The Fragments That Remain
Mackenzie Angeconeb
Cormorant Books
Published March 8, 2025
Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads
About The Fragments That Remain
First-year college student Andy can’t afford to slow down. Study, volunteer, work, make new friends, fall in love ― whatever it takes to keep her from obsessing over her brother Ally’s death, which was ruled suicide by overdose. Navigating a new life chapter without her “honorary twin,” Andy writes letters to him as she strives to embrace her bisexuality and her Indigenous identity. Once she discovers Ally’s hidden poems, Andy pours over them to make sense of her brother’s life ― and his death.
Back in senior year, Ally dreamed of being a poet. His parents encouraged him to write as a hobby, but they always expected him to inherit the family-owned bookshop with his sister. Ally wrote to cope with his emptiness, until he turned to drugs to fill the void.
Reaching for her brother through unanswered words, Andy must reckon with living a once-shared life alone.
My Review
This novel is divided into three parts. Andy’s letters to her brother make up the first and last parts of the book. The middle part is made up of poems her brother Ally wrote and left in a box she finds partway through the story.
The letters read like diary entries. They show Andy processing her brother’s death, dealing with grief, and her struggle to form new connections with others. At times, Andy circles between grief and depression, vividly describing her emotional pain. When she discovers the poems, she wrestles with wanting to know Ally’s thoughts and worrying she’ll discover something she can’t unknow.
I found her journey easily relatable. She had a lot of guilt over her brother’s death. At one point, she experiences rejection and has an explosively angry reaction. She doesn’t become violent, but she feels incredibly betrayed and says some hurtful (ace-phobic) things. As she processes her feelings and reflects on her behavior, she realizes she acted badly and apologizes.
I love her mom’s reaction when she tells her parents she’s dating a girl. Her mom is so chill about it that her dad thinks maybe she doesn’t realize what Andy is telling them, so he repeats it, and her mom is like, yeah, I know, but what’s her name? It is a sweet moment.
On the whole, I enjoyed the book. I think readers who enjoy stories that reflect on unexpected tragedy or address the fallout of addiction or loss will want to read The Fragments That Remain.
Content Notes
Recommended for Ages 14 up.
Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.
Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing, references to sex (not shown on-scene).
Spiritual Content
Andy reads her letters aloud and thinks of it as reading them to her brother’s spirit. Vague reference to praying to whatever gods are listening.
Violent Content
References to drug overdose/death by suicide.
Drug Content
References to drug use.
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