Pieces :: Education by Design Store

Editorial Review

MTV has discovered the authors of tomorrow. Read them today in Pieces.

This unique short-story collection is more than a good read -- it's an exciting glimpse into the future of fiction. The winners of MTV's "Write Stuff" competition share their voices and visions in tales that are endearingly raw, undeniably bold, and engagingly inventive.

In Next Time, a housewife encounters a gunman -- an experience that changes her life, and her mind, in surprising ways...Pinball is an edgy tale of a young mail clerk's hidden sex life...After her broken engagement, a cook in New York goes to work for a chic SoHo couple in Roam...Mother captures the tragedy of a woman's illness, as witnessed through her daughter's eyes...In Day of the Dead, a humorously doomed relationship begins when a twentysomething's boyfriend returns from an Outward Bound trip and moves in with her...Two old high school friends reunite -- and compare their very different lives -- in Black Cowboy.

Along with other stories and an introduction by Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower), Pieces is filled with the excitement of discovery -- as a host of newcomers present their works to a wide and eager audience.

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Customer Reviews

Wrong Pieces

2007-06-27
I really disliked the book. The stories chosen were pointless and boring. I would read one story, be thoroughly disappointed, hope the next one would compensate for my wasted time, and unsurprisingly, it would not. Obviously, I would not recommend this book.

The only story worth reading is "Scoring" but I wouldn't purchase the whole book to read it.

great

2007-04-17
i got the two-day delivery and it arrived right on time and in great condition, the packaging was mildly shotty, but the book was fine.

This is no perks...

2007-02-12
I bought this book thinking there would be something remotely reminiscent of Stephen's book "The Perks of Being a Wallflower." However, this is not. From stories of killing someone on the expressway for no reason to same-sex-sex, within these pages is absolute randomness. I enjoyed one of the many stores in this book. Now because I understand some people like it for their own reasons, by no means will I say this book is "bad" or "talentless." However, I will say that it is not the least bit enjoyable to read. Despite this, keeping in mind that these are NOT Stephen's stories, I look forward to his next book.

very good

2006-10-31
overall a good book...i wasnt a huge fan of pinball tho...was a bit too sex-oriented for my liking....my fave story was polaroid, it had an interetsing narration

Enjoyable collection

2006-02-13
This was an extremly enjoyable collection of stories to read. This book was well put together with the stories they picked to make it with. I hope they put more out like this one. It never let me down not once.

Worth Picking Up!

2004-09-08

MTV has discovered the authors of tomorrow. Read them today in Pieces.

Not Bad So Far 2004-07-13
I bought this book a while ago and just started reading it, I picked a random story in it (Petty Theft) and it turned out to be really good. These writers are very talented and this book is worth reading!

Pieces of Sh... well, I don't wanna finish it. 2004-04-02
Being somewhat anti-MTV and someone who prefers tried and true authors, I admit I approached this book with perhaps an overly critical eye.
It turns out I was in for a big shock. It was worse than I could have imagined. This collection features some of the worst, most cliched PIECES of garbage I have ever had the misery to read.
Everything about it screams second-rate and pretense. Not one story was compelling in the least, especially not stories such as the thinly veiled (...) that is PINBALL. Nevertheless, if you prefer hackneyed and boring stories then by all means buy this book and be happy.

Pieces 2003-12-07
Pieces isnt a bad book at all! I had some low expectations for it due to some of the other reviews, but all in all I was pleasantly surprised with most parts of the book. It isnt very reminiscient of "Perks of Being a Wallflower" if you're expecting that.

Overall, I give it a B, some of the stories were horrible (Mother, White Carousel Horse) and then, some were marvelous,(Roam, Forbidden Fate). Others were mediocre.

Dont listen to the people saying this book is "too much to take" because I am 16 and a high school junior. I found it to be a good read that kept me interested and entertained.

a grade chart for these stories 2003-06-17
when i read a collection of short stories, i like to pretend that i am the teacher in a creative writing class and give the stories and their authors a grade. this helps me decide which authors i am going to pursue further (i use collections to find new authors). i decided to publish my grades on this collection after seeing other assesments here that were grossly out of line with mine. and my grades are.....

scoring - B minus
polaroid - C
day of the dead - B
the white carousel horse - F
first snow - B
the carnival - F
petty theft - C minus
next time - B
black cowboy - A
pinball - C
mother - F
respiration - C minus
a fortune - D
forbidden state - C minus

notice the nice distribution all averaging to a C. by the way, any editors or english departments that read these and decide to do the same and come up with the exact same grades as i, and realizing my undiscovered genius wish to employ me, i am available.

to those authors who got bad grades, its just one man's very subjective opinion. you should be chuffed that you got published and dont give up. to carmen elena mitchell, i am awaiting more with great anticipation.