(Goodreads)
A collection of short stories that weave together the secrets and anxieties of youth, whispering words of solace to a lost generation.Wow.
This book has made its home in so many different shelves of mine since I purchased it in 2009. For those of you who don't know, the author, Tablo (Daniel Armand Lee) is the frontman of a South Korean alternative hip-hop group, Epik High. I'm a huge fan of their beats, their style, and especially their lyricism. So after attending their concert in 2009 (and followed by meeting the trio at a random Verizon store in California), I was on a high and purchased this book on their website.
Why it went unread for so many years, I have no idea. I carried it around to more places than I can count and lied to myself that that would be the day I'd start it. Flash forward six years and I soaked in all the words within a matter of hours.
Pieces of You is a collection of short stories, much like Junot Diaz's Drown and This is How You Lose Her without the overlapping of stories and characters. Each story varies in length but shares the similar dark cloud that follows the characters. By no means are any of these happy stories or meant to uplift you in any way. However, I found myself moved and uplifted, not by the content, but by Tablo's lyrical storytelling.
Each of these stories felt like glimpses into someone's life, they didn't feel forced and they didn't feel constructed; instead, it felt like I was genuinely walking into the middle of a person's thought. And the exit feels exactly the same; it leaves you wanting more, but not in a way that makes you throw the book across the room.
Pieces of You includes illustrations for each of the chapters, which are very simple but complement the each chapter greatly. This is easily going into my list of favorite books and I want wait to read it again!
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