Review: The Missing Piece of Charlie O’Reilly by Rebecca K.S. Ansari

The Missing Piece of Charlie O’Reilly

Author: Rebecca K.S. Ansari
Genre: Fantasy, Mystery, Middle Grade
Series: None

Synopsis: “Charlie O’Reilly is an only child. Which is why it makes everyone uncomfortable when he talks about his brother. Liam, his eight-year-old kid brother, who, up until a year ago, slept in the bunk above Charlie, took pride in being as annoying as possible, and was the only person who could make Charlie laugh until it hurt.

Then came the morning when the bunk, and Liam, disappeared forever. No one even remembers him—not Charlie’s mother, who has been lost in her own troubles; and not Charlie’s father, who is gone frequently on business trips. The only person who believes Charlie is his best friend, Ana—even if she has no memory of Liam, she is as determined as Charlie is to figure out what happened to him.

The search seems hopeless—until Charlie receives a mysterious note, written in Liam’s handwriting. The note leads Charlie and Ana to make some profound discoveries about a magic they didn’t know existed, and they soon realize that if they’re going to save Liam, they may need to risk being forgotten themselves, forever.”

This book was full of plot twists. It was so good and so sad at the same time.

This story revolves around Charlie, a twelve-year-old (I think) boy whose brother Liam went missing exactly a year ago. No one remembers him, not even his parents, and any trace of Liam existing is gone. Ana, Charlie’s best friend is the only one who believes Charlie, even if she herself doesn’t remember Liam either.

Charlie and Ana are having no luck during their search until Charlie receives a clue, that is distinctly and unexplainably from Liam. Hoping that it will work, the clue leads Charlie and Ana on a wild ride, discovering magic and a whole word they didn’t know existed.

I liked Charlie and Ana’s relationship. There’s no romance between them and they’re just really good friends. Ana’s steadfast loyalty helped Charlie throughout his search for his brother.

The part that Johnathon played was surprising. I think I may have suspected something about him but it was still unexpected and one of the many plot twists into the story.

The story of the Irish immigration was another really cool aspect that was added into the story. Along with the story connecting to the leader of the asylum, those chapters were so fascinating. I was slightly confused about the connection at the end with Charlie’s family, but I still liked it all the same.

One thing I thought wasn’t extremely realistic was the depression aspect. I can’t really call it depression though, because the cause of it was from a magical event. Even still, afterwards, when the story concludes, the mom is perfectly fine again and everyone is happy. True mental illnesses aren’t usually fixed like that. Again, I really call it a true mental illness, and I don’t know a lot about them, but that’s just my thoughts on it.

I really liked the cover of this book. I did think it was a bit too yellow, but I liked the sunburst effect with the silhouettes of the asylum and the characters in the foreground.

I also liked the powerful message this book sent about forgiveness. Forgiving oneself is as important as forgiving someone else, maybe even more so. This story was a great example of what forgiving yourself for something can do. Of course, this is a fantasy story, but even in real life, forgiving yourself can lift a huge weight off your shoulders.

The Missing Piece of Charlie O’Reilly was a wonderful book with message of the power of forgiveness. It was filled with plot twists and mystery and just an overall enjoyable read.

My Rating: 4/5 dragons

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