book data
18,611 ratings,
3.56
average rating, 1,642 reviews
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published
April 2008
by Piper
(first published November 15th 2005)
details
Broschiert, 544 pages
characters
setting
isbn
3492251722
(isbn13: 9783492251723)
description
How do you recover the past when it was never yours to lose?
Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her bel…more
Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her bel…more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 24,161)
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1 star (322)
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avg 3.56
editions: all | this edition
editions: all | this edition
Read in September, 2007
Okay, I got to disk 10 and could not listen to this nonsense anymore! There's so much to this book that coulda been left out! I'm annoyed w/ all the Hopi Indian stuff and the gruesome prison scenes .. and the skirting around the truth crap ... I liked this book in the beginning and the way it was set up switching perspectives but then when it got to Fitz' charachter and everytime thereafter I felt ill .. what man is really like this? I thought I was listening to a female w/ all this unrequited l...more
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
only big Jodi Picoult fans
I have sort of a love-hate relationship with Jodi Picoult books. I really enjoyed Plain Truth and My Sister's Keeper, but there are definitely things about her writing that irritate me. It seems they were more apparent in this one. I personally think metaphors would be more effective (and part of a beautiful written piece) if they are few and really well woven into the book. In Vanishing Acts, Picoult tended to bash the reader over the head with meaningfulness and metaphorical irony.
So ba...more
So ba...more
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(7 people liked it)
9 comments
Read in January, 2008
I have been working my way through Jodi Picoult's books for the last couple of weeks and was really disappointed by this book. I had previously read My Sister's Keeper and The Pact and although I didn't love them I thought they were very well written and the multiple character angle worked in them. My main problem with this book was that there was too much going on, from start to finish there were just too many story lines (I felt the relationship between Delia, Erik and Fitz was pointless an...more
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Read in May, 2008
I'd never read any Jodi Picoult before. I read the first 100 or so pages of this one and didn't want to read any more of it. I found it very uneven, and also the character of Delia just ran around being shrill, unreasonable, and oblivious, while there are three men in her life who seem to live only to please her. Jeez.
Also, I could tell the answer to the "mystery" of why the father did what he did was going to be a long time coming--there seemed to be a lot of secrets conv...more
Also, I could tell the answer to the "mystery" of why the father did what he did was going to be a long time coming--there seemed to be a lot of secrets conv...more
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Read in November, 2007
I'm in a Piccoult zone. THis is the second book of hers that I've read and I"ve just started a new one. I appreciate the depth of the topics she writes about, this one, the ethics of a father's decision to kidnap his daughter from a staggering, alcoholic mother. Was the daughter better off never knowing her mother? Was losing her daughter what the mother needed to get clean, the ultimate tough love test? Did the father have the right to make that decision for everyone based on his fears and...more
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Read in May, 2006
"The Only Way Someone Can Leave You Is If You Let Them."
Vanishing Acts is yet another well told tale by Jodi Picoult, who is a master at character development. Once again telling the story through first person accounts of the main characters, she weaves together a family drama centered on a "kidnapping" that had occurred 28 years earlier.
Thirty-one year old Delia Hopkins, aka Bethany Matthews, discovers her loving and devoted father, took her away fro...more
Vanishing Acts is yet another well told tale by Jodi Picoult, who is a master at character development. Once again telling the story through first person accounts of the main characters, she weaves together a family drama centered on a "kidnapping" that had occurred 28 years earlier.
Thirty-one year old Delia Hopkins, aka Bethany Matthews, discovers her loving and devoted father, took her away fro...more
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Read in November, 2008
recommends it for:
soap opera fans
This book relates the circumstances leading to and resulting from a father kidnapping his 4-year-old daughter and being caught and tried for it 28 years later. The story is told through the eyes of each character as events unfold. A section may contain the first person account of any combination of the father, the daughter, her fiancée, their childhood friend, the mother or a few other minor characters. The author throws in alcoholism, adultery, child abuse, loss, suppressed memory, decep...more
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Read in May, 2008
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I have decided to create a new genre of fiction: Missing Child Fiction. This category will include such titles as The Lovely Bones by Alice Seybold, The Little Friend by Donna Tartt, How to Be Lost by Amanda Eyre Ward, The Bright Forever by Lee Martin, and this book, Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult.
Having recently read so many books with plots that revolve around a missing child I began to consider what about this topic inspires so much powerful fiction and compels so many of us to re...more
Having recently read so many books with plots that revolve around a missing child I began to consider what about this topic inspires so much powerful fiction and compels so many of us to re...more
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6 comments
Read in January, 2008
For the most part I enjoyed the story, but I found the changing viewpoints distracting. Because of this it was impossible for me to sit down and just read. I kept having to remind myself of "who" I was and what the circumstances were at the time.
Personally having a niece and 4 nephews that I adore, I have a hard time seeing the gray here, but I know legally he was wrong. I hope that I could put their lives above my own if it was needed.
On to the positive. The discussion ...more
Personally having a niece and 4 nephews that I adore, I have a hard time seeing the gray here, but I know legally he was wrong. I hope that I could put their lives above my own if it was needed.
On to the positive. The discussion ...more
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1 comment
Read in April, 2008
recommends it for:
Jodi Picoult fans
I usually really like Jodi Picoult books. She has a great, easy readable style that still leaves you really pondering the circumstances and her character's choices. However, this was not one of her best.
One of the characters really bugged me, it was the boyfriend Eric. He did too many things that didn't make sense, and left me thinking "nobody would've done that", and that can really ruin a book. Why did he agree to defend the dad? He shouldn't have done it. It didn't make ...more
One of the characters really bugged me, it was the boyfriend Eric. He did too many things that didn't make sense, and left me thinking "nobody would've done that", and that can really ruin a book. Why did he agree to defend the dad? He shouldn't have done it. It didn't make ...more
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Read in May, 2008
This is my first Picoult, and I have to say, the woman knows how to weave a story, if this is any example. All the characters are detailed and real, the situations believable, and the research about the Arizona prison system (and the people in it) impressive in scope, scale, and focus. I'm not usually much into court drama, but the courtroom scenes in this one definitely take second place to the intricate weave of the lives and relationships of the characters.
The book has more than ...more
The book has more than ...more
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Read in September, 2006
recommends it for:
everyone
this was my 2nd jodi picoult. i hadn't been so thoroughly engrossed in a book in quite some time. its a quick and enjoyable read that will make you laugh, cry, and keep you on the edge of your seat the whole time. i love the way picoult questions morally complicated situations. the plot was one of the most interesting ideas i have every read and i found myself emotionally, intellectually, and morally challenged throughout my reading.
i have heard complaints about the way jodi pic...more
i have heard complaints about the way jodi pic...more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
someone on a planetrip looking for interesting but not challenging.
I bought this book to read on a plane trip, whilst it was OK, once the whole trip ended and my normal routine recommenced the book did not hold enough to warrant me picking it up to complete it.
I read about 3/4 of the book and found it interesting, it was just a little too predictable. Of course the protagonist was going to leave the fiance and fall for the best friend, of course the father was going to suffer.
The imagery and language were both lovely, just the story not ...more
I read about 3/4 of the book and found it interesting, it was just a little too predictable. Of course the protagonist was going to leave the fiance and fall for the best friend, of course the father was going to suffer.
The imagery and language were both lovely, just the story not ...more
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Read in October, 2007
This was my first experience with Jodi Picoult and unfortunately, I was not impressed. I felt the story was contrived and a predictable once the "secret" is exposed. There were parts of the story that were unnecessary and I felt that she was trying to manipulate me to "think" about other possiblilties, when the outcome was obvious. I did, however, enjoy the first person account and the different perspectives presented on the same topic, but at times, felt that it was prolo...more
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Read in January, 2006
I love Jodi Picoult, and for the most part her intricate plot lines blend together in a way that is cohesive and makes sense. Hwoever, I think she was trying too hard with this novel to blend one too many storylines. I was lost to the significance of much of her side plots. Her editor should have just vetoed them completely. And the ending seemed like a deadline needed to be met, so she dumped multiple revelations onto her readers' laps and expected them to accept them. Unlesss you are a di...more
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I now know that I read way too many books. Thankfully Goodreads can now help me keep track of them. I read this book about a year ago, but didn't remember until I started to read it again this week. I enjoy Picoult's writing style. I enjoyed the different points of view the story is told from.
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Read in March, 2009
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Read in March, 2009
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What better title than Vanishing Acts to describe a search-and-rescue worker who turns out to be a missing person herself, as well as the daughter of an amateur magician who makes people disappear? Reviewers praise Picoult (My Sister's Keeper ***1/2 July/Aug 2004) for her cleverness and her abilities as a storyteller, but her tendency to hang her narratives on Issues-with-a-capital-I has limited appeal. Her 12th novel seems particularly overcrowded with themes and subplots addressing the nature
...more
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