"Gone to Pieces" by Rachel Cosyns is a captivating journey through the delicate complexities of human emotions and relationships. Cosyns masterfully weaves a narrative filled with raw vulnerability, drawing readers into the lives of her well-crafted characters. The book's exploration of love, loss, and resilience is both heart-wrenching and uplifting, making it impossible to put down. Cosyns' poetic prose and keen insights into the human condition resonate deeply, leaving a lasting impact. This beautifully written novel is a testament to the power of storytelling, offering a profound and unforgettable reading experience. Highly recommended!

Content warning - Abuse, Suicide, Death,

Gone to Pieces centers on a middle-aged woman navigating a mental health crisis through her interactions with psychiatrist Titus, both in person and via email.

The chapter titles, such as "Piece 1" and "Piece 2," cleverly mirror her journey as she pieces together past events leading to her breakdown. While the sections where Rebecca recounts her story with altered names may initially seem confusing, they symbolize the disorientation caused by her illness.

I was drawn to this book by the tagline comparing it to Sorrow and Bliss and Fleabag. I’m afraid it didn’t live up to its billing.

This novel about a mentally ill woman (Rebecca) and her attempt to get better with the help (questionable at times?) of her psychiatrist Titus was a slog to get through, not helped by having to read the story that Rebecca was writing in parallel about a woman called Emily and her psychiatrist Cyrus.

I was bored and wanted to give up at the halfway mark but hoped once the protagonist got to France it might pick up. It didn’t unfortunately. Not for me. 2/5 stars

*Thank you to the publisher HQ for the arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a modern day bell jar with the intricacies of a sit com to me. The writing is light and fresh but the content heavy and oh so relateable. I enjoyed this and can’t wait for all to read!

Thank you so much to @hqstories for sending me this copy in exchange for a review. The cover and description sold me immediately on this book
This story was really cleverly told and pieced together bit by bit. Especially when we got present chapters and then flashbacks to the past. Learning about her childhood and the people who were part of it helped us understand the 'why's of the story more.
When our main character, Rebecca, was writing and then her character was writing it was like a book within a book within a book, which was pretty cool to read about. The therapist, Titus, was an interesting character and added another level to this book
I love mental health representation in books because I think it's so important to raise awareness and break the stigma and talk about it. I deal with my own mental health struggles daily so l also relate to parts of books like this
This story showed the amount of energy and support needed to heal from hard things that have happened. You won't just
'get better' instantly, it takes work and time. We all need help sometimes and someone to lean on. Healing is linear, but that's okay

This was a really unusual read but loved it
Enjoyed the humour and the interactions but also was quite moving re the serious side of things and I was really rooting for Rebecca
Great descriptive writing
Thoroughly enjoyable and unique book

Gone to pieces follows main character, Rebecca, after a mental health crisis. It’s told in 3 narratives, one is present day and focusses on interactions with her therapist, one is segments from her childhood and the other is a fictional book she is writing based on her therapy.

This was a really interesting book, I loved that it’s based on a middle-aged woman struggling with her mental health as I don’t think this is covered often. It’s not one that I felt I couldn’t put down but I enjoyed piecing the story together as it went on. I’ve not read anything with an unreliable narrator before but I really liked it. Some of Rebecca’s interactions with Titus were hilarious! I found Rebecca to be a really likable character and I was really rooting for her the whole way through. There were parts that were hard to read and it does cover some difficult topics but overall it was a funny, enjoyable read.

I have a certain affinity for fiction books that portray the experience of therapy. What made "Gone to Pieces" special for me as a reader, was the choice of protagonist - middle-aged wife and mother, Rebecca, whose ways of coping with unaddressed childhood experiences stopped serving her, resulting in a mental breakdown.

Psychiatric treatment that the protagonist receives creates a triple narrative, one that pushes the plot forward in the present day, one that recalls Rebecca's experiences from her childhood and adolescence (written in an unsettling and atmospheric manner, almost to the point that I expected an equivalent of a jump scare), and the other that showcases literaty fiction created by Rebecca, based on her interaction with mental health professionals and patients, giving the story an interesting edge. Slow tempo and interactions with the psychiatrist represent therapeutic process and trauma work really well, including Rebecca's resistance, initial unwillingness to go deeper or even participating in a group.

"Gone to Pieces" utilises an often omitted type of a protagonist, proving that women over 50 are the ones who often have the most complex stories to tell and I'm glad that Rachel Cosyns decided to create such piece of fiction.

Gone to Pieces centres around middle aged woman and the conversations with her psychiatrist Titus (in person and via email) as she suffers a mental health crisis.

I liked the way that the chapters were titled "Piece 1", "Piece 2" and so one, as she gradually pieves together events from her past that lead to her breakdown.

I was a little confused by the sections written by the main character Rebecca as a story, where she gave the characters different names, but was obviously about her. However,  perhaps this is symbolic of the madness that she experiences as a result of her illness.

A quirky, almost humorous read, but with some triggers for abuse and suicide.

Rebecca is a wife, mother and the author of an unmanageable number of to do lists.
Her attempts to coerce her life into something she has any hope of controlling are failing. Her family can’t manage without her but she’s starting to think they should. So she makes a decision. Only it doesn’t quite go to plan.

Rebecca finds herself in therapy with a doctor poking around in her brain, asking questions about her childhood. She wants to get better but that means telling someone how she feels. How she really feels.