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As the title suggests, Girl in Pieces unfolds in fragments as its protagonist, Charlie, struggles to make sense of the nightmare of her addiction and self-harm. In rehab, details of her life and her past emerge in flashes as she slowly remembers the events that led to her hospitalization. They come to her as she examines the damage the other girls have done to themselves and when her own bandages are removed, causing her fresh scars to pucker and tingle and sparking the memories surrounding their creation. Charlie reflects upon these experiences in the silence of Casper’s office, where the doctor gently encourages her to speak. She does not speak until it is too late, and her departure is imminent. Charlie repeats this pattern with Riley to some extent, withholding from him the most important aspects of her life until he is so deep into his own addiction that, even if he did care, he would be unable to help. It is Felix who challenges Charlie to examine not just the events that have led her to this point but the shattered pieces of herself. By the novel’s end, Charlie rises to the challenge not of merely communicating her trauma, but of fitting the pieces of herself back together.
Charlie’s narrative begins as a swaddled “newborn” teenager resting beneath the stars, waiting to die. Her life to this point has been a series of losses, from her father’s suicide and her best friend’s suicide attempt to her own homelessness and molestation. But unlike her father and Ellis, Charlie is still alive, even if cocooned in silence, and she clearly has a will to survive. This will emerges in flashes, like when she challenges Barbero to tell her how long she has been there or confronts Blue in the group meeting. Kindness renders her vulnerable, as she has no defenses against it. The kindness of Vinnie and Nurse Ava encourages her to speak, and Casper’s tenderness and understanding lulls her into believing she might stay on indefinitely. She finds comfort in Louisa’s soothing voice and touch, and the entire ward is undone alongside her at Mikey’s grand gesture. This susceptibility to kindness may constitute a fatal flaw for Charlie as she embarks on her journey back into the world. Coupled with her silence, Charlie’s susceptibility to kindness leaves her vulnerable to those who might wish to manipulate her and opens her up to unnecessary heartbreak.
Indeed, this is exactly what happens when Charlie arrives in Tucson with all her hopes pinned on Mikey. Burdened with a teenager’s unrequited love and smitten by Mikey’s heroics outside her rehab center, Charlie is certain that she and Mikey are destined to be together. But she misinterprets his genuine but platonic affection as romantic interest. Mikey is sober, has a fulfilling job, and turns out to be in a relationship with a girl that might promise a future, which devastates Charlie. Instead of drawing on her own, admittedly limited, personal reserves, she seeks solace and validation. She finds solace in alcohol and sketching and validation in the form of Riley, who shows up amid the sexy, soothing sounds of Van Morrison wafting through the air and its accompanying memories of her father.
Riley is exactly the wrong person to come into Charlie’s life at this time. Like Charlie herself and her father before her, Riley is a depressed alcoholic, but he is also a drug addict and a failed rock musician who craves adoring young fans to feed his ego. Seventeen-year-old Charlie makes excellent prey for this man who is a decade older than her. None of this is to say that Riley intends to hurt Charlie. At times, he seems to genuinely care for her, and her predilection for self-harm seems to truly pain him. But as an addict, Riley pursues his own cravings at any cost, no matter how much damage he does to himself or others. It does not help that he has been coddled by a sister who protected him from an abusive father, by a bevy of women desperate to sleep with him, and by a community overawed by his talent. In the wake of what Charlie perceives as a betrayal by Mikey, she allows herself to be seduced by Riley’s charms. She finds herself doing despicable things for and around him, like fetching his drugs, drinking, and giving him sexual favors she is not interested in. In return, she gets scraps, literally from True Grit’s kitchen and figuratively in the rare gestures and whispers from a Riley who is so far gone he doesn’t remember his words or actions the following day.
Charlie’s situation changes when Blue comes to town to stay with her. Blue’s outgoing nature intimidates Charlie, but it also encourages her to feel more confident in herself and her talent. Both Blue’s presence and reminders of Riley’s past inspire Charlie to submit her work to a local art show. Her acceptance represents a major personal victory. The show gives Charlie an opportunity to show Tucson who she truly is, to be more than some weird dishwasher who skulks around town on her bike rummaging through dumpsters for food. Perhaps just as importantly, the show keeps her busy, occupying time she might otherwise spend drinking with Riley and feeling bad about herself. It is unclear whether Riley intentionally torpedoes Charlie’s plans or whether he is simply monstrously selfish. Regardless, his decision to have sex with her in Julie’s office complicates Charlie’s life unnecessarily. And his act of cautioning Charlie against letting Blue get too close brings Charlie’s survival instincts to the fore. Riley’s ultimate destruction of Charlie’s apartment, just as she learns of Louisa’s death, might be, ironically, the most important thing he does for Charlie, because it finally opens her eyes to his true nature.
Charlie arrives in Santa Fe in much the same condition in which she began the novel. She is mute, bandaged, and scarred by her own hand after a series of traumatic events. But this moment is distinct from the beginning in two significant ways. First, nearly all of this damage is self-inflicted. While Riley bears some of the blame, Charlie is no longer a child, and she was not held hostage in Riley’s home or threatened with molestation if she did not comply with his wishes. She had choices, and she chose poorly. Thus, now, in addition to healing, she must take some responsibility for herself. Second, she is not surrounded by doctors and counselors in a medical facility. Instead, she is with friends and artists in a home and studio. Perhaps counterintuitively, this environment is more conducive to Charlie’s recovery because it is more lifelike and therefore more attainable. Here, she sees that an artist’s life is a mixture of hard work and quiet contemplation. Recovery from addiction means making amends, staying busy, and showing kindness and compassion where one can. Charlie makes good use of these life skills when she returns to Tucson and reconciles with Blue, and, again, during her final reckoning with Riley. But best of all, Felix gives her the chance not to get away or to start fresh, but to continue her work, reassembling all of the broken and missing pieces of herself.
