fits this book perfectly.

Liar

I am not much of a reader, but this book, Liar, is very interesting and keeps me reading. The layout of the book is unique how it has titles to represent what it is going to talk about like when it says before, after, family history, school history, etc. I also like how the story is told from Micah’s point of view. Because it makes me feel like I am her and I can understand her thoughts more easily. I think that the time frame in this book is pretty much up to date. I like how at the beginning of the book Micah gives the reader a promise to the reader ensuring that she will tell the reader the truth. Micah seems to be a quiet and different type of girl. I like how she handles certain situations. For example, when she was with her classmates talking to the counselor and Brandon put the spotlight on her by telling everyone that she was Zach’s girlfriend, she didn’t let her nervousness show even though everyone was staring at her. I can relate to this scene because I think it’s a good thing to not show unpositive feelings to others in some situations. On another note, I think that Micah les so much to get attention from other people. I think lying brings excitement to her and somewhat gives her something to do. Overall I like the beginning of this book and I am looking forward to read more and more.