Frannie in Pieces

by Delia Ephron

Book Overview

What does you in--brain or heart?Frannie asks herself this question when, a week before she turns fifteen, her dad dies, leaving her suddenly deprived of the only human being on planet Earth she feels... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060747161
• ISBN13: 9780060747169
• Release Date: October 2007
• Publisher: Harper Teen
• Length: 374 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 4.3" x 7.1"
• Age Range: 12 to 15 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 10

Customer Reviews

Piece of a puzzle

What does you in-brain or heart? Frannie asks herself this question when, a week before she turns fifteen, her dad dies, leaving her suddenly deprived of the only person on Earth she feels understands her. She discovers an elegant wooden box with an inscription: Frances Anne 1000. Inside, Frannie finds one thousand hand-carved and painted puzzle pieces. Feeling broken herself, she slowly puts the puzzle together, bit by bit. But as she works, something happens. She's pulled into a foreign landscape, a place suspended in time where she discovers her father as he was B.F.-before Frannie. This story moved like a piece of a puzzle. Confusing at first, but piece by piece the reader finally gets the whole picture of why the puzzle was so important to the father. Frannie's emotions bounce around from page to page. I felt the author did do a good job of showing the struggle Frannie felt when her father died and trying to make sense of it all. Her friend Jenna was a little too ditsy though. What friend really blows off someone who's father just died? I didn't believe it. A fast paced read that is hard to put down. You can't help but want to follow Frannie as she discovers not only more about her beloved father but about herself as well.

Magic realism

I found this book to be touching and heartwarming. Frannie's voice is authentic and at times amusing. She desperately misses her father, but grief is not the predominant theme of the novel. The dynamics between the divorced parents was spot on, the dialogue between Frannie and her friend Jenna sounded authentic and the mystery of the puzzle kept me hooked. I would highly recommend this book.