Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Among the Missing

by Dan Chaon (Goodreads Author)

4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 · rating details · 1,157 ratings · 137 reviews

In this haunting, bracing new collection, Dan Chaon shares stories of men, women, and children who live far outside the American Dream, while wondering which decision, which path, or which accident brought them to this place. Chaon mines the psychological landscape of his characters to dazzling effect. Each story radiates with sharp humor, mystery, wonder, and startling co...more

Paperback, 288 pages

Published January 29th 2002 by Ballantine Books (first published 2001)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri

Best Reading for the Contemporary Writer

13th out of 83 books — 127 voters

Short Stories for the Night Stand by Debra Wattes

The Complete Stories by Flannery O'Connor

Best Short Story Collections

295th out of 379 books — 242 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 2,588)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Mar 17, 2009 Brenda Pike rated it 2 of 5 stars

A blurb on the front cover by Lorrie Moore says these stories are funny, but I don't find them so at all. They were too melancholy and disturbing for me. (And if you know my penchant for melancholy, disturbing stories, you know that's saying something.) In an author interview at the back of the book Dan Chaon uses as an example of humor a scene where a child doesn't understand what's going on at a wake and spends the entire time pretending that the yolk of a hard-boiled egg is his eye, while eve...more

1 like · like · see review

Nov 04, 2012 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Among the Missing is a collection that reminds me why I dislike short stories as a genre. Characters are introduced, developed, and then the story ends. I enjoyed the collection because it holds together thematically very well. The plot sequence of a disappeared body frames a discussion of how we lose track of ourselves over our lifetime, how we lose connections with those we purport to love.

The story “Here’s a Little Something to Remember Me By,” particularly interested me in the way it weaves...more

1 like · like · see review

May 30, 2012 Scott Rhee rated it 4 of 5 stars

"Among the Missing" is Dan Chaon's second collection of short stories and the first book of his I have read. I once read a creepy little story of his called "The Bees" in a contemporary horror anthology. It stood out because of its incredibly disturbing subject matter (spousal abuse) and horrific imagery of a man who literally can't escape his past. The story haunted me for weeks, and thinking about it now, it still does. The stories in this collection are much less horrific, but they still mana...more "Among the Missing" is Dan Chaon's second collection of short stories and the first book of his I have read. I once read a creepy little story of his called "The Bees" in a contemporary horror anthology. It stood out because of its incredibly disturbing subject matter (spousal abuse) and horrific imagery of a man who literally can't escape his past. The story haunted me for weeks, and thinking about it now, it still does. The stories in this collection are much less horrific, but they still manage to disturb. You can't walk away from a Dan Chaon story without feeling slightly unhinged. The stories in "Among the Missing" involve characters of all ages, from all walks of life, from different socio-economic backgrounds, but the one thing they all have in common is denial. They are all in denial about something: failing marriages, mental illness, bad parenting, being sexually molested as a child, hatred of one's family, life-threatening diseases. They are the subtle everyday denials that, I think, everyone at some point suffers from, the kind of small (but not insignificant) denials that we hide from our loved ones and co-workers that still enable us to function in our everyday lives, just not to our full potential. Chaon writes beautifully, and, thankfully, he lightens the load of such powerhouse emotional stories with some humor. Granted, it is extremely subtle humor, so subtle that some people who have read Chaon's work can't seem to find it, they are too overwhelmed by the tragedy. The humor is there, though. It may be of the dark "gallows" variety, but it's there. Among my favorites in this collection (although all 12 of the short stories are brilliant): "Safety Man", in which a widowed mother of two girls finds solace and protection from a blow-up doll that her husband bought her as a joke not long before his untimely death; "Here's a Little Something to Remember Me By", in which a man is forever haunted by the disappearance of his best friend from grade school and an incident that occurred in the park that he is unable to share with anyone, even his wife; "Late for the Wedding", in which a young college-age man starts up a relationship with a much older professor, who, as it turns out, has a son that is close enough in age with the young man to be more than awkward. If you can appreciate the efficiency of prose in the art-form of the short story and/or just like great writing, you may want to check out Dan Chaon.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Mar 10, 2012 Matthew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Oh, boy. Can't believe I'm just getting to Chaon now. What a slick writer. His characters are comprehensively complete; his prose is tight and rife with humor and elevated diction without going over your head; his plots are compelling (and very well-plotted). Just a wonderful collection.

My favorite pieces were, "I Demand to Know Where You're Taking Me," "Big Me," "Among the Missing," "Passengers, Remain Calm," and "Safety Man," though I wouldn't say any of the pieces were weak.

If I had to make a...more

1 like · like · see review

May 14, 2010 Joanna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 100-books-2010, short-stories

This is the 39th book that I have read for the 100 Book Challenge this year, and also the best.

The blurbs on the back cover alluded to the stories being a bit dark, somewhat edgy, made mention of the way they dwell on the alienation of the current American experience. They sounded, in short, like kind of a downer. It is hard, then, to explain how much pleasure I felt in reading them.

I think that Chaon's real strength as a writer is that he connects with something deeply human in his work. Many...more This is the 39th book that I have read for the 100 Book Challenge this year, and also the best.

The blurbs on the back cover alluded to the stories being a bit dark, somewhat edgy, made mention of the way they dwell on the alienation of the current American experience. They sounded, in short, like kind of a downer. It is hard, then, to explain how much pleasure I felt in reading them.

I think that Chaon's real strength as a writer is that he connects with something deeply human in his work. Many of these stories are about the shape of absence, which is a theme that is woven throughout the book. But it is also about the bonds that form between distinctly seperate human beings. It is about the sameness of brothers, the genial estrangements that exist between husbands and wives and parents and children, the way wagon wheel tracks in the Nebraska dirt can represent two people holding hands over divergent paths.

It is also about the active interior lives of characters who appear to be not doing much. An argument could be made that as much action in these stories takes place inside the characters heads as it does without, but you never feel that as a drawback. The book opens with a quote from Raymond Carver, "Whatever this was all about, it was not a vain attempt - journey." And that encapsulates the spirit of this collection - that it is not any particular destination that matters, it is the journey of these characters over the course of their lives, and our ability to walk with them for the moments captured in these pages which makes the work extraordinary.

The characters are so well crafted and believable, you never doubt that they have existed before you encounter them, and that they go on after their particular story is concluded. They never feel cliched, or clunky, or too much the same. Under different circumstances, I might feel underwhelmed by Chaon's tendency to leave big questions unanswered, but the mystery of many of these stories is a large part of their charm. He is a master of the art of leaving the reader wanting more, to know more, to feel more, to have things wrap up in a tidy way in the final paragraph. But he resists this impulse every time. It is like watching one of the great early season episodes of the X-Files, where some questions are answered, but the answers seem to invoke a larger sense of the unknown. His narrators are also wonderfully unreliable. They lie to other characters. They lie to themselves. You get the distinct feeling that they could be misleading you, the omnipotent reader.

Two of my favorite stories in the book were "I Demand to Know Where You're Taking Me," and "Big Me."

In "I Demand to Know Where You're Taking Me," the narrator is forced to take care of a bird belonging to her brother-in-law, who has recently been sent to prison for a series of rapes. The bird is a macaw, a talking parrot, who mimics the words and phrases of a deeply disturbed man. One theme in this story is the extensive fraternal similarity between her husband and his brother. There are times that the reader wonders who exactly the bird is parroting. The bird itself is a terrific counterpoint to the silence that exists between the central couple as the crimes of the brother-in-law begin to take up more and more space in their lives. This story is also a good example of the unanswered question: Was the brother in law guilty? It seems likely, but you don't know for sure.

"Big Me" is a story that is, at first glance, mainly about the power of a child's imagination. It is a recounting, from an adult perspective, the elaborate detective fantasies of his youth. He details the imaginary city his detective alter ego worked in, the darker layer of crime and rascality lurking below the surface of his physical world. It is only as the story develops that you begin to see how this facade of comic book sleuthing has emerged as a escapist coping mechanism that the narrator developed in response to his parents' alcoholism. This is also one of the most thought provoking stories, because the narrator - as an adult - suffers from black outs. Is it because he has a drinking problem as well? Or is there, as is vaguely hinted, a more sinister explanation?

My other favorite story was "Passengers, Remain Calm." This was a more upbeat story about the relationship between a young man and his nephew, about the mundane disasters that strike every day, and the ability to weather them as gracefully and humanely as possible.

Like with any collection, some stories do read as weaker links overall. I was not deeply impressed with Prodigal, Falling Backwards, or the Eillustrated Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom. But the stories that I did like, I feel as though I will be thinking about a long time. They are good enough to change your mental landscape a little, which is an impressive accomplishment to render in the confines of such limited spaces.

(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Aug 06, 2012 Sheri rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: addiction, poverty-class-issues

So clearly the question is, if I don't like short stories why do I keep reading collections of short stories. Let me explain as quickly as I can. I heard of Dan Chaon's "great" book Among the Missing and so I reserved it from my library without realizing it was a book of short stories. At the same time, Await Your Reply (a novel) was available (furthering my expectation that Chaon was a novelist). I read Await Your Reply and it wasn't great, but it was okay (and it wasn't what had been recommend...more So clearly the question is, if I don't like short stories why do I keep reading collections of short stories. Let me explain as quickly as I can. I heard of Dan Chaon's "great" book Among the Missing and so I reserved it from my library without realizing it was a book of short stories. At the same time, Await Your Reply (a novel) was available (furthering my expectation that Chaon was a novelist). I read Await Your Reply and it wasn't great, but it was okay (and it wasn't what had been recommended after all, so I wasn't so bitter) and then later (before Among the Missing had come in) I found Fitting Ends and checked it out (again without realizing it was a book of short stories until I started reading it). While I was reading Fitting Ends, Among the Missing finally came in on reserve. I was not a huge fan of Fitting Ends (for a few reasons, read that review if you want info), but again it was not the one that was recommended and now I had Among the Missing in hand and so...I read it.

In Among the Missing, Chaon again deals with the complexities of family relationships, addiction, loneliness, and (obviously) loss. The loneliness theme (especially paired with the white trash, intelligent reader) I found particularly compelling for my own personal reasons. In Big Me, the very astute 8 year thinks : "If no one knows you, then you are no one." and Colleen in Looking Backward "she wonders if she will ever not be lonely. Perhaps, she thinks, being lonely is a part of her, like the color of her eyes and skin, something in her genes." All of the characters in these stories have secrets or social awkwardness (usually because they are intelligent, but not good at relating to people) and so wallow in their own lonliness to some extent. Those that seem to be the most "normal" or "well adjusted" turn out to still be harboring something (such as Tom in Something to Remember Me By After I'm Gone).

I also enjoyed his take on parenthood. My mother-in-law once said that parenthood is 9 parts boredom coupled with 1 part complete terror. Chaon deals with parenting well in Prodigal: "It doesn't matter what you do. In the end, you are going to be judged, and all the times that you're not at your most dignified are the ones that will be recalled in all their vivid, heartbreaking detail." and "I could actually feel the goodness moving out of me, the way you can feel blood moving when you blush or grow pale. 'Come on, guys' I said, 'let's not fight. This is fun, isn't it? Let's have fun.' But my gentle voice was just an imitation," to describe the moment when instead of enjoying his children's company he is moved to parent-mediator. Lots of the other stories talk about the relationship between parent and adult child and the loss that arises when they don't really know each other (bringing up the slightly trite question of can we ever know anyone?), but Prodigal was the only one that dealt with parent and young child relationship.

For a collection of short stories it held together remarkably well. I won't repeat my complaint about short stories (see review of Fitting Ends if you want it), but besides that it was a good book. All of the stories featured some missing person...some were dead, some were actually missing, and some were just ideas of people who never were (but that of course made them missing). These characters were still similar (both to each other and occasionally to some of the characters from Fitting Ends and Await Your Reply...lots of lawyers, a few realtors, readers, drunks, and general white trash sprinkled throughout), but at least they weren't in the same small town (although we still get a lot of rural NE...write what you know Danny boy) and they were more complex and compelling that those found in Fitting Ends. Overall, I think each of the stories managed to say something unique, but similar to the others. (less)

like · see review

Jun 17, 2012 Derek rated it 4 of 5 stars

There's a heartbreaking moment in "Passengers, Remain Calm," my favorite story in Dan Chaon's Among the Missing, when the character Hollis is walking with his young nephew, F. D., whose father has left him and is likely not returning. They are at a carnival and pass a fortune-teller, who is trying to convince Hollis he should have his fortune read:

[The fortune teller] smiles broadly. "Your son thinks you should," she says, and addresses F. D. "Don't you think your father should know his fortune

...more There's a heartbreaking moment in "Passengers, Remain Calm," my favorite story in Dan Chaon's Among the Missing, when the character Hollis is walking with his young nephew, F. D., whose father has left him and is likely not returning. They are at a carnival and pass a fortune-teller, who is trying to convince Hollis he should have his fortune read:

[The fortune teller] smiles broadly. "Your son thinks you should," she says, and addresses F. D. "Don't you think your father should know his fortune?"

Hollis laughs. "You're no psychic!" he says. "He's not my son!" And then he regrets saying this: The woman looks nonplussed, and F. D. seems to flinch a little.

I literally had to look away from the page when I read this. I had to stop reading for a moment. The sense of shame is palpable. He said the wrong thing, and there's nothing he can do about it. And all we get from F. D. is that awful flinch, and the volumes it speaks. Who knows what he is really feeling.

There are many such moments like this in Among the Missing: places of such (I hate to overuse this word) raw, human feeling that have been captured on the page with enviable clarity. Things done that can't be undone, or said that can't be unsaid.

What I like too about this collection is Chaon's style. Space breaks occur on nearly every other page, which is a method he retains consistently throughout most of the stories. I could see how some readers might see this as disjointed or attention deficit-y, but the fact remains that he's able to do so much in the few-paragraph-long sections that the breaks seem sensible, even necessary. What's more, the breaks lend gravity to lines of dialog or gestures that might be glossed over otherwise. I'd be curious to read his other work (Among the Missing is my first experience with Chaon's writing) to see if this is something he continues elsewhere. Here, at least, it worked really well.

I also admire his decision to trust in the power of ambiguity: these stories are not tidy or pointed or clearly beholden to some message (philosophical, political, et cetera, et cetera) to be understood by the audience. Things happen here that can't be dispensed with or easily explained. And of course that's reflective of real life, too, where plenty of things occur that we can't quite get a fix on, even years or decades later. It takes a lot of bravery, I think, to depict that in fiction, and a whole hell of a lot of skill to do it in such a way that works as wonderfully as it does in this collection. In the interview with Chaon in the Reader's Guide section at the back of the book (the DVD bonus features of the book world, eh?), Chaon references Walker Percy's distinction between the creator and the receiver, as outlined in his essay "The Loss of the Creature," a distinction that Chaon rejects. And it's that trust in his reader that allows him to saturate his stories with these mysteries. And it makes for some excellent, excellent reading.

If perhaps events or actions remain delightfully opaque, that opacity is buoyed by an extreme clarity of both physical description and the characters' emotional lives. In "Prodigal," a father unguardedly shares his feelings on fatherhood and son-hood with such fearlessness that it's difficult to read. As a boy, the narrator watched his father hit his mother (this having happened only once) and he has to resist the urge to laugh, because he believes he sees how inconsequential their argument was:

And so, in giddy and adrenaline-fueled shock, I clamped my hand over my mouth. I saw my father's face twist as he turned to me, and I wonder what he thought I was thinking. His eyes widened and his mouth moved. We looked at one another; I think now that he hoped that I could save him.

I almost feel guilty sharing these sections of Among the Missing, worried that I'm ruining the best parts of the collection. But these are only two examples among a wealth of them. This collection reasserts the power of the short form.(less)

like · see review

Oct 26, 2012 Patrizia rated it 5 of 5 stars

Think of Dan Chaon as the literary lovechild of Lorrie Moore and Stephen King. This book works on every conceivable level including the thematic -- the protagonists of these 12 short stories are stumbling through their lives after something essential has been taken away, they are "among the missing."

It's my habit to read reviews of books & films I like a lot. Over and over again, the reviews of Among the Missing compare Chaon to Raymond Carver. The two write about the same landscape, but I...more

like · see review

Feb 24, 2013 Shana Kennedy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Brilliant short stories. Although in general I think I am not a short-story person - I like longer processes, and for things to get resolved by the end of the story - there is no question that Dan Chaon is an immensely talented writer. My favorites were "Burn With Me", and "I Demand To Know Where You're Taking Me". Incredibly rich. "Among the Missing", "Here's A Little Something to Remember Me By" and "Late for the Wedding" were also excellent. The one that many critics seem to have loved, "Big...more

like · see review

Jul 24, 2012 Jason Weidemann rated it 5 of 5 stars

Dan Chaon's collection is one I return to every couple of years, as the stories collected here change their valences as I grow older and as the relationships between myself and family members mature and change themselves. Chaon's stories, often set in the blank spaces of the Midwest, are populated by fathers and mothers, grown children and young adults fumbling toward some kind of understanding of their place in each others' lives. The relationships he presents are curdled by misunderstanding an...more

like · see review

Dec 09, 2010 eric Brown rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: literature-modern-lit

I read this collection of very short stories one story at a time on my 10 minute breaks at work. It was painful. Mr. Chaon can definitely write, but here he chose to write way too many short little tableaux. In the forward to Stephen King's new short story collection; Full Dark, No Stars; King says that while most modern fiction writers depict extraordinary people in ordinary situations, he chooses to depict ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Chaon does them all one better by depicting...more

like · see review

Aug 26, 2011 Anne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Nice try, graphic designer of this "whimsical" cover that suggests domestic airiness. And Lorrie Moore, for suggesting these stories are the least bit ha-ha funny. They are, in a mordant Padgett Powell sort of way. But the hand-drawn bird-cage is actually occupied by a macaw named Wild Bill, left at the home of the main character to irritate her with curses and taunts drawn from the playbook of her too-confessional brother in law Wendell, in jail for serial rape. I would have given this "five,"...more

like · see review

Mar 23, 2010 Don rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: general-fiction

This book is a collection of short stories, probably about ten or so, and each story is worthy. I am always amazed every time I read a book of short stories the depth and development of the characters. Possibly because there is not so much onus on pushing a story forward, but rather in finding meaning in smaller, daily, mundane activities, these stories tend to allow for greater depth to the characters than many novels. The other thing I really enjoy about short stories, and about Chaon's collec...more

like · see review

Nov 23, 2009 Pam rated it 5 of 5 stars

What an outstanding collection! The stories on their own are breathtaking. Each plunges you into the middle of the characters' lives, into a situation that is seemingly about one event, but by the end you've crossed decades or state lines to come to an unexpected conclusion. And as a collection, this one soars. It's not weighted down by a particular theme, nor does it feel as though mismatched stories were lumped together. The writing is superb, the characters become friends you'll be sad to see...more

like · see review

Aug 13, 2012 Kirstie rated it 4 of 5 stars

So many reviews to catch up on from my summer reading. I read this one a couple of months ago and just found it again today on a shelf. Dan Chaon writes about people who are lost and have disappeared in this one and gives us glimpses into what it's also like to have someone go missing. It's interesting how Chaon can take such a dark subject and make a sort of sense of it so that it has it's own language and texture. I never really felt as horrified by these stories as I thought I should and that...more So many reviews to catch up on from my summer reading. I read this one a couple of months ago and just found it again today on a shelf. Dan Chaon writes about people who are lost and have disappeared in this one and gives us glimpses into what it's also like to have someone go missing. It's interesting how Chaon can take such a dark subject and make a sort of sense of it so that it has it's own language and texture. I never really felt as horrified by these stories as I thought I should and that made me feel a little odd, actually. But there's a thick poetic reality in some of his writing, too. There's some notions about personal identity here, too, though not as much as in his novel, Await Your Reply. Still, we get a real sense of his characters as people as well as their inner monologues or thought processes which helps us as readers to both feel for them and understand them. He also does well to explore the psyche of people in a variety of backgrounds. This is a worthwhile collection of short stories!

Memorable quotes:

pg. 93 "Why do we think that, we parents? Why do I think it even now, standing in the dark, watching my sons sleeping? Save me, save me, I think. And yet they can't, of course. Already I am halfway gone. Even from the beginning, when their infant's eyes begin to focus on our floating face, the way a cat will watch the moon, you are already a ghost of yourself."

pg. 107 "Here is the beautiful carousel. The horses are all brightly colored, posed in forms of agitation. They life their red mouths as if calling out, their legs curved into gallops, their manes whispering in an imaginary wind."

pg. 133 "I saw it as a scene in a Bergman film-a kind of dreamy blur around the edges, the water a certain undersea color, like a reflection through green glass."

pg. 141 "I remember the time my mother tried to kill herself. o one ever spoke of it as such, but at that age I was old enough to put it together. I recall the ambulance coming to our house, the men trying to put her on a stretcher and her just aware enough to struggle with them-flailing her arms when t hey lifted her, her mumbled protests through lips that seemed clay like and unnatural, moving like a badly dubbed Japanese film."

(less)

1 like · like · see review

Jan 28, 2012 Ali rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

4.9.
So this book is about as close to perfect as it is possible to be without actually being perfect, and I loved it, but I'm pretty sure everyone who talks to me on a somewhat regular basis is going to hate it. They won't hate it because the stories are bad, though the definition of bad is subjective, and I can see why they wouldn't work for some people; nor because most of these people do not read short stories, which is actually the case (I have maybe two Goodreads friends who regularly read...more 4.9.
So this book is about as close to perfect as it is possible to be without actually being perfect, and I loved it, but I'm pretty sure everyone who talks to me on a somewhat regular basis is going to hate it. They won't hate it because the stories are bad, though the definition of bad is subjective, and I can see why they wouldn't work for some people; nor because most of these people do not read short stories, which is actually the case (I have maybe two Goodreads friends who regularly read short stories, and I can't think of anyone to whom I talk off of GR who reads them); and not because the subject matter is too complex for their tiny brains (it isn't.) They're going to hate this book because it has successfully made me just a little more annoying by virtue of having been added to the ever growing list of books which I will remember long after I have finished them, which leads to shameless fanboyism, which in turn leads to endless praise and extolment, and I know how annoying that shit is, because I have been around blind people with iPhones, and, in the moments before I black out due to my rage and wake up several hours later in a house I've never seen before with blood all over my clothes and a dead man in a bed next to me with the broken off handle of a tennis racket stuck in his neck, I just want them to shut up about how great it is.

But it's true. I don't think I'll ever really forget any of these stories, which is saying a lot, considering how many books in general, and short story collections in particular I read each year. For the most part, I forget the details of what I have read within maybe two years of my having read it, though as of the beginning of 2011 that is quickly changeing, mainly because my choice of books is changeing, and includes few, if any, forgettable fluff novels which can be read in a day or two, despite their being four hundred pages. It is now comprised of ambitious, sprawling, and experimental books that simply cannot be forgotten, no matter how hard I try, which also explains why I read almost 250 books in 2010, and just under 150 in 2011. *1

As I mentioned in my status update near the beginning of the book, most impressive is Chaon's ability to somehow pack the characterisation and plot of a novel into just fifteen or twenty pages. Every word and sentence counts, and reveals a little more about all of the characters, which makes the storeies have more of an impact than if, for instance, he paid attention only to the main character, and allowed everyone else to be an unrealistic caricature, or put all his energy into the background characters, leaving the protagonist as a shadowy figure who doesn't really do much for the story, both of which I see all the time in short stories.

But it isn't just characterisation. If that were all, the stories here would be really fucking good, but not exactly perfect. Chaon pays equal attention to atmosphere. There is a sense of loss and loneliness that I have seldom seen so well developed in short fiction, enhanced by the slightest sense of the supernatural which pervades through these stories. Children are estranged from their parents, from their brothers and uncles, close family members and friends commit suicide, die unexpectedly, or disappear suddenly and are never heard from again, and I always got the feeling that, though they never mentioned it outright, his characters are always desperately reaching out to fill the void left by the people they have lost. As previously mentioned, though nothing overtly supernatural happens here, there are many ghosts in this book. The stories which mention someone who has died or disappeared contain constant references to that person when they were still around, and their spirits and personalities are reflected in the people they left behind.

All of these elements come together and build towards a climax near the end of most of the stories, a point where the characters come to a realisation about themselves and the world around them, which, while predictable, is the major payoff to reading each story, because this realisation is described with such detail that I could put myself in their place and understand how they felt. And often what they feel isn't all that life-changeing. In stories of this sort by other authors, this moment of truth is used to hint at the possibility that because of what they know now, their lives are going to change, and they will be different people from now on. In this case, sometimes the only thing the characters realize is that their lives are irrevocably fucked up, and that they're going to have to make the best of what's left of their lives with the few assets they still have, which is similar to life in a lot of ways, and thus contributes to the realism of the stories.

This book is, I think, best enjoyed slowly, preferably with another, longer novel at hand so you can skip between the two. Because of their constant theme of isolation and grief, reading all the stories at once can grate on some readers' nerves, or just depress them. But if enjoyed propperly, I don't think many will be able to forget the experience.

1. One way I can tell my literary tastes are morphing into something completely new is that I no longer care as much about the number of books I've read. I like to have that number around, just out of curiosity, and because I have a strange fascination with statistics, which means I will run the number of books and pages I've read through a calculator and analyse the hell out of them, but I am not frustrated if I did not reach some arbitrary goal which was chosen so I could brag to friends about what a quick reader I am, because these days, quality matters more than quantity, and 5 books by Pynchon or Wallace or Dick or Gass are worth 50 mindless mystery or suspense novels, just because of the way they changed me as a person, and made me a better reader.(less)

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 04, 2011 Ann Douglas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, short-stories, reviewed, read-in-2011, favorites

A powerful collection of short stories that explores troubled relationships, unresolved grief, and other emotionally charged territory. The images in the story are often grisly and graphic: readers with tender sensibilities, be forewarned. In an author interview at the end of the book, Chaon explains his tendency to go for the image that sticks with you long after you wish it would fade away:

"To me, American life itself is often fairly haunted, uncanny, unsettling in both its large events and sm...more

1 like · like · see review

Dec 24, 2010 Lynn rated it 4 of 5 stars

The first story or two told me that I would hate this book. They seemed silly, trivial, beneath me as a reader. Had it not been assigned reading, I would have thrown this book aside in disgust and forgotten it instantly. But I kept reading, and before long, I found myself being drawn in. The cumulative power of this collection is difficult to explain. While the characters and plots of the stories don't intersect, there's an overarching creepiness that ties the book together. People vanish and ar...more

like · see review

Jun 22, 2010 Michael rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you like writing so crystal clear it disappears into the story, and plots executed with such precision that you can measure them with a compass or protractor or other instrument from high school geometry buried in a desk drawer at your parents' house, I think you'll like this book. This reader, though, is partial to a balance between Chaon's style here and writing that's writerly--like in the sense that Van Gogh's paintings are painterly, and shit.

And while I prefer to be grounded in the real...more

like · see review

Jul 10, 2009 Alexis rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2009

My mom gave me Dan Chaon's first novel this year, and I loved it. So I decided to read some of his short stories as I felt that his novel was very influenced by the short story form.

I recommend this book for anyone who is a lover of short stories. Chaon creates brilliant characters and interesting scenarios with the kind of spare writing that I love. I'd add him to the list of people I consider masters of the short story. Looking forward to his second novel, which comes out this year.

1 like · like · see review

Jan 17, 2010 Nicole rated it 2 of 5 stars

Dan Chaon writes well and I have enjoyed some of his other books. This one, however, was just depressing. All the stories featured characters that were aimless and nothing really happened to them. Some of the stories had vulgar language; most had people I really didn't want to spend time with. I only finished it because I kept hoping it would get better, that at least one of the stories would touch me. They didn't.

like · see review

Sep 13, 2011 Jordan rated it 4 of 5 stars

Chaon is one of the more unappreciated contemporary writers, and this collection is fantastic, with not a bad story among the bunch. The big theme here is identity. Like Chaon himself, many of the protagonists in these tales are adopted. Ghosted by counterlives, they launch off on existential quests, wrestling with family and questions of nature vs. nurture, in tales that are fast-moving and strongly plotted.

like · see review

Jul 04, 2011 Shoshana Sumrall rated it 5 of 5 stars

I've read this book cover to cover twice now, and find it haunting. All of the stories are a sort of echo of a person who has become absent, in one way or another. The best two stories, in my opinion, are "I Demand to Know Where You're Taking Me" and "Here's a Little Something to Remember Me By." Each story is filled with an ache, or an echo, of fear, longing, or both. Read this book.

like · see review

Jun 05, 2012 Terri Jacobson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-stories

An excellent book of short stories by a master of the genre. I totally agree with this review on the back cover: "These are stories with dark edges, peopled by characters who face the limits of rage and despair. But in the midst of turmoil, Dan Chaon holds fast to his own sense of the whimsical and the absurd. He sees people with delight; he offers us visions of hope and awe through his own fearless compassion."

like · see review

Apr 12, 2010 Julien rated it 4 of 5 stars

A good collection of often sad, occasionally funny stories, written in Chaon's unadorned style.

I realize upon reading this that the covers publishers have given Chaon's books strike me as misleading. The birdcage on this cover and the tied-to-each-other shoes on You Remind Me of Me make them look far more "whimsical" than they actually are. Chaon can be funny, but it's the sort of humor that comes out of despair and the absurdity of bleak situations, not whimsy.

like · see review

Mar 16, 2013 Michiel rated it 2 of 5 stars

Recommended to Michiel by: goodreads

Shelves: short-stories, 21st-century

I thought this writer was an excellent writer. That is good. I hate bad writing. The stories, though, I didn't like. It seems that in most of them, the protagonist was unlikable, or did unlikable things, or lead an unlikable life. I just don't want to read about stuff like that.

It's not that I need all sunshine when I read something, but I don't want to read about, basically, trashy lives, bad choices, lack of integrity in all things.

My other beef with Mr. Chaon is his depiction of mothers. In a...more

like · see review

Feb 16, 2013 Katherine Pearl rated it 5 of 5 stars

Perhaps the most aptly named collection of short stories I've ever encountered. All of the characters seem lost, often because they’ve lost someone important to them. My favorite of the bunch, “Here’s a Little Something to Remember Me By,” is a disturbing account of childhood trauma and adult guilt.

like · see review

Feb 09, 2013 Nathan James rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013, short-stories

I enjoy Dan Chaon's writing for his story ideas and this collection of short stories does not disappoint. A boy snoops on his curious neighbor; a woman cares for her brother-in-law's parrot while he is in jail; a blow-up doll is used as a crime deterrent for a divorced woman. Man, I wish I'd thought of those.

My only criticism and the reason for only three stars is that the tone and the set-up for the majority of these stories felt very similar. I remember my favorite stories: Big Me and Here's a...more

like · see review

Dec 26, 2008 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: shortstories

This book grew on me. At first I wasn't sure what had inspired all the glowing reviews, but by the end I was wishing that the book was twice as long. The stories had a strong cumulative effect, a "the-whole-is-greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts" impact. Chaon's depictions of fraught family relationships were particularly well done.

like · see review

Sep 11, 2009 Luke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Dan Chaon is currently my favorite short story writer, and this collection of twelve stories brings to life a cast of memorable characters, each of whom struggles with some loss or faces the repercussions of some relationship that isn't quite right. These are people you'll recognize—the crazy aunt no one in your family likes to mention, the quiet kid in your fifth grade class you always wished you'd talked to. Chaon is a masterful storyteller who has tremendous empathy for his characters, howeve...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 86 87 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (7)

More editions...

Genres

Short Stories

101 users

Literary Fiction

5 users

Novels

3 users

Short Stories > Short Story Collection

2 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Dan Chaon

Dan Chaon is the author of Among the Missing, which was a finalist for the National Book Award and You Remind Me of Me, which was named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, and Entertainment Weekly, among other publications. Chaon’s fiction has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Best Ame...more

More about Dan Chaon...

Books by Dan Chaon

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Among the Missing

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

Quotes from Among the Missing

“It doesn't matter what you do. In the end, you are going to be judged, and all the times that you're not at your most dignified are the ones that will be recalled in all their vivid, heartbreaking detail. And then of course these things will be distorted and exaggerated and replayed over and over, until eventually they turn into the essence of you: your cartoon. ” — 19 people liked it

“You can go on like this for a very long time, and no one will notice. You keep thinking you're going to hit some sort of bottom, but I'm here to tell you: There is no bottom. ” — 16 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Among the Missing
avg rating	preview: Among the Missing Goodreads rating: 4.06 (1157 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88247.Among_the_Missing?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1339702883l/88247.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/88247.Among_the_Missing?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Among the Missing by Dan Chaon[/url]

Among the Missing

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website