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No One You Know
by
Michelle Richmond (Goodreads Author)
Michelle Richmond dazzled readers and critics alike with her luminous novel The Year of Fog. Now Richmond returns with an intensely emotional, multilayered family drama—a woman’s search for her sister’s killer that spirals into a journey of secrets, revelations, and damaged lives.
All her life Ellie Enderlin had been known as Lila’s sister. Until one day, without warning, ...more
All her life Ellie Enderlin had been known as Lila’s sister. Until one day, without warning, ...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
June 24th 2008
by Delacorte Press
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Lisa Vegan
rated it
Recommends it for:
all those who appreciate a good novel, Michelle Richmond fans
It’s official: I am a huge fan of Michelle Richmond’s writing style, and of her storytelling, and especially the characters she creates and the subject matter she chooses. My admiration for her The Year of Fog was not a fluke; I was wowed by this book also. (I plan to read her other older published novel and book of short stories, and any other writing she creates that I can get my hands on.)
In this novel the author has profound truths to say about stories, life, and loss, and I don...more
In this novel the author has profound truths to say about stories, life, and loss, and I don...more
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Toward the end of this incredibly moving literary mystery, the storyteller and Ellie is a storyteller; narrator is far too sterile a word for what is going on here comes to the realization that stories aren t set in stone. I don t know if that is a universal truth, provable to the irrefutable certainty demanded by the mathematician characters in No One You Know, but it is clearly true about the story told in these wonderful pages. This story is set in something far richer: fertile literary ...more
I went to the "Athena Isle Writers Meeting" at Story Mountain Center for Writers in Second Life a couple of weeks ago and met Michelle Richmond. The talk with her made me rush to find The Year of Fog and No One You Know, which looked like the book of hers I'd like to read rather than Fog, so I got it from the library. The transcript of the meeting with Michelle Richmond is here.
The story is beautifully written, simple exposition of layers of Ellie's emotional life after th...more
The story is beautifully written, simple exposition of layers of Ellie's emotional life after th...more
I read this in just a couple of sittings. It sucked me in from the beginning and hooked me til the end. I loved how she talked about the elements of stories within her story. It was like she was writing to the reader.
The story itself was a major draw: her sister was murdered 20 years ago- the guy accused of killing her appears in this random restaurant in this random city and says he didn't do it- gives her his sister's notebook- she is intrigued, tries to find who had murdered ...more
The story itself was a major draw: her sister was murdered 20 years ago- the guy accused of killing her appears in this random restaurant in this random city and says he didn't do it- gives her his sister's notebook- she is intrigued, tries to find who had murdered ...more
I had read The Year of Fog by this author and was eager to read this one. This book, however, was quite disappointing. First of all, the main premise is flawed. The main character's sister, Lila, is murdered and her sister's college professor writes a nonfiction book about the murder naming the killer which would never be done. The person who was named was not the killer and he could have sued the author for libel and collected big bucks. From then on the book went downhill to me. Ellie se...more
Very moving and beautifully written. In this book, Michelle Richmond examines the complexity and evolution of stories and story telling in the same way that she looked at the complexity of memory in The Year of Fog. I think I liked this even better than TYoF. (And, of course, I loved that the author poked fun at herself by having her protagonist give a somewhat lukewarm review of that earlier novel.) It’s a great story—a good literary mystery—and the little snippets about coffee and mathematics ...more
I read this because I enjoyed the author's first book (The Year of Fog) so much. I didn't like this one near as well. The basic story is a woman who is still haunted by her sister's murder some twenty years later and how she finds the missing answers. The murdered sister was a mathematician so there is a LOT of math-speak in this one, with references to theories and equations and as a person who has no interest in numbers, I found myself skimming and/or skipping the math passages. I read it one ...more
The very talented writer, Richmond , draws you into the mind and soul of a very ordinary and very likable character,Ellie, and makes her so real. At the time of the murder of her sister, Ellie is 19. she finds her life changes, her parents lost in their own grief allow their previous very happy and stable, marriage to fall apart. She finds that the only person who she is comfortable with is her English professor and she confides in him, how she feels ,how the murder of her sister has changed eve...more
I'm at a loss as to whether or not I enjoyed No One You Know. I know that I enjoyed the last half of the book, for most of this afternoon/evening I found myself unable to put the book down-wanting to see how the story was going to play out. To see whether my suspicions about this character or that character were right. And I did like how it finally ended...
However, I found that the book had a few flaws in the beginning that made it almost impossible to read. The first being that I did ...more
However, I found that the book had a few flaws in the beginning that made it almost impossible to read. The first being that I did ...more
I'm enjoying No One You Know, but at times I'm not sure how I feel about it. It's slower than I thought it would be considering the subject matter (a 39 year old woman reenters the search for her sister's killer after 20 years). But I think the writing is beautiful and it makes you think. The main character's (Ellie) sister (Lila) was a mathemetician, so there is a lot about math in the book. It's cool how the author ties math proofs and problems with the mystery of Lila's murder, and she do...more
This book gets classified as a mystery, since it involves a death which is never solved, but it's really about the surviving sister, Ellie, and the way her life has been shaped. The murdered sister, Lila, was a math genius, so there's a good deal of math theory that's in the book for literary symbolism, and one of the other main characters is a literature professor, so there's also a lot of talking about story and perspective and truth and fiction. All this talking is the problem with the book...more
I had read her first book The Year of Fog last year and rated it 4 stars. So I was very excited to get an advance copy of her next book, No One you Know, from the Early Reviewers at Library Thing. I brought it with me on vacation and it was the first book I read.[return][return]The story centers on Ellie and her sister, Lila. Or, rather, Ellies life before and after her sisters death. 20 years after her sisters murder, Ellie is looking back at her sisters life, finally facing who might have ...more
A fascinating story of a young woman whose life was put on hold by the senseless, officially unsolved, murder of her brilliant mathematician sister, twenty years ago. Ellie's interpretation of that event had been shaped by the publication of a book written by her supposed friend and confidant who was also her literature professor. The characters are well drawn, the settings clearly delineated, and the story is compelling. Did the man, identified in the book as the probable killer and who subsequ...more
Poignant and haunting..., February 19, 2010
A sister's quest to find out the truth behind the murder of her sister ends with self discovery and revelations about the nature of relationships between loved ones. How well do you really know your family? Are they keeping secrets from you? What truths are revealed simply by living together and being related?
Twenty years after the fact, Ellie Enderlin is haunted by the death of her reticent and secretive older sister, mathematical ...more
A sister's quest to find out the truth behind the murder of her sister ends with self discovery and revelations about the nature of relationships between loved ones. How well do you really know your family? Are they keeping secrets from you? What truths are revealed simply by living together and being related?
Twenty years after the fact, Ellie Enderlin is haunted by the death of her reticent and secretive older sister, mathematical ...more
Ellie Enderlin is a professional coffee buyer whose life is influenced by one event: the murder of her sister Lila twenty years earlier. After a chance encounter during a coffee buying trip, Ellie decides to conduct her own investigation into Lila's death, which was never officially solved. However, doing so forces her to confront the truth of her family, her relationship with her sister, and her own isolation. Complicating matters is Ellie's own guilt for unwittingly contributing to a true crim...more
I hovered between 4 and 5 stars on this one and essentially went 4.49, rounding down. This was a great story about a murder 20 years prior, and the impacts of that murder on various people connected to the vicitm. The way it's told is through the victims sister ultimately successful search for the truth two decades later. Interspersing the interests of her sister (math) and her own (coffee) helped give a great back and forth for two women that while alike in looks, were very disparate in o...more
I imagine Ellie would be dismayed to learn that I do not like the taste of coffee. I do not even care for mocha ice cream. But, oh, do I love the smell of a fresh pot of coffee, especially in the morning!
Ellie Enderlin has the perfect nose for coffee. She had never set out to become a coffee buyer, but it is a career well suited to her. She can pick out the individual scents and flavors of varying coffee types and knows a good coffee bean when she comes across it. During her most recen...more
Ellie Enderlin has the perfect nose for coffee. She had never set out to become a coffee buyer, but it is a career well suited to her. She can pick out the individual scents and flavors of varying coffee types and knows a good coffee bean when she comes across it. During her most recen...more
I enjoyed this book about a woman whose sister is murdered and who spends a couple of decades significantly stunted as a result. It was set in my city, so it was fun to read about local sites and landmarks (even though she got a few things wrong). I also liked the unusual careers of the sisters, even though neither of them (coffee buyer and mathematician) interested me in the slightest. I thought the author built up a nice sense of anticipation and offered a satisfying resolution.
I was disappointed in this one. The review I read was good, and the person who recommended it thought the character development was great, but I didn't agree. I'd love to know what others think of this one. The story revolves around two sisters, one of whom is murdered. The surviving sister is devastated when a friend writes a True Crime type book about the event. The book follows her subsequent struggle to deal with her memories, find the truth and come to terms with her loss.
This story is told with such emotion and real thought that it took me by surprise. Once I started, I found it really hard to put down as I really wanted to know the truth about Lila's death. Michelle Richmond's story at first glance seems like a mystery that the sister of the victim will solve. But it feels like more than that. She brings elements of math, astrology, science and literature together to compliment the storyline. The relationships in the book are also beautifully written and each p...more
Normally I don't read books like these.... Which is why I am in a book club... to make me expand my horizons and read things I normally wouldn't read. That being said, this was the latest book we are reading for our book club.
It was a quick read. A bit of a murder mystery type of thing. So that aspect kept me intrigued. That and the fact that it takes place here in the San Francisco area.... Nothing like reading about certain landmarks and knowing exactly where they are in the city!
...more
It was a quick read. A bit of a murder mystery type of thing. So that aspect kept me intrigued. That and the fact that it takes place here in the San Francisco area.... Nothing like reading about certain landmarks and knowing exactly where they are in the city!
...more
I really enjoyed this book about a woman whose older sister, a mathematical genius, disappears; her body is found in the woods a few days later. The betrayal she feels when her English professor, who she has confided in after her sister's death, turns her sister's story into a true-crime novel, is absolutely wrenching. The characters -- from the two sisters to the various friends and lovers who are tied in through the story -- are quite believable. Even relatively minor characters like the ow...more
After reading The Year of the Fog by the same author last month, I was delighted to be asked to review No-One You Know. Although I did enjoy this story, for me it wasnt as good as the previous one.
No-One You Know is the story of two sisters and narrated by Ellie, the younger sister. Lila, the older sister, a maths prodigy was murdered twenty years. At the time of her murder Ellie grew very close to her English teacher and confided her feelings in him. He, in turn betrayed her a...more
No-One You Know is the story of two sisters and narrated by Ellie, the younger sister. Lila, the older sister, a maths prodigy was murdered twenty years. At the time of her murder Ellie grew very close to her English teacher and confided her feelings in him. He, in turn betrayed her a...more
It's a murder mystery -- a really good who did it type of book, but also so much more. It's rich with mathematical conjectures and the history behind them. Having been a math major at university, I found this aspect of the book really interesting. For example, one of many interesting observations made: "Technically speaking, one is a beautiful number. One is its own factorial, its own square, its own cube. It is neither a prime number nor a composite number. It is the first two numbers of t...more
No One You Know has been on my radar ever since I read several good reviews from fellow bookbloggers. The book blurb said "this is a riveting family drama about loss, love, and the way hope redefines our lives" so I had expected the story to be captivating and intriguing and I am glad it does not disappoint.
The story begins when Ellie Enderlin is on a business trip in Nicaragua when she stumble upon a man who was the lover and murderer of her sister, Lila. Ellie could not ...more
The story begins when Ellie Enderlin is on a business trip in Nicaragua when she stumble upon a man who was the lover and murderer of her sister, Lila. Ellie could not ...more
I really like this book. I liked that it was a mystery without being Sherlock Holmes-like.
I think it would be some what upsetting to find out that your sister lived a somewhat different life than you realized-- like Ellie realized with her sister Lila.
It's was disappointing to find out that Lila was having an affair with an associate at her school. Plus, the fact that neither seemed to have any plans to end it.
I loved that it was hard-- at least for me--...more
I think it would be some what upsetting to find out that your sister lived a somewhat different life than you realized-- like Ellie realized with her sister Lila.
It's was disappointing to find out that Lila was having an affair with an associate at her school. Plus, the fact that neither seemed to have any plans to end it.
I loved that it was hard-- at least for me--...more
I didn't want to like this book, as it reminded me too much of Truman Capote's IN COLD BLOOD (a novel everyone but me likes--I found the characters impossibly dull.) As in Capote's book, the victim, the protaganist's sister, is painted in hagiographic terms. It hit a couple other pet peeves of 'things that happen in novels but no-where else' variety.
But I kept reading, and it eventually got so where I knew I was going to finish it in one afternoon.
It's a murder mystery, of sorts, ...more
But I kept reading, and it eventually got so where I knew I was going to finish it in one afternoon.
It's a murder mystery, of sorts, ...more
Doing this on audio for book club.
This tells the tale of a woman, Ellie, whose sister was murdered twenty years ago. Lila was found in a forest near San Francisco, and the murderer was never determined.
Ellie's closest friend wrote a true crime novel about the events shortly thereafter, and Ellie believed that his book was telling the truth.
When she discovers, all these years later, that the book might be garbage, composed more to make the masses happy rather than to...more
This tells the tale of a woman, Ellie, whose sister was murdered twenty years ago. Lila was found in a forest near San Francisco, and the murderer was never determined.
Ellie's closest friend wrote a true crime novel about the events shortly thereafter, and Ellie believed that his book was telling the truth.
When she discovers, all these years later, that the book might be garbage, composed more to make the masses happy rather than to...more
The idea for this book was intriguing: what if someone took a tragedy in your life-your sister's murder-a wrote a fictional book about it that people assumed was fact? What impact would it have on you, your family, the identified killer, and, most importantly, your sister's memory? Great idea, so-so writing. The book is way too wordy, going off on tangents about San Francisco (the setting), coffee-making (the protagonist's job), and math (the sister's obsession). Richmond repeats her main th...more
I was as pleased by this as I was disappointed in The Year of Fog. (Loved her self-critique in this book as she's browsing the "fog" section in a book store. Quite cute.)
Could have done with a bit less advance mathematics, but I admire her for researching all that stuff, in which I haven't the slightest interest or understanding - even after her explanations. You can keep your prime numbers, integers, theorums, and all the rest. Oh, so boring, so far beyond me.
But a goo...more
Could have done with a bit less advance mathematics, but I admire her for researching all that stuff, in which I haven't the slightest interest or understanding - even after her explanations. You can keep your prime numbers, integers, theorums, and all the rest. Oh, so boring, so far beyond me.
But a goo...more
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Michelle Richmond is the author most recently of NO ONE YOU KNOW, as well as the international bestseller THE YEAR OF FOG, the award-winning story collection The Girl in the Fall-Away Dress, and the novel DREAM OF THE BLUE ROOM.
Her stories and essays have appeared in Glimmer Train, Playboy, The Missouri Review, The Kenyon Review, Oxford American, and elsewhere. Her books have been tran...more
More about Michelle Richmond...
Her stories and essays have appeared in Glimmer Train, Playboy, The Missouri Review, The Kenyon Review, Oxford American, and elsewhere. Her books have been tran...more
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“A story, after all, does not only belong to the one who is telling it. It belongs, in equal measure, to the one who is listening.”
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