Another Little Piece
By Kate Karyus Quinn, 2013
HarperTeen
Horror, Paranormal, Mystery
Rating: 👻👻👻1/2 (3.5 out of 4 boos)
“On a cool autumn night, Annaliese Rose Gordon stumbled out of the woods and into a high school party. She was screaming. Drenched in blood. Then she vanished.
A year later, Annaliese is found wandering down a road hundreds of miles away. She doesn't know who she is. She doesn't know how she got there. She only knows one thing: She is not the real Annaliese Rose Gordon.
Now Annaliese is haunted by strange visions and broken memories. Memories of a reckless, desperate wish . . . a bloody razor . . . and the faces of other girls who disappeared. Piece by piece, Annaliese's fractured memories come together to reveal a violent, endless cycle that she will never escape—unless she can unlock the twisted secrets of her past."
What’s the main character like?
We get to know both the protagonist and the real Annaliese as their memories and Annaliese’s poetry surface for the thing/person inhabiting Annaliese. Does that sound complicated? It is, but less so as you are experiencing it firsthand as a reader. The real Annaliese comes to life in her angsty and sorrowful poetry that she crumples in tiny balls and hides in obscure places. As a teenager on the fringe and with a longing for true love, she is relatable and likable. The protagonist inhabiting Annaliese is likable for the same reasons, and it is a confusing pleasure to put all the pieces of her lifetime together.
How scary is it?
I’d categorize this book as dark and disturbing. It has a scary raw quality that often surfaces in YA horror. There is sexual content and repeated gruesome imagery, and a number of things dip into humanity’s darker tendencies, but the book isn’t so horrific that it’s difficult to read.
Who might like this book?
Read this book if you love being along for the ride on a bizarre mystery, if you’re okay feeling a bit in the dark until the end, if you like weird content, or if you like horror but not in the most traditional sense.
What did I like best?
I loved Annaliese’s poetry! Quite often, a chapter would begin with a poem found by the thing/person inhabiting Annaliese. The poems were simple, dark, and personal, and very much like something a real teenage girl might write. I also loved that she hid them as little spitballs. In middle school, I used to disguise my writings as trash (and paid the price because my dad threw a whole bag of my stories away, but I still love you, Dad!).
What was not so great?
I often felt just as confused as, if not more confused than, the thing/person inhabiting Annaliese in her quest to string together the pieces of who she is. I’d get stuck wondering if I missed things or hadn’t paid enough attention to small details. By the end, however, I felt like I understood how all the important pieces of the mystery fit together.