I absolutely love Dawn and her previous fiction books, so I jumped at the chance to review Life In Pieces. However, I found it a really difficult read for several reasons.

The concept of the book (and I must say at this point – what a brilliant title) is that each ‘piece’ contains a number of diary entries from the early Coronavirus period, followed by a mini essay which brings together the themes from those posts. There’s pieces on grief, drinking, her children and sleeping, plus several others.
The most difficult thing about reviewing this book is that it’s essentially someone’s diary – and someone who is quite clearly going through a very difficult time. It feels strange to judge that. However, if I step back from the incredibly personal nature of the book for a second, it didn’t work for me unfortunately.

One of my issues is that it seems far too soon to be publishing diaries about the Coronavirus period. We’re still right in the middle of it, and this book feels like it has been rushed out. However, at the same time, I also felt these entries needed to be read in real time. They are just too unremarkable for this to be any sort of lasting legacy of the period. Perhaps this is a better read for people who have children, but I found all the tales of daily life with kids a little dull. I’ve seen some others mention that Dawn has been writing blog posts for a while now, and that makes sense (some of the entries end with questions asked of the reader, and whilst I understand they’re just rhetorical, it does feel a little insincere). I think it would have been better to have a series of essays with Dawn’s views on different subjects, rather than including the diaries.

Having said that, sometimes the book swerves from banality to devastating emotion. Dawn lost one of her closest friends immediately before the travel lockdown, and in places this book portrays an incredibly vulnerable person trying to process those very complicated emotions. As Dawn says, this is not a book about Caroline Flack, but her spirit runs through it as she crops up on the pages very frequently. There is part of me that wishes that Dawn had shared a little more about what Caroline was like (I don’t think I’m alone in being disproportionately affected by her death), but we as readers have absolutely no right to expect this from her.

Bearing in mind the timing of publishing, I don’t think I would recommend this book. Perhaps if it had been left until a post-Corona time (or at the very least, a slightly easier time), it would have been a more enjoyable read. Right now, the content doesn’t allow us to escape from what’s still going on around us and I’d prefer to be reading something a little more upbeat for the sake of my own mental health.

I have been ‘So Lucky’ to read Dawn O’Porter’s recent fiction books – so was intrigued to read her new non fiction book – based upon her experiences during the coronavirus crisis. Or – the start of the coronavirus crisis as it seems to be never ending. Now, I am also a member of Dawn’s Patreon page (yep, bit of a fangirl!) and I knew this book was based upon the daily blogs she’d done on there – so I was nervous that the book would be a bit boring reading stuff I’d already read – but I needn’t have been concerned! There’s plenty of new content too – and re-reading previous blog posts felt like reminiscing with friends about the fun we had at the start of lockdown!!

The book is pretty much chronological from just before lockdown – when Dawn came to the UK for her good friend Caroline Flack’s funeral – and then through the experience of lockdown for Dawn and her family in LA.

So yes, it’s based in LA where Dawn lives with her handsome movie star husband – but so much of it is totally relatable to any parent going through this madness. The relentlessness. The hell on earth that is homeschooling. The drinking from early in the afternoon. Not the weed gummies for me – but I can see the attraction if they were legal here! The endless meals to be prepared.

There are also some ‘essays’ in amongst the diary entries which give more background to Dawn’s life and experiences to date. I am by nature a nosey cow, so found these really interesting.

Clearly Dawn has found lockdown tough – exacerbated by the horrific grief of suddenly losing a friend just before being stuck at home in the midst of a global pandemic. But the love for her husband Chris, her boys and her pets shines right through. (This was made all the more poignant because after finishing the book but before it will be published, Dawn’s first responsibility – her Siamese cat Lilu – sadly died at the grand old age of 16. This book is a fitting tribute to her though (although she may well have p*ssed on a copy if she’d been near one.))

As I’ve mentioned before – I am a bit of a fan of Dawn O’Porter’s (although TBH so are quite a lot of women of my age – our book club has regularly discussed how we’d like her to join us on a night out!) and maybe the book wouldn’t be as interesting if you didn’t know of and like Dawn. There are plenty of laugh out loud moments – and it’s also really moving in places, particularly when Dawn talks about losing Caroline and her Mum when she was a young girl.

In years to come it could be considered a historical account of these bloody strange times!

A massive thank you to Harper Collins, NetGally – and Dawn – for the book.

Absolutely brilliant writing, as I expected from Dawn O'Porter. I knew this book would be different to her usual fiction style of writing, what I didn't expect was I would finish it in a day! Hilarious, sad, heartwarming, relatable, heartbreaking.... all of the emotions and more.

This book is honest, funny, a must read. Lockdown and Covid affected everyone in some way in the first half of 2020, and nothing will make you feel better about it than Dawns own story. The real-life drama of two young kids, pets, work and a husband at home, balancing homeschool, cooking and all the stresses and strains lockdown brought about, is put into words beautifully and rather hilariously at times by Dawn. She doesn't shy away from the intense grief she is dealing with after the loss of her beautiful friend, which makes the book so emotional and heartbreaking (in between many laugh out loud moments I had to explain to my husband while reading quite a few times!).

She also touches on the riots and racism issues, making you realize just how much craziness is going on in the world and how she is living and learning all the time. Like Dawn, I am from the UK and live in the USA, so found her point of view and analysis of all things politics, Americans vs British, and general differences very relatable and spot on.

I highly recommend this book; as soon as I finished it I sent a message to all my friends to tell them they must go out and buy it on October 1st :)

If you want a lighthearted look at some serious issues, be made to feel better about overeating and overindulging in alcohol, gummies (you have to read the book, I'm sure we are not all turning to certain types of dummies, but hearing about Dawns experiences with them will either teach you a lot or make you laugh out loud or both) and parenting fails then this is definitely a book you want to pick up, you won't regret it!

A really good funny read. Dawn’s life during lockdown seems so real and emotional. I love her writing style and her honesty.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

I adore Dawn and this book is definitely very timely! Based on her Patreon diaries, this is a very chatty and witty insight into her life during lockdown (up to the summer). The diary entries themselves focus mainly on her day-to-day family life, as you'd expect - a lot of poop, weed and eating - but they're broken up with mini essays on different subjects. I loved the book because it is just so honest. The diaries and lockdown start just after the loss of Caroline Flack, one of Dawn's best friends, so bereavement features heavily. You can feel just how difficult it is for Dawn to share but I hope it was helpful for her too. This is a really lovely book if you're a fan of Dawn and her family, and want to get to know them a little bit better.

When I was offered the chance to read the new Dawn O Porter book I jumped at the chance because I love her humour and expected this to be a laugh a minute. What I actually got was an up to date, brutally honest and relatable account of life during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown in Los Angeles whilst also coping, or trying to cope with losing someone special.

Written in a guise of blogs or diary entries this is a thought provoking book that is funny, sad in places and oh so 'normal'. ( I am also digging out all of my trousers with elastic waistbands because I wore jeans today and they hurt me) Who hasn't felt like that after eating crisps every day for weeks on end?

Mothers of small children who had the 'pleasure' of home schooling during the pandemic will relate to this book the most, although I think it will appeal to anyone who struggled through 2020 and thought what a bastard it was.

It would make a great coffee table book.

I have enjoyed all of Dawn O'Porter's novels and was excited to be offered a preview copy of her latest book. However, this is not a work of fiction but a collection of observations and diary entries about her time in LA during the coronavirus lockdown. Some of the more interesting writing examines the nature of grief following the death of her friend Caroline Flack but the majority of the book involves life with her children. As any other lockdown parent will tell you, not much really happened during that time beyond day to day minutiae while confined to home. And this is the problem with this book - nothing much happens. This would not have been a problem had there been other interesting points being made, but once you get past the cooking, the alcohol and the weed, there's not much else here.

I seem to be in the minority but I did not enjoy this book. This book felt so self indulgent and at a few points the level of privilege were a little hard to swallow given the global crisis taking place at the time (and that still continues).

Dawn details - through a series of diary entries - her experience of lockdown life with her husband and two children in LA. There were some humorous points in this book and I do appreciate that Dawn did not shy away from documenting her struggles with two young children and feeling as though she did not always get it right. I found those sections to be relatable and well written but the remaining 85% was just too much.

The acknowledgments documents that this book began as a series of blog posts which is exactly how the book reads, like a collection of blog posts made in to a book.

I am a huge Dawn O'Porter fan and this book did not disappoint. Made up of diary entries from her Patreon posts and short essays tying together topics from lockdown parenting, food, friends to grief and loss. Honest, hilarious and heartbreaking this had me laughing and crying in equals parts.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins for the ARC.

Wasn’t sure I’d enjoy a book about the pandemic whilst still dealing with said pandemic but it was a tonic.

I love the way she writes and the book is clever, funny and relatable as with all her books.

I've long enjoyed Dawn's work, from her documentary's on telly to, most recently, So Lucky, her novel that follows some very relatable female characters with laugh out loud moments. Life in Pieces both carries some of the same energy of her previous work but also feels like a bit of a departure, though that is hardly surprising considering the year's events and the format.
The material is based on a diary that Dawn kept during lockdown in LA, from early March onward, due to the coronavirus pandemic. The diary was originally for the subscriber's of her patreon and each entry reads like letters to a friend. That's not to say it is a cosy read. O'Porter doesn't shy away from talking about difficult subject matter, including the grief that she is processing following the death of her good friend and also the stresses and strains of family life. It retains much of the good humour that fans of Dawn enjoy though and is actually rather comforting to hear her write about things that many of us will have thought and experienced during this time.
The diary entries are pulled together by short-essays that are more reflective- to be honest, I would have like much more of this, I found myself looking forward to the next essay and I hope Dawn's future non-fiction work will be more of this, as whilst I found the diaries entertaining, it is her ability to be so honest when reflecting on experience that I find most compelling in her work.
I think many women with small children will enjoy this, but all fans of Dawn will be pleased to find that honesty and humour run right through it.

Another good book from Dawn. Funny and honest; her take on life during lockdown. It seems we all had the same thoughts and feelings during that time. Recommended!

A perfect accompaniment to this awful year. It’s great to read how someone else has been coping with lockdown, or not! We are not alone in feeling we are going mad, drinking and eating too much and are a really bad parent because we can’t think of an original idea to amuse bored offspring. It’s laugh out loud at times, and cheered me up no end. I really enjoyed Dawns writing style, her honesty and her humour.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book

This is the first of what I’m sure will become a genre of its own - “lockdown literature”.

I was predisposed to like this I think. I really like Dawn O’Porter’s books and I follow her on Instagram etc and have kids of a similar age.

Life in Pieces is, essentially, a series of diary entries or blog posts cataloguing Dawn’s experiences in lockdown. They are funny in places, sad in places and thought provoking in places. I found it very reassuring that, despite her different lifestyles, our lockdown thoughts and experiences were often similar (although as others have noted, I definitely consumed less booze and no drugs so we differed there.)

In short this is a quick and enjoyable read. I could imagine rereading it in years to come to remember how it all felt during lockdown and 2020.

Thank you for my free review copy in return for my honest review.

I love Dawn and her hilarious writing. The stories she shares are incredibly relatable even though I'm not a celebrity living in LA, married to an actor and wrangling two kids and a menagerie of crazy animals!

Life in Pieces is Dawn's diary of lockdown in 2020 - she is coping with all the pandemic madness in the US, coupled with homeschooling her two children, missing the UK and her friends and family there, and trying to keep up with her own writing and workload. Alongside the world's very public grief and unravelling, Dawn is dealing with her own very private grief and dismantling of a world she knew. Just before the pandemic hit, she lost a close friend to suicide and she finds the forced isolation of lockdown conjures up many past griefs too, particularly the loss of her mother to breast cancer when she was very young.

That said, it's also pant-wettingly funny in places, in trademark Dawn style! She is refreshingly honest about her dependence on alcohol (I found myself craving a margarita once or twice while reading this!) and recreational drugs to get her through the days, and about the antics of her two young sons and pets, and about the pressures of living life in the public eye.

It's an intense read and I probably shouldn't have read it before bed (!) - it's very visceral in places and at times I felt like I'd had a few weed gummies myself!

But ultimately, this book is a tribute to human resilience and how we can carry on in the face of confusion, fear and heartbreak. When life as we know it ends, we can persevere, we can find things to bring joy to every day, we can still be kind and curious.

Thank you Dawn for sharing what life has been like for you during an intense, unpredictable year that isn't even over yet (gulp) and one I'm sure none of us will forget any time soon.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley for an ARC.

I loved Dawn O'Porter's So Lucky, so jumped at the chance to read her take on the Lockdown of 2020, and was not disappointed, whatsoever.
There were many moments I was nodding my head, agreeing with her thoughts, times I was giggling at her antics, and then, especially as she discussed the loss of her good friend, Caroline Flack, there were moments of deep sadness.
Dawn's experience, regardless of whether she is a celebrity or not, mirrors the emotions of many families, stuck at home, home schooling, dealing with being in a home with the same people for months on end.
A great read!
Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

This book really got me thinking, i could relate to lots of things happening in the book, it was really funny in places, and really thoughtful in others. I couldnt put the book down, thought it was honest about things that happen in general life.

Loved every moment of this book as it was so genuine and easy to relate to both for being a parent through lockdown and having lost people to suicide. Dawn O'Porter is a phenomenal writer and I love that she isn't afraid to speak so candidly about her life!

Loved this insight into Dawn's personal diary throughout lockdown. It made me laugh and cry just a little. In places it made me laugh out loud. I have loved all Dawn's other books and this did not disappoint.

I was recently wondering how soon it would be before I read a book that had a Covid-19 theme or backdrop, not expecting to be, well, right now. Life in Pieces is writer and TV presenter Dawn O’Porter’s lockdown diary and while there is something slightly surreal about reading this now as (in the UK anyway) we are on the cusp of going back into lockdown, there is also something wildly comforting about reading another person’s thoughts on this crazy and emotional experience.

Life in Pieces has sprung from Dawn’s writing on Patreon, an online platform where she regularly blogs her lockdown diaries (plus other things too). Unlike Dawn, I am not married to a movie star and living in LA, I am however the mother of 2 boys the same age as Dawn’s, so could actually relate hard to a lot of her feelings and stories about full-time parenting during lockdown. From the 5 year old who never stops talking to potty-training a 2-year old, I was going through the same.

I also liked her heartfelt reasoning for making an effort to get dressed most days, to keep a sense of normality and structure for both yourself and the children in your life: 'Because our lives essentially become other people’s memories, and it starts with how you look.'

Her stories and thoughts about raising boys, what kind of mother she is, how having to look after small children 24/7 is actually quite boring and you run out of ‘activities’ after about 30 mins all struck huge chords with me. As did the way she acknowledges that in reality, if you are far more used to a work / child split in your life, then sometimes you need a drink or, in Dawn’s case, something stronger… (it should be said that weed is legal in California, where Dawn lives. Not so much the case here. Sadly.)

This was all exactly what I needed to hear right now. Those days you feel you’re failing as a parent, you suddenly don’t feel as guilty about when your read other people feeling and experiencing the same thing too.

Dawn talks very eloquently about the Black Lives Matter protests that happened across the world. Another unifying event that we all experienced and learnt from. I had similar realisations to Dawn about how to be a better ally and to really make sure the seismic shift is not forgotten or left unactioned.

She also discusses, openly and heartbreakingly, the death of her friend Caroline Flack. As well as dealing with the global pandemic, she is going through personal grief.

Life in Pieces is a funny, friendly, honest read that gave me things to think about and, in many ways, was so relatable. It often felt like Dawn’s words were giving me a huge, reassuring hug. These may be strange, difficult times, but we’re all in it together. (I have also made a note to read Demi Moore’s autobiography after Dawn sings its praises.)

I have previously read Dawn’s novels The Cows and So Lucky and the charming tone of voice that came through in those is also here in her diaries. An impactful, of-the-moment read that leaves you with a glimmer of hope that out of the chaos of this year, maybe some goodness can spring. And well, we’ve all gotta have a little hope right now.