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106th out of 212 books
—
353 voters
When She Was Gone
Tom Perotta’s Little Children meets Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones in this suspenseful and beautifully wrought story of a seventeen-year-old girl who vanishes on the eve of her departure for college, as told through the alternating perspectives of her neighbors.Seventeen-year-old Linsey Hart disappears the day before she’s due to leave for college. As her neighbors piece...more
Paperback, 304 pages
Published
March 19th 2013
by Gallery Books
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I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads. I honestly didn't know what to expect from this book. In a way I expected this book to be like The Lovely Bones, but let me tell you When She Was Gone was just the opposite of The Lovely Bones. When She Was Gone is a story about a seventeen year old girl Linsey, who one morning just disappeared without saying a world, She Was Gone. I liked how the story was written. The story was told from different points of view and never from Linsey'...more
Mar 21, 2013
Patty
added it
When She Was Gone
By
Gwendolyn Gross
My "in a nutshell" summary...
Life in a smallish town when a girl disappears...very interesting!
My thoughts after reading this book...
The disappearance of a young girl...Linsey...who is about to go off to college...sort of causes her neighborhood to...not fall apart but sort of ignite. It's not a neighborhood where people know each other and are even fond of each other. It's sort of a neighborhood of secrets. The neighborhood houses music lovers and puzzling chil...more
By
Gwendolyn Gross
My "in a nutshell" summary...
Life in a smallish town when a girl disappears...very interesting!
My thoughts after reading this book...
The disappearance of a young girl...Linsey...who is about to go off to college...sort of causes her neighborhood to...not fall apart but sort of ignite. It's not a neighborhood where people know each other and are even fond of each other. It's sort of a neighborhood of secrets. The neighborhood houses music lovers and puzzling chil...more
MY THOUGHTS
LOVED IT
Linsey is scheduled to start at Cornell and right before her family is to drop her off, she vanishes. No one thought anything was wrong with her, except she just broke up with her boyfriend at her mother's insistence and there is no evidence of foul play. The last person to see her is the piano teacher, Mr. Leonard, who lives across the street. The story recount the next ten days while the small community searches for her. As her mother goes door to door searching for informat...more
LOVED IT
Linsey is scheduled to start at Cornell and right before her family is to drop her off, she vanishes. No one thought anything was wrong with her, except she just broke up with her boyfriend at her mother's insistence and there is no evidence of foul play. The last person to see her is the piano teacher, Mr. Leonard, who lives across the street. The story recount the next ten days while the small community searches for her. As her mother goes door to door searching for informat...more
1 like · like · see review
Apr 05, 2013
Eileen Granfors
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Shelves:
coming-of-age,
families,
friendship,
grief,
highly-unusual,
local-color,
marriage,
men,
mystery,
psychological-thriller,
women
An absolutely luminous novel with entire neighborhood of characters. Gwen Gross develops each one with such emotion and depth, the reader feels as if she lives among them.
The stories of the missing child are fairly common in literature today. All tug at our heartstrings and keep us up late for the suspense.
Linsey is about to leave for Cornell when she disappears.
What is special about WHEN SHE WAS GONE by Gwen Gross is the development of character. She takes us through the neighborhood, house by...more
The stories of the missing child are fairly common in literature today. All tug at our heartstrings and keep us up late for the suspense.
Linsey is about to leave for Cornell when she disappears.
What is special about WHEN SHE WAS GONE by Gwen Gross is the development of character. She takes us through the neighborhood, house by...more
Linsey Hart is a day away from leaving home for her first year of college, when she disappears into thin air. This is the story of the 10 days between her disappearance and the resolution of what happened to her. The tale focuses primarily on the people in her neighborhood and the effect this has on them.
Mr. Leonard, a retired music teacher who is dying, playing the piano for himself while wearing his dead mother's gowns, the missing girl's ex-boyfriend, her younger brothers, twins Toby and Cod...more
Mr. Leonard, a retired music teacher who is dying, playing the piano for himself while wearing his dead mother's gowns, the missing girl's ex-boyfriend, her younger brothers, twins Toby and Cod...more
I enjoyed the character descriptions in this book, they were very good, but putting them all together in this story of a girl who disappears....well....it didn't quite work for me. In other words, the character development wasn't as good as the descriptions for me.
You meet a lot of people throughout the book, and how Linsey, the 17 year old who disappears, played a big or small part in (most) of their lives, but that's it. Nothing else in the plot develops from that. Even though I found myself...more
You meet a lot of people throughout the book, and how Linsey, the 17 year old who disappears, played a big or small part in (most) of their lives, but that's it. Nothing else in the plot develops from that. Even though I found myself...more
I loved this book! Quiet, affluent New Jersey town, like my own, shaken up by the disappearance of a Ivy-league bound teenage girl. Gross's graceful sentences propel the narrative until you are addicted. From a troubled eleven year old boy to a stay at home mom, unwilling to pass the sexy torch to her teenage daughter, to an old musician dying of cancer, Gross gets inside her characters, making you care deeply about all of them.
At the same time, I found myself hoping that Linsey (yes, that's th...more
At the same time, I found myself hoping that Linsey (yes, that's th...more
What a captivating book!! While the disappearance of a child makes many novels page-turners, this page-turner kept me going not only because of Linsey's disappearance, but also because of the well-developed and unique characters peppering the book. I especially liked Gross' naming of the chapters with house numbers--because indeed, she explored the intricacies of whole households in a way that is not common in novels these days. I was intrigued by Geo, in particular, but Mr. Leonard, Reeva, Jord...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
I won an ARC of this book through the GoodReads First Reads program.
While the book felt slow at the start, it quickly picked up the pace, and in the end I was unable to put it down. The novel is about a girl who, days before leaving for her first year of college, goes missing. In a way, it is also about her neighbors -- Linsey Hart is pretty much entirely absent save for memories that the community members relay in their portions of the story. Part of what leads to the slow start is the length o...more
While the book felt slow at the start, it quickly picked up the pace, and in the end I was unable to put it down. The novel is about a girl who, days before leaving for her first year of college, goes missing. In a way, it is also about her neighbors -- Linsey Hart is pretty much entirely absent save for memories that the community members relay in their portions of the story. Part of what leads to the slow start is the length o...more
Gross write beautifully. Her prose is elegant, like Edith Wharton's. But don't expect a page turner. Unfortunately, at least in this book, Gross cannot tell a story well.
The book is structured around the disappearance of a 17-year old girl, soon bound for college. The author refers to the disappearance through the eyes of the family's neighbors. I would have thought that each recollection would shed light on the girl or the reasons for her disappearance; instead, each narrator is self-involved i...more
The book is structured around the disappearance of a 17-year old girl, soon bound for college. The author refers to the disappearance through the eyes of the family's neighbors. I would have thought that each recollection would shed light on the girl or the reasons for her disappearance; instead, each narrator is self-involved i...more
http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....
When She Was Gone was an interesting read. We get to hear all about Linsey from all of her neighbors perspectives, but not once do we get to "hear" from Linsey. Her neighbors are such an interesting group of characters, part Wisteria Lane and part Peyton Place. I really felt bad for Linsey's mom, she obviously has had tragedy in her life and when Linsey comes up missing her grief and fear is palpable. You have to keep reading just to find out what happened...more
When She Was Gone was an interesting read. We get to hear all about Linsey from all of her neighbors perspectives, but not once do we get to "hear" from Linsey. Her neighbors are such an interesting group of characters, part Wisteria Lane and part Peyton Place. I really felt bad for Linsey's mom, she obviously has had tragedy in her life and when Linsey comes up missing her grief and fear is palpable. You have to keep reading just to find out what happened...more
This book has a different take on what happens when someone goes missing.
When She Was Gone tells the story of Linsey. A seemingly normal teenager who just leaves early one morning. The story does not follow Linsey, but follows those left behind.
You learn about the neighbors. You learn their vices and their secrets. You watch each of them unravel in different ways.
I love Gwendolen's writing style. It makes you want to read more, but not nessicarily to see if Linsey turns up. It makes you wonde...more
When She Was Gone tells the story of Linsey. A seemingly normal teenager who just leaves early one morning. The story does not follow Linsey, but follows those left behind.
You learn about the neighbors. You learn their vices and their secrets. You watch each of them unravel in different ways.
I love Gwendolen's writing style. It makes you want to read more, but not nessicarily to see if Linsey turns up. It makes you wonde...more
http://anovelreview.blogspot.com/2013...
It's almost time for the new school year to begin and Linsey Hart is about to go off to school at Cornell. Early one morning Linsey walks off and just disappears. Leaving behind her family and community to wonder and speculate what happened.
When She Was Gone opens up the doors to numerous households in Linsey's small suburban neighborhood and allows it's readers to see inside. As the neighborhood grapples with the young girls' disappearance, they are also...more
It's almost time for the new school year to begin and Linsey Hart is about to go off to school at Cornell. Early one morning Linsey walks off and just disappears. Leaving behind her family and community to wonder and speculate what happened.
When She Was Gone opens up the doors to numerous households in Linsey's small suburban neighborhood and allows it's readers to see inside. As the neighborhood grapples with the young girls' disappearance, they are also...more
In another life, I used to gorge myself on big Agatha Christie-style mysteries and big whodunits that unraveled with people’s closely held secrets. There’s always been something fascinating about examining each of the players, digging at their secrets and trying to put them all together into the bigger puzzle of the community to see how the big event could have happened.
I admit that I went into this book expecting something, and I didn’t get it. The story starts with one of Linsey’s neighbors, a...more
I admit that I went into this book expecting something, and I didn’t get it. The story starts with one of Linsey’s neighbors, a...more
I received this book through a Goodreads First Reads giveaway.
For a book that says it is about a vanishing girl and her neighbors observations and thoughts on her disappearance, I found it odd that we hear almost nothing about the disappearance of Linsey Hart until over halfway through the book. There is maybe just 2-3 sentences a chapter before that.
Because of the fact I was expecting a book surrounding the mystery of a girl's disappearance, I had a hard time getting into a storyline that was r...more
For a book that says it is about a vanishing girl and her neighbors observations and thoughts on her disappearance, I found it odd that we hear almost nothing about the disappearance of Linsey Hart until over halfway through the book. There is maybe just 2-3 sentences a chapter before that.
Because of the fact I was expecting a book surrounding the mystery of a girl's disappearance, I had a hard time getting into a storyline that was r...more
Intriguing idea but just didn't go (or take me) anywhere in patricular. Not to mention the major anti-climax of an ending. I'm left thinking 'so ..' 'and ...'. I also found it hard to keep track of the characters (but that could just be me) and the interconnections between their lives and Linsey's didn't strike me as especially significant or interesting. But best of all, Linsey's twin brothers: Cody & Toby - yes, really.
I have mixed feelings about this book. I liked that it told the story of how the neighborhood reacted to the disappearance of a girl from the town by telling it through several perspectives. It was an interesting way to view some of the same happenings through different lenses. All in all it was a unique way of telling a tragic story.
What I didn't like was the writing style was a bit uneven. I also did not connect with any of the characters in the story. By the end, I really didn't care what was...more
What I didn't like was the writing style was a bit uneven. I also did not connect with any of the characters in the story. By the end, I really didn't care what was...more
I really enjoyed this book. I think the author did an amazing job painting a frighteningly honest picture of life in suburbia that demonstrates how little we really know about the people we see every day. At times, the book got a little verbose and I found myself skimming in places, but overall, a great read!
This was the first Gwendolen Gross book I've read and I really, really liked it. The story's about a girl who lives in the suburbs who goes missing right before she's supposed to leave for college, but we never see things from her point of view. Instead, it's about all the people who surround her: her mother, her brother, her ex-boyfriend, her neighbors. Each of them knows a little piece of the story and it's part of their story too. I'll definitely be reading more by this author.
I really wanted to enjoy this book but there were several problems. I didn't care about any of the characters, several incidents was over-the-top and created with the shock factor and also it was just boring. Here is an excerpt on the Reeva character showing over-the-top writing that seems implausible concerning pastries she purchased from the bakery:
"and sometimes she came home and ate everything out of the white box, too impatient to untie the string, so she bit through it"
Really, now she is e...more
"and sometimes she came home and ate everything out of the white box, too impatient to untie the string, so she bit through it"
Really, now she is e...more
This was my first novel by Cross. Although it was very compelling, and hooked me right from the beginning, I thought there would be more to the story. Don't get me wrong, the glimpses into the lives of the neighbors were interesting. However, I felt like I needed to know more.
I really liked this book. This was a wonderful writing, you might think it is about a teenage girl gone missing and yet it is so much more...It introduces you to a town of people connected and yet not really and how one missing good girl connects them in different ways. Some in lust and love and others in new understanding of who they really are. The perfect aren't so perfect any more and the weird are the smarter more compassionate ones. Working together and alone to fit all the pieces together...more
Received from Goodreads First Reads giveaway
I liked this book. I didn't love it but I did like it. When She Was Gone tells the story of several people living in a neighborhood and what occurs in their lives around the same time that Linsey, a teenage girl goes missing. The story does focus on the missing girl - but is mainly about the characters in the book - their lives and secrets. The book is told by each characters point of view. I was hoping that some secrets would come out- lies would be e...more
I liked this book. I didn't love it but I did like it. When She Was Gone tells the story of several people living in a neighborhood and what occurs in their lives around the same time that Linsey, a teenage girl goes missing. The story does focus on the missing girl - but is mainly about the characters in the book - their lives and secrets. The book is told by each characters point of view. I was hoping that some secrets would come out- lies would be e...more
2.5 stars. Could have been so much better. Interesting premise, but the ultimate conclusion was a huge letdown. Some of the characters, particularly the next-door neighbor man with cancer, were great additions to the story.
I wish I could give 1/2 stars because I would give When She Was Gone 3.5 stars instead of just 3. Gwendolyn Gross writes in a poetic voice, reveals dark thoughts, deep secrets and the inner voices of a missing girl's family and neighbors.
This is not so much a story about a missing girl as it is about the town and people that Linsey leaves behind. Allow yourself to be drawn into a town's uncomfortable reality.
Unexpectedly honest.
This is not so much a story about a missing girl as it is about the town and people that Linsey leaves behind. Allow yourself to be drawn into a town's uncomfortable reality.
Unexpectedly honest.
Such a disappointment! Waste of my money. If I had not purchased this book (and felt obligated to read it), I NEVER would have finished it. Nothing good to say about this book - characters were so unlikeable.
I wanted to like this book hoping it would get better as I continued reading but I was extremely disappointed. Can't say I really cared about any of the characters. Frankly, I think it was rather amateurishly written and was actually shocked that the author has five 'critically acclaimed' previous novels.
I won this book in a First Reads giveaway. I thought the story sounded interesting and couldn't wait to dive into it. However, I had a hard time getting through the first couple of chapters. Bored! I finally finished the book and can say that I didn't enjoy it all that much. I didn't develop a connection to any of the characters and felt the ending fell extremely flat. I ended the book thinking, "really? That's it?" Also, I feel the writing style isn't cohesive throughout the book. Some sentence...more
2 likes · like · see review
I liked it but didn't love it. Suspenseful with several interesting character studies. The characters stayed on my mind for a few days after I finished this book.
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Dubbed the reigning queen of women's adventure fiction by Joanna Smith Rakoff in Book Magazine, Gwendolen Gross grew up in Newton, Massachusetts. She graduated from Oberlin College, where she studied science writing and voice performance. She spent a semester in Australia with a field studies program, studying spectacled fruit bats in the rainforest remnants of Northern Queensland.
After college sh...more
More about Gwendolen Gross...
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“Sometimes he wrote equations, or musical notation, sometimes he wrote in Latin; he refused to tell her what it was about. "Nothing," he said. "I have nothing important or original to say, yet I feel compelled to express myself, so I just write it down and let it go.”
—
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Mar 24, 2013 01:10am