Missing Parts by Lucinda Berry Book Review

 

Hats off to Ms. Berry. She is not one to shy away from sensitive topics. Such is the case in this book, Missing Parts. This is a tale of Celeste and David and their daughter, Aurora (whom they called Rori). When Celeste became pregnant with Rori, David was ecstatic, Celeste not so much … because of something that happened on That Night. That Night haunts Celeste, but she has done a pretty good job of burying the memories. It was decided that David would be a stay-at-home dad and Celeste would return to work. Rori is a little four-year-old girl who gets extremely sick and ends up in the hospital. The truth that surfaces while the doctors try to find out the exact cause of Rori’s illness rocks David’s world and shatters Celeste, not because of any maternal feelings toward Rori but because her secret has finally come to light. A secret that she now has to deal with, be honest about, and she takes off because of David’s anger.

A year later, after being on the run, Celeste (by then having people call her Sarah) meets up with Joe. Joe is a solid guy and through his friendship Celeste decides she needs to face up to the truth of her actions, turn herself in, rekindle things with David, it that is even possible. She returns to Los Angeles to do just that, only to find out she’s not a wanted criminal, she is only listed as a missing person. She does meet with David a couple of times as well as her best friend, Robin. Those meetings did not go as Celeste had hoped. The good thing that came out of Celeste’s return to Los Angeles was being reunited with her mother who Celeste had promised never to hurt, because of past experiences, but in her running she managed to do just that.

I devoured this book in a day. I just kept turning the pages to see how the truth would be revealed and if the scenes portrayed were actually what happened or an effect of Celeste’s paranoia while she was running. I do want to warn readers, though, that this may be a triggering book for those who have experienced rape and a child born from that horrid experience. I also want to warn readers that Ms. Berry cuts into the true emotions of what some women may feel about their own children, whether from rape or just not having a mothering instinct. I believe this book is Ms. Berry’s way of reaching out to those women, letting them know they are heard, letting them know it’s okay to feel this way, letting them know they are seen, letting them know they are not bad people. Letting them know they will be okay.