Eight Pieces of Silva

I thought that some parts of the start felt a little unnecessary as it was almost like a stream of conscious thoughts. All over the place, but piggybacking off of the last one to build and make sense in the context. It did, but not all the information felt particularly relevant, especially since some of it could have been accessed only when it was needed. Such as including it in the story so there isn't just a massive exposition dump at the start where a lot of different things are set out right away. Things like that can work sometimes, but not all the time, and especially not when the book is just starting.

I liked the inclusion of the other voice, very clearly Silva, and how she never revealed too much about specifics. Only the letting us in on the overall themes and what she was thinking at that moment. We slowly get a look into her life and what it is like from her perspective, rather than what the other people around her think about her.

I definitely think that there could have been more done to include the interactions with her friends as something to do with the story. The first time they are shown it feels like something completely removed from the book, and just placed in here. There wasn't anything crazy in these scenes, only introductions, but it still didn't feel like it was in the correct place. Like there could have been a much better way of showing these characters off and looking at the dynamics between all of them.

I think that the actions in this book were very believable. The thoughts of Silva and why she was doing what she was doing made sense in context. Just looking from an outside perspective it would be much harder to understand why she acted the way she did. Why she was so obsessed with Logan and why she felt like she needed him to be complete. After seeing her inner thoughts and what she was thinking we got a much better idea of why she acted the way she did and I think it is in line with someone that has those mental health challenges. He was the first one that she felt saw her. At no point does it really feel like he does, but that is only with the privilege of looking at the situation from an outside perspective.

However, I also thought some of the themes were poorly executed and needed more exploration rather than just a couple of paragraphs ever so often. The breakdown of a certain relationship felt like it should have been a lot more drawn out as the relationship looked very strong.

Also, the way that her romantic life was shown and developed didn't feel very natural. It felt rushed, like a lot of other parts of human relationships in this book, while the story was dragged out too much in certain parts.

Overall certain parts felt like they held weight, but others didn't at all. This story wasn't hard to follow, but certain things didn't have enough development to end up where they did which definitely takes away from the immersion in the story. I did like the diversity of the characters which makes the story more appealing to me, but I cannot justify giving this book a higher rating than I did once I added and took away everything that it was lacking and what it did well.

I thought this book was okay. Nothing special and this book certainly could have got a higher rating if it just fixed up on the descriptive parts and made them less all over the place, which is especially prevalent at the start, and also if Patrice had spent more time developing relationships, whether they be degradation or the blooming of a changing one.

A different book, one I appreciate but not one that I would go out of my way to recommend to people unless they are really drawn in by the blub. Don't expect something crazy either, as it is more real-life, mental illness, and is something that is much more common in our society than the usual mystery thriller books.

book: Eight Pieces of Silva

author: Patrice Lawrence