Girl in Pieces

Mikey is one of the constants in Charlie’s life. They met through Ellis when Charlie was a freshman in high school and remained in contact. Charlie’s description suggests the dynamic among the three friends was dramatic and dysfunctional, though not because Charlie consciously recognizes this. She romanticizes her friendship with both Mikey and Ellis. The truth slips into the story via Mikey’s responses to Charlie. He reveals that one of the reasons he moved to Arizona for college was to escape the girls’ dramatic games and lifestyle. He has left behind his drinking and drugging days, is attending college, pursuing his music dreams, and in a stable relationship.

Though the narrative never specifies where Mikey was when Ellis cut herself so severely that she ended up with brain damage, it is suggested that he was already away at college. It appears he did not know the extent of either Ellis or Charlie’s emotional problems, suggesting he may not have been as close to the girls as Charlie remembers, yet he is a loyal friend. He visits Charlie at Creeley, and when she asks him to save her, he jumps into action. In Tucson, he encourages Charlie to develop stable relationships with people who can support her. As much as he cares for Charlie, he does not necessarily understand her problems, and though she is drawn to him as a stable presence and part of her past, Charlie realizes that he is in a different stage of life.

At the end of the novel, Mikey continues to be in a good place. Though his band is advancing professionally and he has married his girlfriend, his loyalty to Ellis and Charlie remains. During his band’s tour, he visited Ellis, and his anecdote about Ellis’ face lighting up upon hearing Charlie’s name brings Charlie closure on a painful part of her past. It shows Charlie that she has not lost as much as she assumed.

Riley is a former successful musician whose life imploded because of his drug and alcohol abuse. He works as a cook at his sister’s coffeehouse and is known for flirting with every girl who comes through the doors. He is 10 years older than Charlie, and she never understands his attraction to her, largely because she does not see the value in herself. Because Charlie tells the story, the reader’s perceptions of Riley are filtered through Charlie’s experience. The question of why he pursued Charlie despite his inability to offer a stable relationship remains unresolved.

On the one hand, Riley shows Charlie moments of tenderness. After Mikey’s wedding, when Charlie is heartbroken and bedridden, he takes care of her and covers her shifts. On the other hand, Riley exploits Charlie’s vulnerability when he seduces her and uses her to buy his drugs for him. He praises her for not asking anything from him, while giving no consideration to the toll this takes on her. He has seen her scars and knows she was homeless, but he abstracts these, allowing him to keep an emotional distance while he takes what he wants from Charlie. His addictions make him undependable and at times abusive, and he contributes to Charlie’s breakdown in Part 3.

His drug binge leads him and Wendy to steal the car of his friend Luis, who is dying of cancer. Riley gets into an accident, in which Wendy is seriously injured, and Luis’ wife only agrees not to press criminal charges if Riley agrees to a year in rehabilitation, essentially forcing him to get clean. When Charlie sees Riley at Luis’ benefit concert, she is struck by how much healthier Riley looks and realizes that they were not good for each other. She can accept his amends and move on to the next stage in her life with closure.