Songs for the Missing: A Novel
by Stewart O'NanSign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of this book.
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Read in June, 2008
Just weeks from leaving for college, Kim feels herself on the brink of an exciting new life. Like most teens, she keeps secrets from her parents, but she’s a good kid. Then, one summer day, she vanishes. She’s simply gone.
Songs for the Missing is less about Kim herself than about those destined to struggle in the aftermath of her disappearance. Told from the varying perspectives of her mother, father, and younger sister, and her boyfriend and two best friends, the narrative takes the rea...more
Songs for the Missing is less about Kim herself than about those destined to struggle in the aftermath of her disappearance. Told from the varying perspectives of her mother, father, and younger sister, and her boyfriend and two best friends, the narrative takes the rea...more
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Read in May, 2008
i had been longing to read one of stewart o'nan's books for a long time...he's a friend of stephen king and i had always heard good things about his books. i'm so glad i was chosen to read Songs for the Missing as part of the Barnes and Noble First Look Book Club. this book was wonderful. i tend to lean toward mysteries and thrillers and historial fiction, or the latest best seller, not all of which lend themselves to great writing. while the subject matter of Songs was depressing and sad an...more
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Read in September, 2008
This is the story of a family whose teenage daughter disappears one day on her way to her summer job. It's packed with all sort of family dynamics, showing how one family learned to cope with the anxiety, uncertainty, horror and loss of the event. It was a really intense book for me because it takes place in small town Ohio, where I grew up, and I recognized the people, the places, held some of the same jobs and certainly had all of the same feelings as these teenagers on the brink of somethin...more
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I read this over a long weekend--I hardly ever do that, as I get distracted or something only grabs my interest sporadically. But this one kept me interested enough to want to keep coming back each spare moment I had until I finished it. While so much happens in the external meat of this story, the real tale is in the day to day mundane that stays the same, even as a whirlwind occurs. The details are stunning and never boring.
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Read in July, 2008
recommends it for:
fans of realistic fiction
This was a very well-written book following the story not of the missing young girl but of her family and friends. The disappearance, the loss, the helplessness, the hope, the eventual acceptance, all are there and we live it with them. It is a book about relationships as well. Every step was believable. Having been through sudden emotional trauma myself (albeit not the same trauma), I know that as time passes and you start to notice the rest of the world, it's a tremendous shock to find out ...more
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Best Read For: Personal reading, book club reading, great for discussions
In a nutshell: Stuart O'Nan has written a fictional book that reads like non-fiction in that it explores the events and emotions experienced by friends, family, neighbors and volunteers as the search for a missing girl progresses, providing the reader with great insight into what experiences might be like surrounding a missing person. I found myself viewing events going on around me a little differently after reading th...more
In a nutshell: Stuart O'Nan has written a fictional book that reads like non-fiction in that it explores the events and emotions experienced by friends, family, neighbors and volunteers as the search for a missing girl progresses, providing the reader with great insight into what experiences might be like surrounding a missing person. I found myself viewing events going on around me a little differently after reading th...more
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Read in May, 2008
Meet Kim Larsen. She is eighteen years old, pretty and popular, and about a month away from leaving for college and the wider world. She can hardly wait. Like most small town kids, she and her friends chafe from the sameness and boredom of daily life. They drink more than they should and experiment a bit with drugs. But they are good kids at heart and are so looking forward to going away, being on their own, growing up.
Then, somewhere in the short distance between her home and her workplace,...more
Then, somewhere in the short distance between her home and her workplace,...more
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Read in November, 2008
I was surprised I liked it. More so, I was surprised I read it. I am not drawn to Midwestern family dramas but O'Nan did so much more with it.
Kim goes suddenly missing and the town is turned upside down. There are detectives and media crews and the neighbors are volunteering to sweep the river banks in search of the body. Kim's family and her two closest friends are the focus of O'Nan's story and he catches their intricacies, their inhibitions and the confusion they each face, trying to move f...more
Kim goes suddenly missing and the town is turned upside down. There are detectives and media crews and the neighbors are volunteering to sweep the river banks in search of the body. Kim's family and her two closest friends are the focus of O'Nan's story and he catches their intricacies, their inhibitions and the confusion they each face, trying to move f...more
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Read in November, 2008
Captivating! Stewart O’Nan examines countless reactions to a young girl gone missing. A typical teen, enjoying the last summer with friends before heading to college doesn’t show up to work, or at home. O’Nan nails the teen angst, mother-daughter relationships, and small town life in this original look at a missing girl. Did she leave of her own free will? How helpful are the authorities? Will the family ever have closure? What are “appropriate” responses to dealing with a missi...more
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Read in November, 2008
A very realistic, I assume, and very depressing story. A family of four has their lives ripped apart when their 18 year old daughter does not return home from her work shift. The story tells of the effect this has on her mom, dad, sister, friends etc. It is a real downer, but how else could it be? I thought the author did a very good job of describing the inner feelings of these people and he showed that the side the public saw was not their true selves. Of course, this book could not end h...more
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Read in April, 2008
MY REVIEW OF SONGS FOR THE MISSING BY STEWART O’NAN
Although Stewart O'Nan's book SONGS FOR THE MISSING gives the hope and impression of a fast paced, highly anticipated read, it falls short. Instead, the readers are the ones who will find themselves missing...missing out on a better book.
Kim Larsen, preparing to enter college, goes missing the summer before she is to leave. The story introduces Kim and her friend’s characters fairly well and also leaves little clues of what secrets ...more
Although Stewart O'Nan's book SONGS FOR THE MISSING gives the hope and impression of a fast paced, highly anticipated read, it falls short. Instead, the readers are the ones who will find themselves missing...missing out on a better book.
Kim Larsen, preparing to enter college, goes missing the summer before she is to leave. The story introduces Kim and her friend’s characters fairly well and also leaves little clues of what secrets ...more
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Read in November, 2008
What would do if your teen aged daughter disappeared without a trace? When—if ever—do you stop looking for her?
This is exactly what happens to Kim Larsen, age 18, popular, a small town Ohio girl just weeks before she is to leave for college. She spends an afternoon at the lake with her friends then never shows up for work that evening and is never seen again. It is not until the next morning that her parents, and 15 year old sister, realize Kim is missing.
The book starts out like a m...more
This is exactly what happens to Kim Larsen, age 18, popular, a small town Ohio girl just weeks before she is to leave for college. She spends an afternoon at the lake with her friends then never shows up for work that evening and is never seen again. It is not until the next morning that her parents, and 15 year old sister, realize Kim is missing.
The book starts out like a m...more
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2 comments
Read in June, 2008
Kim Larsen is simply enjoying the summer before she heads off to college - just an all-american teen. Then one day Kim fails to show up for her shift at the local Conoco, and the nightmare for her family begins. The police think she has run away, but her family knows better. They organize search parties and television appearances to bring attention to Kim and her plight. But as the weeks wear on, and the tip line brings in one dead end after another, Kim's family has to face the fear that th...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Melissa by:
First Look recommends it for: people who like realistic fiction
I read this book as an ARC. I really enjoyed the author's writing style (very detailed and realistic), but found the characters to be lacking. It is the story of a recent high school graduate who goes missing during the summer before she leaves for college. The way the book is structured is that the situation unfolds through the perspectives of her family and closest friends. I found this technique quite novel and interesting, though in the end it just didn't do it for me. I just couldn't relat...more
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Read in May, 2008
recommended to Pamela by:
BN Firstlook
I should clarify my 2 star rating. I only rate this 2 stars simply because these types of story lines are very hard for me to deal with. I rarely tend to like them. I had the same type reaction to Lovely Bones. This was read as an ARC for BN bookclub. The story is less about the one who goes missing but focus purely on those the missing leaves behind. The writing was straightforward (always a big hit with me) and easy to read. It seemed like there were many subtle meanings behind many of the pas...more
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Read in June, 2008
recommended to Julia by:
B&N First Look Book Club
O'Nan has written a wonderfully moving story about a family dealing with the aftermath of their daughter's disappearance. Unfortunately, Kim has turned eighteen just before graduating from highschool and when she turns up missing after a day at the lake with friends, the police are at first unsure how to categorize her disappearance. Eventually, her car is found, foul play may be the next assumption. The real story, however, is about her parents, Ed and Fran and little sister Lindsay and how ...more
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recommended to Tattered Cover by:
Jackie
This book is due out in November (perk of being a bookseller--Advance Readers Copies or galleys). It's about a family whose teenage daughter goes missing one day. This would be an intense book anyway, but was exceptionally so for me because I am from a small town in Ohio much like the setting in this book. I knew, or was, like the kids and teenagers portrayed in it. I have friends who could easily be these parents--or could have ended up like them myself. It really made me shiver in a "...more
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