Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Feb 11, 2011

Jim rated it:

Maggie O'Farrell's new novel asks the question: What do you do if the local psychiactric hospital calls to tell you you've got a great aunt you never knew you had?

Iris Lockhart doesn't want to bring a lady who may or may not be crazy into her house, but with her parents gone and her grandmother, Kitty, suffering from alzheimers disease, she hasn't got much family left and Aunt Esme throws everything Iris thinks she knows into question.

It's a compelling story told from a More...

4 comments like (7 people liked it)

Oct 29, 2007

Anna rated it:

This book just ends. That's it. You have to really use your imagination to understand what happens. The story was good, I just would like it to have ended different. And there were a couple of subplots that did not play out, even though the author could have done something with them.

5 comments like (17 people liked it)

Jan 26, 2009

Sonia rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Sep 06, 2008

Lindsay rated it:

The human brain is a tricky thing and O'Farrell has provided readers with a fascinating look into the psyche of three women in "The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox." Iris learns of her great aunt's existence when the mental institution in which Esme has been living for the past 60 years contacts her about its upcoming closure. Her inability to go on living as though this woman never existed begins the unraveling of a dark family mystery that few could ever imagine possible.

A More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2010

Myra rated it:

I borrowed this book from my friend Tara, and was it ever a great recommendation!

The very nature of this novel makes it a hard one to do a review on without giving away the best parts of the book. As the story unfolds that surrounds Esme, Iris, and Kitty, the words and feelings have a way of touching the reader quite deeply. As I was making my way through this novel, there came a point where the story held me captive and pushed my emotions to the front, like nothing I've read in qu More...

6 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 12, 2008

Colleen rated it:

Locked up decades ago for such outlandish behavior as dancing, Esme Lennox is finally released when her asylum is shut down. Esme is thrust into the care of her grand-niece Iris, a modern young women whose struggle to overcome her "unnatural" love for her step-brother gives her more in common with Esme than either could imagine. As Iris tries to unravel the mystery of Esme's existence, she learns more (though ultimately not enough) about her hidden family history, information she never More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 12, 2007

Lisa rated it:

I'm having trouble summing up this book. It's very complex, it's horrifying and it's very, very sad.

Iris Lockhart starts getting phone calls one day from a mental institution named Cauldstone claiming that she is listed as the contact for one Esme Lennox - the sister of Iris' grandmother, Katherine (Kitty). Iris insists there must be a mistake, because Katherine never, ever mentioned having a sister. The paperwork proves it, however, and Iris is pretty much forced to take in this More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Nov 29, 2008

Jeanette rated it:

so this crazy flight attendant told me about this book and i got it from the book swap im a member of.

it took me a while to get into it because it's told from different peoples points of view- one being a schizophrenic twelve year old, one a 70 year old with alzheimers, and a 20 something year old.

basically the jest is that iris, the 20something gets a call saying that she needs to pick up her aunt from a psychiatric hospital which is closing down. iris has no knowledge More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 07, 2009

Nicole rated it:

My favorite book so far this year, and I have a feeling it will be one of the top three once 2009 comes to an end. A great book!
Interesting, intriguing, sad, suspenseful, shocking are some of the words I would use to describe this book...and the best part is that it all came perfectly together at the end. Definitely going to look into reading more by this author!

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Aug 18, 2009

bookczuk rated it:

It hinges on the reasons why Esme was incarcerated: she apparently was a spirited girl, who would rather read than pursue a husband. The ultimate sin that committed her was seemingly dancing in a negligee of her mother's, and becoming hysterical when caught by her parents doing so. Esme is "taken away" for a rest, but ends up being hidden away for much of the rest of her life. As the story unfolds, family secrets, betrayals, and the general stuff of human lives comes out.

More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Jun 13, 2011

Pamela rated it:

This is one of those stories that has all the components of greatness--a well-concieved, interesting trajectory, mystery, betrayal, tragedy, paralleling societal and family injustice and feminist themes. There are also some moments of lovely poetry in O'Farrell's writing style. I should have loved it, and I certainly gobbled it up, reading it much more voraciously than I usually read novels. But this novel is simply not fully formed, and therefore has left a number of reviewers unsatisfied. One More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 02, 2009

Chak rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2008

Roisin rated it:

I've just read this book in less than 24 hours on a work day which I think says a lot about it. Completely un-put-down-able [if there is such a word].
The story is obviously moving, this was never going to be a big surprise. I even knew the ending [due to an over-zealous review and accompanying feature when the hardback first came out] but this didn't spoil my enjoyment in anyway.
The unfinished sentences should get irritating but they just don't, they just make you more unable to put More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 17, 2010

Istop4books rated it:

Esme Lennox as a young girl reminded me of myself. Rebellious, independent, marching to a different drummer, running when she should be walking, fidgiting when she was expected to sit still, and in general not conforming to the strict social norms imposed by her mother. Events lead to Esme being put in an insane asylum supposedly for a brief period of time, and winds up staying there for 60 years, until the place closes and she's put in contact with her great niece, Iris. Iris had never heard of More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 28, 2008

Sasha rated it:

Outstanding book! Wanted to give it five stars but I was torn about the ending. On one hand it seemed to fit the book and on the other hand I felt like I wanted more.

This book reminds us just how many things in our lives we take for granted. This was a fascinating novel and I highly recommend it.

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 05, 2011

Julie rated it:

This is a fascinating book. I charged right through it and highly recommend it. The only thing keeping it from a 5 star rating was the ending. Whenever I have to read an ending several times and am still not 100% sure what happened, I just can't call it a perfect book.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 28, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

Started this book Friday evening and couldn't put it down. Beautifully written, haunting story line and completely engrossing. Told from the perspective of three women it took me some time to understand what was going on (one part is from the perspective of an Alzheimer's patient so her memories are quite erratic) but once I got the rhythm of the book I was completely riveted. I've read that some people didn't like the ending but I thought it was perfect. Books don't often surprise me with their More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 09, 2011

Carol rated it:

I ordered this book from the AWESOME Cuyahoga County Public Library after reading Lesley's review. I read it last night...couldn't put it down! It is not too many books that will keep me up after 10 on a school night. I liked this on many levels. The interesting twists of the story line, the commentary on treatment of women in the 20th century with regards to disposability and issues of mental health. Highly recommend.

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 05, 2007

Joy rated it:

This story of two women--Iris and her great-aunt Esme, is heartbreaking and beautiful all at the same time. At the beginning of the novel, Iris's story is not as compelling as her aunt's, but it picks up. This novel will make the women who read it grateful to live in a time where they have more independence and a chance to express themselves. And, if you have visited Edinburgh, Scotland, you will find yourself transported there again through the author's wonderful description of the city.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Cerys rated it:

I loved the way the story was told through Esme's memories, Kitty's ramblings and from Iris's modern day point of view. Esme's story is heartbreaking and, unfortunately, only too possible. My heart went out to her, locked up for over 60 years for nothing more than being different and the fact that she was unable to tell anyone she'd been raped. I also felt sorry for Kitty, seeing it as an opportunity to escape but then having to live not only with the memories of what she'd done to her sister bu More...

0 comments like

Jan 30, 2012

Katherine rated it:

It took me a very long time to get into this book. Although the plot is quite interesting in overview, there was something about this book that really made it difficult to grab my attention. Despite this barrier, the "Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox" held all the makings of a good read. A mystery, surrounded by tragedy, swallowed by betrayal. O'Farrell's style of writing was both eloquent and interesting, at times, as she was very descriptive of each new scene and character. However, the More...

0 comments like

Jan 20, 2012

Karen rated it:

This is the January selection for my Book Group, WOW...Women of Words. This book is a page-turner that I almost finished in one sitting. The writing is intense, engaging and many-sided. The voices of the characters are compelling because they often indirectly tell what has happened by "not telling" or "not finishing" a thought.

There is a wavery kind of parallel in the stories of Iris, the young main character, and the older woman, Esme. Is Iris, who is two gener More...

0 comments like

Dec 29, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

I picked this book up at a discount fair, and enjoyed it enough that I can call it money well spent. While most of what I have to say is redundant if you read any number of the reviews already written, I found the book heartbreaking. This book is the story of a young woman (Iris) who gets a call out of the blue that a great-aunt (Esme Lennox) she didn't know she had is about to be released from a mental institution which is being shut down. She is asked to take responsibility for this long-lost More...

0 comments like

Nov 27, 2011

Álfrún rated it:

This book was one of several that I am reading for a book discussion group and it seemed like it had a lot more promise when it was suggested as part of our reading list for this year. I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I found that I did when I finally finished it.

The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox takes place across between two countries, India and Scotland. Esme Lennox has always been an odd sort of girl in comparison with her sister Kitty. She does not behave in th More...

0 comments like

Oct 04, 2011

LindyLouMac rated it:

Very short and therefore for me anyway a quick read. Although it was an enjoyable read it is also disturbing. I know it is fiction but it left me wondering how families were able to treat members that did not conform to the norms of society in such a way. How an earth did they justify their actions.
Esme Lennox had a troubled childhood and had she been born in our modern day era she would certainly never have been treated in such an appalling way. She is sent to an asylum in the 1930’s by h More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 01, 2011

Georgina rated it:

I wish I could speak more highly of this book, as the subject matter is of important issues well known to contemporary society in an historic context, but still little discussed and dismissed as being of the past. Sadly, I believe attitudes to mental health, or, rather, acceptable behaviour in a societal framework, are still gendered. Perhaps for those new to, or uneducated in, feminist polemic it would be an eye opener, but apart from the rather trite ending, there are few surprises and nothing More...

0 comments like

Sep 30, 2011

Fabíola rated it:

LETRAS ILETRADAS:
http://letrasiletradas.blogspot.com/2011...

THE VANISHING ACT OF ESME LENNOX
Vanishing. Forgetfulness. Two words that share more than a suffix.

Forgetfulness can be expressed in many ways. It could be intentional, unintentional or even unconscious. The last is the most painful and it's called Alzheimer. To forget a moment, a place, a person, we block memories and even try to counteract the human brain.

The suffering of a forced forgett More...

0 comments like

Aug 25, 2011

Elizabeth added it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Jul 07, 2011

Krystal rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Jun 08, 2011

Bev rated it:

What would you do if you suddenly found out you had a relative of whom you had never heard? Someone who's very existence had been written out of the family history? And not only that this person exists, but that she has been kept in a mental institution and now needs a care-giver--and you're the one listed as the responsible individual in all the records. This is the dilemmma that faces Iris Lockhart. Iris owns her own vintage clothing shop and is trying to manage her own personal life when she More...

0 comments like