I took a short breather after completing A thousand boy kisses by author, Tillie Cole, simply because the story tore my heart out. Reading the prologue to A Thousand broken pieces, emotion got the better of me right away, as the story picks up at the devastating point where Poppy loses her battle with cancer.
Four years after Poppy’s passing, Savannah, the sensitive and reserved one of the three Litchfield sisters, finds herself handicapped by grief, depression and anxiety. Her parent and younger sister, Ida, persuades her to embark on a therapy journey, visiting five countries of diverse cultures. The group is made up of six teenagers suffering from intense grief, following the loss of loved ones to a variety of traumatic events.
As the teenagers comes to terms with grief, the readers get the opportunity to grasp some of the depth of loss, get to understand just a little better – especially if you have only experienced “normal” loss, in sync with the process of ageing and eventual illness. “A loved one’s death wasn’t a onetime thing that you had to endure. It was an endless cycle.” (p. 58) “Grief was walking through a minefield with no protection or guide.” (p. 60) “If someone judges you for how long it’s taking you to move past a loved one’s death, be happy for them, because it means they’ve never experienced it.” (p.116)
I thought that I had read the ultimate love story in A Thousand boy kisses, but the bittersweet story of Savannah and Cael, the angry, broken boy who had lost his brother, was even more moving, be that possible.
The symbolism used is so touching, like the principle of wabi-sabi which teaches to embrace life’s imperfections, and broken pieces mended with kintsugi to be more beautiful than before. The author follows the same pattern, this time the story being told for the viewpoint of both Cael and Savannah, and the headings of the chapters adding to and even summarizing the story line.
If you have the guts to read a story that is bound to have you in tears, I can totally recommend A thousand broken pieces, and if possible, start with A thousand boys kisses. You can however, read the second one as a stand alone and pick up the main trend of the first story through flashbacks.
The book is published by Penguin Random House UK, and made available in South Africa by Penguin Books SA.
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