Bits and Pieces

Chris Lynch writes about tough stuff.  Pieces is another tough one and very original.  Inexcusable was really good and was a National Book Award finalist.
Eric's older brother, Duane is killed in an accident and his organs are given to three very different people in need. 
Eric is still really grieving, as you can imagine.  A group affiliated with the organ donation process arranges opportunite for the donor's family to meet the folks who received "pieces" from their loved one.  Eric is willing to do this and meets the single mom who got Duane's kidney, a young, naive teen who received some part of Duane's ear and a fairly obnoxious guy with who now is giving Duane's liver a workout with a lot of partying. 
Duane's old girlfriend comes back into town, just hearing about Duane's death as she was doing humanitarian work out of the country. 
This book was good but it seemed to drag for me in some places. I just read that it is a sequel to the book Iceman.  Maybe I would have enjoyed it more had I read the first one.   But look at that cover!  Dude.  Wow.  Terrible. 
Still, a good book.  I ended up giving it four of five stars. 

Ain't No Peace for an Angry Young Man

Great song.
After reading Inexcusable I was excited to find Angry Young Man, the new Chris Lynch novel, on the shelves of the local library.  AYM is short (less than 200 pages) and has a good cover, as you can see.
While I read Inexcusable in one sitting, it took me a bit longer to get through AYM.  This really isn't a reflection upon AYM, it's probably because Inexcusable was just so SO good.  AYM is a pretty depressing book throughout.  Set in a dying town, I don't remember if the name was mentioned, but I don't think so.  Apparently there isn't much work and most kids don't go on to further their education after high school.
This is the story of two brothers, Robert and Alexander, or Xan as he likes to be called.  It is told through the POV is Robert, the older brother.  Robert is a likable guy.  Making the best of things in his dying town.  He tells us that he has a girl friend, works part time and is going to school at the community college.  He is a good son and a good brother.  Not a perfect brother, but it is easy to forgive him.  If he was portrayed as being too amazing in the brother department, the book wouldn't work as well as it does.
We learn right off that Xan is troubled.  He was the boy always picked on, always on the outside looking in, always just a bit....off.   He is easily influenced and very emotional and as the story progresses, he comes under the spell of a potentially dangerous extremist group.
The end keeps you on your seat....it's almost like seeing a train wreck about to happen.
Great book.  I am looking forward to reading more from Lynch!