Pieces

Rating:
Summary: Worth Picking Up!
Review:
This book is totally enjoyable. MTV Books did a great thing by having the 'Write Stuff' Competition, or else we wouldn't have had access to this collection. It contains 15 short stories by young, talented authors from all over the U.S. I never thought much about short stories (usually reading novels), until I picked up this book. I love the story "Polaroid," about people in Paris on a rainy day. All of these stories have something in common. They all tell that what the eye sees is not always the truth. That behind every person there is a truth, known only to themselves. It might be good, or bad. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to read something different, capturing, and fresh. A good buy. Along with Pieces, I recommend The Losers Club by Richard Perez and WILL@epicqwest by Tom Grimes -- two very cool Amazon quick-picks I'm very happy with.

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad So Far
Review: Being somewhat anti-MTV and someone who prefers tried and true authors, I admit I approached this book with perhaps an overly critical eye.
It turns out I was in for a big shock. It was worse than I could have imagined. This collection features some of the worst, most cliched PIECES of garbage I have ever had the misery to read.
Everything about it screams second-rate and pretense. Not one story was compelling in the least, especially not stories such as the thinly veiled (...) that is PINBALL. Nevertheless, if you prefer hackneyed and boring stories then by all means buy this book and be happy.

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad So Far
Review: I bought this book a while ago and just started reading it, I picked a random story in it (Petty Theft) and it turned out to be really good. These writers are very talented and this book is worth reading!

Rating:
Summary: Pieces
Review: Pieces isnt a bad book at all! I had some low expectations for it due to some of the other reviews, but all in all I was pleasantly surprised with most parts of the book. It isnt very reminiscient of "Perks of Being a Wallflower" if you're expecting that.

Overall, I give it a B, some of the stories were horrible (Mother, White Carousel Horse) and then, some were marvelous,(Roam, Forbidden Fate). Others were mediocre.

Dont listen to the people saying this book is "too much to take" because I am 16 and a high school junior. I found it to be a good read that kept me interested and entertained.

Rating:
Summary: I wasn't impressed with these Pieces
Review: Stephen Chbosky- one of my favorite authors and diectors and screenplay producers. I have the greatest respect for him and especially for his Perks of Being a Wallflower, but this was BAD! There was maybe one or two good stories out of the dozen or so that were featured.

I expected this book to be a masterpiece, but it surely wasn't. The writing was nothing fantastic and half the stories didn't have a well developed plot and I'm terribly disappointed with this work. It's a waste of $

*The first story, Scoring, is about some guys problem with drugs. He wants as many pills as posible-- Not original
*Polaroid is very descriptive, and is almost a circle of the lives of the people surrounding the base of the Eifel Tower.
*Day of the Dead- some guy's weird deal with the author of a health food book and his girlfriend... BAD
*The White Carousel Horse is my favorite story. Its wonderful and sad and shows the chronology of a young girl's deteriorating family.
*First Snow is okay. Its an average jail story
*Carnival is also interesting, you aren't quite exactly sure what its about, but I think its about the guilt of getting an abortion.
*Petty Theft is amazingly stupid. There's not much interesting about it.
*Next Time is weird. Its the story of a housewife's awful marriage and a man trying to rob her home the she befriends, but is killed before he can get out.
*Black Cowboy- more waste of paper
*Pinball- sick, perverted, totally MTV. A man's experiment with gay activities.
*Roam is an interesting story of a cook's experience at the home of the very wealthy. It was at par.
*Mother was a wonderful, heartfelt story. It's actually a worth-while read!
*Respiration was, again, par. It almost seemed like you were in the movies Erin Brokovic or the Rainmaker.
*A Fortune- this sounds like a dumb blonde joke. Not too good.
*Forbidden Fate- ahh... its okay. The story of arranged marriages... not my favorite.

Nothing in this book struck me as wonderful. The only other good thing in here is the introduction by Stephen Chboksy. Every thing else can be ripped out and used as kindlin'

Rating:
Summary: Did a deadline influence this book?
Review: This book has fifteen stories. Among those fifteen, one ending has yet to be found. The stories have no sense of finality. Some of the stories were just plain awful, whereas some could have been salvaged if the authors had wrapped things up and given the story a true ending.
The best part of this book was the introduction by Stephen Chbosky, the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Sadly, the introduction only lasts three pages, leaving about one hundred and fifty more to wade through. I wouldn't even recommend this book to an enemy, let alone a friend.

Rating:
Summary: peices... disturbing yet uplifting
Review: This book is a collection of stories from different people about fictional experiences. My experience with the book was that some stories can be very intense, even disgusting, for a 16-yr. old girl to be able to handle. Other stories in the book can be pretty average. The feelings and thoughts that I had while reading, and even afterwards, went to the extremes. There are quite a few stories that can make the reader think, and some that can make the reader feel like they don't want to read on. There are the stories that made me say, "Why is this happening?" or "What is going to happen next?" I can honestly say that this book was not all that exciting but I can also say that my eyes have not seen all that is happening in the world. This book has opened my eyes and my mind a little more; I now know there is more to life than what I do and think.

Rating:
Summary: an amazing collection of stories
Review: This collection of short stories left me wanting more from many of the authors included, many of which are working on novels. I was first led to this book by the editer, Stephen Chbosky, whose novel, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, as become a personal favorite, one I've already read twice.

The stories included are all refreshing and range greatly in style and subject matter. I was amazed by so many of them and was stunned by the authors interesting, hip and refreshing take on telling a story. I don't normally read short stories, but I really liked reading them because so many of them are very short, 10 pages or less and you can read them quickly and be done with those characters. Also if there is one you don't care much for it's not very long and you can move on to another more interesting story.

Some of my favorite stories were, "Polariod," which gets you into the mind of crowd all standing around the Eiffel Tower. The way the story is told is awesome and leaves you satisfied. "The Carnival" was another favorite, it's amazing use of metaphor will leave you breathless.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in finding new, fresh, authors who aren't afraid of shocking you.

Rating:
Summary: A great collection!
Review: when i read a collection of short stories, i like to pretend that i am the teacher in a creative writing class and give the stories and their authors a grade. this helps me decide which authors i am going to pursue further (i use collections to find new authors). i decided to publish my grades on this collection after seeing other assesments here that were grossly out of line with mine. and my grades are.....

scoring - B minus
polaroid - C
day of the dead - B
the white carousel horse - F
first snow - B
the carnival - F
petty theft - C minus
next time - B
black cowboy - A
pinball - C
mother - F
respiration - C minus
a fortune - D
forbidden state - C minus

notice the nice distribution all averaging to a C. by the way, any editors or english departments that read these and decide to do the same and come up with the exact same grades as i, and realizing my undiscovered genius wish to employ me, i am available.

to those authors who got bad grades, its just one man's very subjective opinion. you should be chuffed that you got published and dont give up. to carmen elena mitchell, i am awaiting more with great anticipation.