Very in Pieces
by Megan Frazer Blakemore
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release Date: September 29th 2015
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Synopsis:
Very Sales-Woodruff is done being a good girl. Done being the only responsible one in a family that’s unraveling. Done being the obliging girlfriend in a relationship that’s sinking. Done saying no to what she wants—like Dominic, her rebellious classmate.
With her mom’s drinking, her dad’s extended absences from home, and her younger sister, Ramona, running wild, the path Very has always seen for herself doesn’t seem to matter anymore. At the same time, Very’s grandmother, a poet known less for her work and more for her exploits with the likes of Andy Warhol and Arthur Miller, is slipping away.
If everything else can fall to pieces, why can’t she?
Impossible!
Current: The Walking Dead Of all time: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, and Homicide: Life on the Street
This is almost as hard as picking a favorite book.
“American Girl” by Tom Petty
Pizza!
Stars Hollow
From Gilmore Girls, the Shire from The Lord of the Rings books, and Professor Digory Kirke’s house (in the room with the wardrobe that leads to Narnia, of course).
Wes from The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen.
Everything Rebecca Stead writes. And Rainbow Rowell. I would totally fangirl her, which would be very fitting, and also something she is probably used to.
Virginia Woolf.
I’m so excited to be joining this lively group of readers!
Hello Megan! We are super excited to have you in our FFBC tours.
Sure. Very in Pieces is about Veronica Sayles-Woodruff who has always just done what people expect of her. She’s followed the rules and has taken care of her eccentric family. But then her grandmother gets sick, and begins telling Very the story of how she reinvented herself from a rural girl to a sophisticated and famous poet. Very starts to wonder if she, too, can re-write her own story. All the while her younger sister, Ramona, is growing more and more distant. While Very’s trying to deal with all of this, Dominic, her town’s version of a rough kid, takes an interest in her. Being with Dominic would certainly be one way to change her story, but is she ready to take that step?
Very is solid. Her family and friends count on her, and she likes that, but it’s a lot of pressure. She also has a dry sense of humor, which was fun to write.
What’s like for the main character that everything she knows is changing and that she’s done been the good and responsible girl?
It’s really confusing! Because she’s had a lot of success being good and responsible. People like her. She does well in school. But at the same time, she can’t help but wonder if she’s missing out on something.
Part of Very’s problem is that she wants an answer right away and she’s sort of an all or nothing type of person. If someone was feeling as uncertain about life as Very does, I would tell her to just step back and give herself time to process everything.
My favorite quote is the last paragraph of the book. I had the image in my mind pretty much from the start of writing the book. Here’s how the paragraph begins: “The sun slices through the clouds, just a thin line and just for a moment, but for that time, we are illuminated. Hand in hand as the water laps against us.”
The scenes with Grace and Britta, Very’s best friends, were a lot of fun to write because they have a long history and an easy, joking way of talking with one another. Later, when things start getting tense between them – those scenes were a lot harder.
I think it would have to be the song that Very is named for: “Veronica” by Elvis Costello.
I think Hailee Steinfeld would make a great Very. At first I was thinking of Connie Britton to play her mom, but I think Christina Hendricks would actually do an amazing job. And as for Dominic, that was really hard, but I finally settled on Tye Sheridan. He was in the movie Mud with Matthew McConaughey, and I thought he was terrific.
Very’s mom spends a lot of time on the couch or in the hammock outside. I think a hammock would be a great place to read Very in Pieces.
I have a middle grade coming out in May called The Firefly Code. It’s a sci fi set in a Utopia. I’m also working on a new YA that I’m really excited about.
Thank you so much for everything, Megan!
Thank you!
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Megan Frazer Blakemore is an author for children and young adults. She lives with her husband and children in Maine. She has worked in both school and public libraries, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in library science at Simmons SLIS.
2 winners will receive a signed copy of Very In Pieces and a signed copy of Secrets of Truth and Beauty by Megan Frazer Blakemore (US Only)
1 winner will receive a signed copy of Very In Pieces and a signed copy of Secrets of Truth and Beauty by Megan Frazer Blakemore (INT)
