Title: Another Piece of My Heart
Author: Jane Green
Narrator: Jane Green
Published: March 2012, Macmillan Audio
Length: 13.5 hours
Source: Library
From the New York Times bestselling author of JEMIMA J, and THE BEACH HOUSE,
comes Jane Green’s most emotional and powerful novel yet: a story that
explores the complications of a woman marrying into a ready-made
family, and the true meaning of motherhood.Andi has
spent much of her adult life looking for the perfect man, and at
thirty-seven, she’s finally found him. Ethan–divorced with two
daughters, Emily and Sophia–is a devoted father and even better
husband. Always hoping one day she would be a mother, Andi embraces the
girls like they were her own. But in Emily’s eyes, Andi is an obstacle
to her father’s love, and Emily will do whatever it takes to break her
down. When the dynamics between the two escalate, they threaten
everything Andi believes about love, family, and motherhood—leaving both
women standing at a crossroad in their lives…and in their hearts.ANOTHER
PIECE OF MY HEART is a novel that illuminates the nuances and truths
about relationships and is Jane Green at her absolute best.
My thoughts: I’ve been a fan of Jane Green since first discovering her many years ago when I came across her book, Jemima J. Since then, I’ve read quite a few of her books and have enjoyed each and every one of them. This book has a different feel than some of her other ones in that it is more heart-wrenching and intense all the way through.
At it’s heart, this book is about a family trying to adjust to all the changes that have been put in their path. Jane Green creates characters that are not totally likeable, but are real. One minute you feel for them for what they are going through and the next minute you are totally frustrated with them for the choices they make. It is so easy to get caught up in this family’s drama and want to see how everything plays out.
I liked how the story is told by multiple points of view. This gives us, the reader, a chance to really understand everyone’s view point. The first part of the story is told from Andi’s point of view, and so it’s easy to side with her as all of Emily’s actions are told from Andi’s perspective. But when the story switches to Emily’s point of view, you see a different side of the story. This is a book where I was constantly going back and forth with myself as to who I felt was in the right.
This is an emotional, intense story. The characters, though deeply flawed, were well developed and I still find myself thinking about them and the story itself long after I finished the book. You can’t help but hope that everyone finds happiness, whatever that path might be.
Audio Thoughts: I loved that Jane Green narrated this book. She did an amazing job, really bringing the characters to life. I know that sometimes when authors narrate their own books it doesn’t always work, but that is definitely not the case here and I really hope she continues to narrate her books. At the end of the story, there was an interview with Jane Green and she was asked about narrating her books. She said that she had to audition just like any other narrator would, but as the author, she brings a secret weapon – she knows the characters inside and out and was able to portray that in the best possible way.
How do you feel about authors narrating their own books? Love it, hate it, indifferent to it???
Authors narrating their own books has been hit or miss for me. I like that she had to audition! This sounds like a good book.
My experience with audio books is very limited so will not comment but I do like the fact that the author had to audition for the role!