A dual Kirkus Best Fiction and Best Debut Fiction selection, this stunning novel is an emotional fable about love, forgiveness, and what most makes us human.At the outset of this extraordinary first novel, eight-year-old Jess finds herself in heaven reviewing her short life. She is guided in this by a being she calls the Assembler of Parts, and her task seems to be to grasp her life’s meaning. … life’s meaning. From the moment of her birth, it was obvious that Jess is unlike other children, for she suffers from a syndrome of birth defects that leaves her flawed. But by her very imperfections, she has a unique ability to draw love fromand healthose around her, from the parents who come together over her to the grandmother whose guilt she assuages, to the family friend she helps reconcile with an angry past.
Yet, it is only when she comes to her sudden deathfor which her parents are suspected of neglect, unleashing a chain of events beyond her healingthat her sense of her life truly begin to crystallize. And only then does the Assembler’s purpose become clear. With prose that is rich in emotion and eloquence and that distills poetry from the language of medicine and the words for ordinary things, Raoul Wientzen has delivered a novel of rare beauty that speaks to subjects as profound as faith, what makes us human, and the value of a life.
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A beautiful book. Sweet, sad, humorous at times, touching. A lovely story looking at family, disability, love, loss, society, religion, culture, age, humanity. Truly a sweet read.
In the end it moved me!
I loved the characters in this book.
Interesting perspective life-after-death lookback on the significance of a young life that ended too soon.
It makes you think that there is a purpose for everything and forgiveness is a greater part of it all.
I loved it!
This is a beautiful book. You can tell from the way it’s written that the author had to have spent a lot of time around children. I was not surprised to see that he was a pediatrician. The early descriptions of the bonding of mother and child are so lovely.
There is so much more that I could write but I’ll just say, read the book.
Brilliant may not be the best adjective, but the wealth of medical knowledge and the original point of view of this novel makes for a compelling read. Imagine an infant recognizing the doctors and her parents and all the players when she comes into the world–deaf.
This was a sad yet heart warming story.
Not easy to read. I was so bored I could barely slog through it. The premise of the book intrigued me so I bought bit but clearly there was nothing there to hold my interest.
Absolutely loved this book. Wish everyone would read it. Expressed my feelings and belief that we all are wonderful miracles to be celebrated! I loved seeing the world through her eyes.
I was intrigued when I first read the reviews of The Assembler of Parts and now I know why it was so highly recommended. To begin with, the writing was exquisite which was a joy to me. The plot was very unusual but oh so fun to read. Having been written by a physician, I learned so much throughout the book and appreciated the emotional, physical and psychological aspects which were presented in the characters. Excellent book in every way!
I loved this book!! At first I wasn’t sure it was my type , but the characters drew me in and I was sad when it ended!
Excellent.
A very unique perspective on the realities of living. Wonderfully written. Beautiful imagery. I enjoyed the story and will remember it a long time.
The quality of the writing was uneven but the story was interesting, and unusual enough to keep my interest. There were long stretches of narrative instead of story-telling which interrupted the flow. But there were also sections of excellent prose.
I enjoyed the authors wonderful use of words, sometimes I just enjoyed rereading sentence because of the flow and use words to describe a scene or situation. I was a little disappointed in the ending. I kind of got the impression that the author got to a certain point and didn’t know how to end it.
Original story. What love will carry you through, happiness, tragedy, and rehab.
This story was unlike anything I have ever read before. An exquisite exploration of the meaning of life and love. Beautiful….
Such a unique novel, brilliant evocations on the part of the author. So sad in some sections, so uplifting in others.