All The Broken Pieces, by Ann Burg, is a moving novel in verse told from the view of 12 year old Matt Pin. The year is 1977, and just two years earlier Matt, the son of an American soldier he never met and a Vietnamese woman, was airlifted out of Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War and adopted by an American family. Two years later, Matt is faced with flashbacks of the violence of the war, memories of the mother and brother he left behind, and his own darkest secrets about what happened in Vietnam. In his current world, Matt is faced with a country and community still reeling from the shock and losses of the war-- from the families who lost sons and brothers to the veterans dealing with both the physical and psychological repercussions. Matt's only tool for confronting both his own inner struggles and what he represents in his new community are his loving family and baseball. Will they be enough for him to confront his past and find a way to fit all the pieces of himself into his new home?
Burg delves into many complex issues in this debut novel, including family relationships, grief, guilt, loss, anger, war, love, acceptance and forgiveness. Through her sparse use of language and the first person, novel-in-verse format, the author manages to cut to the heart of these complexities, placing the reader squarely within the mutlifaceted and poignant human experience born of war.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
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This is an intense novel. The simple, sparse free verse doesn't create allowances that soften or distract from the horrific circumstances that lead up to Matt's airlifting out of Vietnam, or the daily struggles that he, his family, his classmates, and veterans faced in the aftermath of the war. I appreciate how well the author conveyed the different perspectives these characters had of the war. Although it's a first person account, it was easy to understand the emotions that drove all of the characters' behaviors.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Haunting is the only way to describe the prose of the story. Burg doesn't pull any punches and the harshness of the Vietnam war make this story emotionally engaging.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
This isn't just Matt's story. It is the story of a community in the aftermath of a divisive war, trying to heal the physical and emotional injuries to so many young men, both American and Vietnamese. As Matt's father says, "Whether we went or whether we stayed, the war changed us all." Readers who were drawn to "Love that Dog" by Sharon Creech or "Locomotion" by Jacqueline Woodson will appreciate this short but moving novel in verse.
This is a very good story about the life of an adopted Vietnamese child who starts his life over with a new family who are American.
I think that this book is very moving because of the heartbreak that matt experinced when he is taken away from his mother and his brother to got to the U.S.A. the story, however is not what i would choose to be the Newbery nomenie because I just think it has too much sadness and meaness in the book for me.
Rating: 4 on a scale of 1 to 5
All the Broken Pieces is a great book. I think the end is great and how Rob and Matt turn in to great friends. I think it is very educational and has a bunch of life lessons.
Rating: 4 out of 5
i thought that all the broken pieces was the best book because it was strong and it was like a movie in your head and a page turner.
this book is very good. it is intense and haunting. It is great i think it is the best Newberry book this year by far. It is very educational and has you learn a life lesson.
It only took me an hour to read this book, but it was very intense. I think it might be right on the edge of age-appropriate for the Newbery Medal (which is up to age 14) because there was quite a lot of violence in it and the reader should have the maturity and skill to appreciate its depth.