Little Pieces of Me

A Novel

By: Alison Hammer

Narrated by: Sarah Naughton, Piper Goodeve

Following her acclaimed debut novel, You and Me and Us, Alison Hammer offers a deeply moving story of family and identity. When a DNA test reveals a long-buried secret, a woman must look to the past to understand her mother and herself.

When Paige Meyer gets an email from a DNA testing website announcing that her father is a man she never met, she is convinced there must be a mistake. But as she digs deeper into her mother’s past and her own feelings of being the odd child out growing up, Paige begins to question everything she thought she knew. Could this be why Paige never felt like she fit in her family, and why her mother always seemed to keep her at an arm’s length? And what does it mean for Paige’s memories of her father, a man she idolized and whose death she is still grieving?

Back in 1975, Betsy Kaplan, Paige’s mom, is a straightlaced sophomore at the University of Kansas. When her sweet but boring boyfriend disappoints her, Betsy decides she wants more out of life, and is tired of playing it safe. Enter Andy Abrams, the golden boy on campus with a potentially devastating secret. After their night together has unexpected consequences, Betsy is determined to bury the truth and rebuild a stable life for her unborn child, whatever the cost.

When Paige can’t get answers from her mother, she goes looking for the only other person who was there that night. The more she learns about what happened, the more she sees her unflappable, distant mother as a real person faced with an impossible choice. But will it be enough to mend their broken relationship?

Told in dual timelines, Little Pieces of Me examines identity and how the way we define ourselves changes (or not) through our life experiences.

Loved this story

I am so happy I decided to listen to this audiobook. I enjoyed the characters, how the chapters went back and forth in time and everything about this story. Highly recommend as it’s a short listen.

Age/Emotional flaws

Main character was immature and emotionally stunted for being 43. Story would have been much more believable/enjoyable had the character been late 20’s to offset her thoughts and words. All of family emotional maturity off.
Struggled to get thru book (which was randomly chosen for book club. Would have chosen differently if we all hadn’t committed to it prior to a first read.)

Disappointing

At first, I thought this was a story like The Foundling by Paul Fronczak. I quickly realized it was fiction, but proceeded. An interesting, well plotted story is ruined by the whiney, narcissistic heroine: she is 40 going on 14 years old. Her friends are far more likeable! I tried to allow for grief and identity crisis, but - at every turn - I found myself wondering how she managed to keep her friends! Also, the story is illustrative of a person bordering on alcoholism. Every time she becomes mildly uncomfortable she turns to the bottle and behaves BADLY. Sorry, Ms. Hammer. Cannot wait to delete this one. But, if you write more about Max I might read it.