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Watch Me Disappear
Tina Humber is 40 and living in the States when a moment of panic about her 10 year-old daughter triggers the memory of her childhood friend, Mandy Baker, who went missing at the same age from the sleepy Cambridgeshire village where they grew up. As Tina replays events and the past comes back to life, she begins to suspect the awful truth of what happened to Mandy. But after so many years, will anyone believe what is based on nothing more than conjecture, intuition and fragments of memory? And even if she is able to placate the ghost of Mandy Baker, there will be profound consequences for the living, including herself.
Set against the backdrop of the waterlogged Fens, Jill Dawson's powerful new novel captures the mysteries of childhood, and that volatile transitional stage when girls become aware of their attractions -- but do not grasp the dangers.
Set against the backdrop of the waterlogged Fens, Jill Dawson's powerful new novel captures the mysteries of childhood, and that volatile transitional stage when girls become aware of their attractions -- but do not grasp the dangers.
260 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2006
7 people are currently reading
289 people want to read
About the author
Jill Dawson
42 books98 followersJill Dawson was born in Durham and grew up in Staffordshire, Essex and Yorkshire. She read American Studies at the University of Nottingham, then took a series of short-term jobs in London before studying for an MA in Writing at Sheffield Hallam University. In 1997 she was the British Council Writing Fellow at Amherst College, Massachussets.
Her writing life began as a poet, her poems being published in a variety of small press magazines, and in one pamphlet collection, White Fish with Painted Nails (1990). She won an Eric Gregory Award for her poetry in 1992.
She edited several books for Virago, including The Virago Book of Wicked Verse (1992) and The Virago Book of Love Letters (1994). She has also edited a collection of short stories, School Tales: Stories by Young Women (1990), and with co-editor Margo Daly, Wild Ways: New Stories about Women on the Road (1998) and Gas and Air: Tales of Pregnancy and Birth (2002). She is the author of one book of non-fiction for teenagers, How Do I Look? (1991), which deals with the subject of self-esteem.
Jill Dawson is the author of five novels: Trick of the Light (1996); Magpie (1998), for which she won a London Arts Board New Writers Award; Fred and Edie (2000); Wild Boy (2003); and most recently, Watch Me Disappear (2006). Fred and Edie is based on the historic murder trial of Thompson and Bywaters, and was shortlisted for the 2000 Whitbread Novel Award and the 2001 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Her next novel, The Great Lover, is due for publication in early 2009.
Jill Dawson has taught Creative Writing for many years and was recently the Creative Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. She lives with her family in the Cambridgeshire Fens.
Her writing life began as a poet, her poems being published in a variety of small press magazines, and in one pamphlet collection, White Fish with Painted Nails (1990). She won an Eric Gregory Award for her poetry in 1992.
She edited several books for Virago, including The Virago Book of Wicked Verse (1992) and The Virago Book of Love Letters (1994). She has also edited a collection of short stories, School Tales: Stories by Young Women (1990), and with co-editor Margo Daly, Wild Ways: New Stories about Women on the Road (1998) and Gas and Air: Tales of Pregnancy and Birth (2002). She is the author of one book of non-fiction for teenagers, How Do I Look? (1991), which deals with the subject of self-esteem.
Jill Dawson is the author of five novels: Trick of the Light (1996); Magpie (1998), for which she won a London Arts Board New Writers Award; Fred and Edie (2000); Wild Boy (2003); and most recently, Watch Me Disappear (2006). Fred and Edie is based on the historic murder trial of Thompson and Bywaters, and was shortlisted for the 2000 Whitbread Novel Award and the 2001 Orange Prize for Fiction.
Her next novel, The Great Lover, is due for publication in early 2009.
Jill Dawson has taught Creative Writing for many years and was recently the Creative Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. She lives with her family in the Cambridgeshire Fens.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews
January 15, 2023
I couldn't get into this book, sometimes I had no clue if it was the past or the present time that the story was told in. It made no sense and I had to put away after reading 100 pages. It was badly written in my opinion, not logical and had no story telling way. It is a shame because this idea could have been great. So there for 1 point.
August 18, 2015
Watch Me Disappear deals with some heavy topics - but that didn't stop me from being bored for pretty much the entire book. Usually, topics like these lure people in as they try to get into the minds of pedophiles and murderers - not to copy them, but to understand them.
This, however, was just slow, jumpy and had no real journey. The plot pyramid is a cliché, but it's a cliché because it works. I feel the author didn't even attempt to get this book to fit that mould and turned what could have been a great story, into a failure.
This, however, was just slow, jumpy and had no real journey. The plot pyramid is a cliché, but it's a cliché because it works. I feel the author didn't even attempt to get this book to fit that mould and turned what could have been a great story, into a failure.
October 28, 2023
It was confusing at times, the mother and wife was very mixed up. The father daughter relationship was trying but enjoyed seeing them grow together. The daughter discovered she was gay, a friend pointed it out and then the friend announced it at school. The mother deserted a baby 25 years ago, and now she is walking out on her present family
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January 11, 2009Watch Me Disappear, by Jill Dawson. A.
narrated by Jillie Bond, produced by Isis, downloaded from audible.com.
This is a very disturbing book, but well written and extremely well narrated by Jillie Bond through Isis. I was able to download it from audible though and not spend the fortune it would have cost to get it from Isis.
Tina, now a marine biologist living in America and married to a
n internist, is suddenly reminded of her past. She is diving in the sea with her husband and ten-year-old daughter, when a shark almost attacks her daughter. This event brings back into her mind the disappearance of her friend, Mandy Baker at approximately the same age of ten. That event happened 30 years ago. This revelation leads to others. Her brother, Andrew, whom she hasn’t talked to in 15 years since she left England, calls and asks her to come to his wedding. She reluctantly goes, and is thrust back into memories of her family history in England, including memories of her deceased father who, she has gradually become aware, was a pedofile, and she believes he may have had something to do with Mandy’s disappearance and possible murder.
This is a disturbing book because many of her memories are so nebulous. It’s hard to tell, because she doesn’t know herself sometimes, what are real memories and what are imagined. It’s a very good book though, about a family who never talked about the father’s weirdness and who wanted to deny there was anything wrong with him. I would certainly read another book by that author, and also definitely by that narrator.
narrated by Jillie Bond, produced by Isis, downloaded from audible.com.
This is a very disturbing book, but well written and extremely well narrated by Jillie Bond through Isis. I was able to download it from audible though and not spend the fortune it would have cost to get it from Isis.
Tina, now a marine biologist living in America and married to a
n internist, is suddenly reminded of her past. She is diving in the sea with her husband and ten-year-old daughter, when a shark almost attacks her daughter. This event brings back into her mind the disappearance of her friend, Mandy Baker at approximately the same age of ten. That event happened 30 years ago. This revelation leads to others. Her brother, Andrew, whom she hasn’t talked to in 15 years since she left England, calls and asks her to come to his wedding. She reluctantly goes, and is thrust back into memories of her family history in England, including memories of her deceased father who, she has gradually become aware, was a pedofile, and she believes he may have had something to do with Mandy’s disappearance and possible murder.
This is a disturbing book because many of her memories are so nebulous. It’s hard to tell, because she doesn’t know herself sometimes, what are real memories and what are imagined. It’s a very good book though, about a family who never talked about the father’s weirdness and who wanted to deny there was anything wrong with him. I would certainly read another book by that author, and also definitely by that narrator.
August 7, 2013
In Watch Me Disappear, Tina Humber is a marine biologist who lives in the U.S. who must reencounter a childhood trauma when she returns to her native England. As a child her best friend disappeared one day leaving behind questions and no hope for closure. Returning to her hometown, Tina tries to piece together the few clues she remembers to figure out who abducted her friend decades ago.
Though this novel does have a detective feel, it doesn’t allow for the logic and closure generally afforded to the detective genre. Instead, the novel uses the detective device to explore memory: how much weight one should give to it, how faulty it can be, and exactly what memories can be trusted…or which ones have actually been designed as a self-defense mechanism. Having said this, the novel has much depth in exploring these themes and the character development is professionally done. Except for the fact that, as a marine biologist, Tina seems to have no interest in conservation and even mentions her indifference to it, which I personally could not understand considering that the health of the ocean determines her livelihood.
I will say that the novel does sacrifice plot at times in its bid to explore weighty themes. The redeeming factor of the novel is the level of writing—Jill Dawson has a good understanding of her craft.
Though this novel does have a detective feel, it doesn’t allow for the logic and closure generally afforded to the detective genre. Instead, the novel uses the detective device to explore memory: how much weight one should give to it, how faulty it can be, and exactly what memories can be trusted…or which ones have actually been designed as a self-defense mechanism. Having said this, the novel has much depth in exploring these themes and the character development is professionally done. Except for the fact that, as a marine biologist, Tina seems to have no interest in conservation and even mentions her indifference to it, which I personally could not understand considering that the health of the ocean determines her livelihood.
I will say that the novel does sacrifice plot at times in its bid to explore weighty themes. The redeeming factor of the novel is the level of writing—Jill Dawson has a good understanding of her craft.
September 5, 2007
This is a book that should be better known. It was utterly engrossing - told in flashbacks by a woman now in late 30s/early 40s who is recalling the mysterious disappearance of a childhood friend. A family reunion sparks off further revelations as she realises that the person responsible for her friend's disappearance was closer to home than she had originally allowed herself to think. Creepily atmospheric; great on (troubled) family dynamics; Fenland setting evocative and brooding. Brought back all the details of a 70s childhood very accurately.
January 29, 2012
Iwas underwhelmed by this book. I thought Tina Humber slightly unhinged and I her reasons for this could have been gone into, in more depth. I did like the bits about seahorses. As for the rest of the book, I felt very disappointed.
September 3, 2019
Excellent writer, excellent book and an outstanding piece of fiction. Whilst some parts of the UK are well established on the map, the Cambridgeshire fenlands are a softer piece of the English landscape. They are also very beautiful (I live nearby in the similarly flat and quiet Lincolnshire landscape). The fenlands provide a backdrop to the meat of this book and allow the narrator to weave and reflect over parts of her childhood, family secrets and the disappearance of her childhood friend.
Personally, I just loved the writing here. I think that Dawson is expert in creating characters that sum up a mood and a time - she creates the seventies era expertly and encapsulates a more naive society that admittedly kept problems under the hat and unconfronted. The protagonist here, who returns to the region as an older woman, lives alongside her memories and is forever trapped by the ever-emerging questions left posed to her via the existence, life and death of her father. Humber, this protagonist, uses the book to reflect on secrets held and captured by the past - even if she doesn't find all the answers she wants or needs, the tale and journey are still worth the time spent by the reader.
I've been really happy to read this book. Sometimes it is quite rare to be able to spend some time in the company of great characters and ultimately a writer who can write and take you into a journey and reflection in time. The author definitely did this for me here and I will be so keen to tune into her other books. The seahorses also helped too. Fascinating - just saying.
Personally, I just loved the writing here. I think that Dawson is expert in creating characters that sum up a mood and a time - she creates the seventies era expertly and encapsulates a more naive society that admittedly kept problems under the hat and unconfronted. The protagonist here, who returns to the region as an older woman, lives alongside her memories and is forever trapped by the ever-emerging questions left posed to her via the existence, life and death of her father. Humber, this protagonist, uses the book to reflect on secrets held and captured by the past - even if she doesn't find all the answers she wants or needs, the tale and journey are still worth the time spent by the reader.
I've been really happy to read this book. Sometimes it is quite rare to be able to spend some time in the company of great characters and ultimately a writer who can write and take you into a journey and reflection in time. The author definitely did this for me here and I will be so keen to tune into her other books. The seahorses also helped too. Fascinating - just saying.
November 24, 2019
Watch Me Disappear is a haunting and at times disturbing tale. Tine Humber returns to her native Norfolk for her brother's wedding only to reawaken tragic memories she has fought long and hard to suppress.
Thirty years previously, in the summer of 1972, her childhood friend Many Baker disappeared. No trace was ever found of the 10-year-old and now, as Tina begins to reassemble the fragmented memories of that long-ago summer, she begins to see events more clearly. But with the new clarity dawns a certainty that the truth behind Mandy's disappearance may be much closer to home than she had dared to believe.
Her questions threaten to tear her family apart and bring to the surfaces memories and feelings they would all rather forget.
I found this book a little disturbing in places, dealing as it does with a subject most of us would much rather not contemplate. It reminds me that sometimes, true horror and real monsters are with us every day and not just between the well-crafted pages of a Stephen King novel.
The plot is slow-burning leaving the reader plenty of space to consider their own speculations about what happened Mandy on that summer afternoon. It also offers an interesting view of the remote and often-overlooked corner of England.
Jill Dawson is a skilled storyteller. She brings not only her characters to life but also the period itself and the innocence of youth. This is the first Jill Dawson book I have read and I am sure it won't be the last.
Thirty years previously, in the summer of 1972, her childhood friend Many Baker disappeared. No trace was ever found of the 10-year-old and now, as Tina begins to reassemble the fragmented memories of that long-ago summer, she begins to see events more clearly. But with the new clarity dawns a certainty that the truth behind Mandy's disappearance may be much closer to home than she had dared to believe.
Her questions threaten to tear her family apart and bring to the surfaces memories and feelings they would all rather forget.
I found this book a little disturbing in places, dealing as it does with a subject most of us would much rather not contemplate. It reminds me that sometimes, true horror and real monsters are with us every day and not just between the well-crafted pages of a Stephen King novel.
The plot is slow-burning leaving the reader plenty of space to consider their own speculations about what happened Mandy on that summer afternoon. It also offers an interesting view of the remote and often-overlooked corner of England.
Jill Dawson is a skilled storyteller. She brings not only her characters to life but also the period itself and the innocence of youth. This is the first Jill Dawson book I have read and I am sure it won't be the last.
November 12, 2020
I found this book very boring most of the time, it jumps from past to present without any warning - however i finished the read. just because i do never put down a book when i start it. i get the story - I get that it made her a disturbed adult - but the ending is very disappointing.
Luckily i bought it at a charity shop so i dont feel as if i wasted a lot of money!
Was the first book of Jill Dawson i read. I will read more of her books, provided i dont pay much for it. Just out of curiosity to compare it with 'Watch me Disappear'
Do i recommend it as a worthwhile read. No.
Luckily i bought it at a charity shop so i dont feel as if i wasted a lot of money!
Was the first book of Jill Dawson i read. I will read more of her books, provided i dont pay much for it. Just out of curiosity to compare it with 'Watch me Disappear'
Do i recommend it as a worthwhile read. No.
October 29, 2017
I can't say I enjoyed this, while I concede it's well-written & compelling in it's way, I found it made for uncomfortable reading.
The only good thing for me was that Dawson got the descriptions of growing up in the 70's bang on! -I know, I was there! Everyday things, like Spangles, candlewick bedspreads, Sindy dolls with all their little, fiddly accessories and one year diaries with little locks (I always mangled the lock!) took me right back to my pre-teen days.
The only good thing for me was that Dawson got the descriptions of growing up in the 70's bang on! -I know, I was there! Everyday things, like Spangles, candlewick bedspreads, Sindy dolls with all their little, fiddly accessories and one year diaries with little locks (I always mangled the lock!) took me right back to my pre-teen days.
March 29, 2019
I've recently read a number of Jill Dawson's novels and really enjoyed those based around real characters (Patricia Highsmith, Rupert Brooke). But this was brilliant - an old missing girl case, the Soham murders, seahorses - a strange combination but one that really works. I saw Jill speak this week and I think this had brought this even more alive for me...
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April 6, 20201. The missing without trace of her best friend kept haunted her, like forever. hahahaha...
2. SEAHORSE :-)
My reflection to this book?
Pervert & Innocent. Sometimes we don't expect the character of someone that look innocent but the through was totally vice versa.
The truth about her father (she know nothing) :-(
2. SEAHORSE :-)
My reflection to this book?
Pervert & Innocent. Sometimes we don't expect the character of someone that look innocent but the through was totally vice versa.
The truth about her father (she know nothing) :-(
June 10, 2023
It was probably one of the strongest topics i ever read, but unfortunately it wasn't written well. I mean Tina is jumping from past to present and present to past all the time and there were times when it was hard to grasp if she's talking about past or present. Plus the ending didn't make sense to me.
May 21, 2020
Took ages to get into this book and I’m still not sure I know what the heck was going on. The flash backs and present were very confusing.
Won’t be passing it on to anyone to read. Boring
Won’t be passing it on to anyone to read. Boring
February 14, 2022
I found this book confusing with regards to going from past to present so often.
June 20, 2024
Awkward, authentic and intriguing
November 15, 2020
Disappointed because the book's tone was very off-putting. The way that the author never wrote the conversations as quotations but usually as italics was hard to read. Also, didn't know exactly what happened? A lot was ambiguous and I wish the author had concluded cleanly instead of leaving a lot of things open-ended.
March 20, 2013
I had preconceived ideas about the content of this novel and the type of direction the story would take. I expected a journey into the past for the narrator, with some kind of resolution regarding the disappearance of her best friend when they were both ten.
As I read I realised that the novel was in fact concerned with more complex issues, such as how memories are formed, how far we can trust our memories and how can we be sure that what we remember is the sum of what actually happened.
The narration is from the perspective of the main character and it is only through her reported conversations with others that we catch a glimpse of memories other than hers, which hint at other "truths" that could, if we only had access to them, shed some light on the story being told. The novel, in part, recreates childhood in the early seventies. It is the way in which memory is explored, however, that truly resonates. The hints of damage done by unstated (possible) abuse and the tenuous connections between memory, medical condition, medication and denial are all below the surface. I've continued to think about different aspects of this book since reading it and it has been some time since I have read anything that is so understated and yet so thought provoking. This is a beautifully written book, which maintains its complex structure very well and creates, in its narrator, a vulnerable and fascinating character.
As I read I realised that the novel was in fact concerned with more complex issues, such as how memories are formed, how far we can trust our memories and how can we be sure that what we remember is the sum of what actually happened.
The narration is from the perspective of the main character and it is only through her reported conversations with others that we catch a glimpse of memories other than hers, which hint at other "truths" that could, if we only had access to them, shed some light on the story being told. The novel, in part, recreates childhood in the early seventies. It is the way in which memory is explored, however, that truly resonates. The hints of damage done by unstated (possible) abuse and the tenuous connections between memory, medical condition, medication and denial are all below the surface. I've continued to think about different aspects of this book since reading it and it has been some time since I have read anything that is so understated and yet so thought provoking. This is a beautifully written book, which maintains its complex structure very well and creates, in its narrator, a vulnerable and fascinating character.
March 2, 2015
Jill Dawson shows spectacular skills,the story though possibly entirely fiction, is hard to believe to have no direct involvement with the writer. Such a narration can only come from within,as Dawson has explored the main character's mind from a very personal perspective.
This is not the story of a missing girl, or a father who's most obvious traits were missed through out his life, or a set of siblings oblivious to the reality of their own surroundings, this infact is the unravelling of an exhausted mind, exhausted because like all of us it chose the easier way to digest life, by skipping on the details and events which made it uncomfortable, choosing its own version of memories and failing to explore beyond its obviously directional observation. Dawson makes us realize not just the potential a human brain has to remember and unpuzzle the greatest mysteries in our personal lives but also to forget and ignore the most important things which could harm us emotionally if ever admitted.
I would also use this opportunity to point out the brilliant references made with the help of sea horses which had nothing to do with the story, but were used as a unique yet beautiful prop without which the book could have never felt so simply complete.
This is not the story of a missing girl, or a father who's most obvious traits were missed through out his life, or a set of siblings oblivious to the reality of their own surroundings, this infact is the unravelling of an exhausted mind, exhausted because like all of us it chose the easier way to digest life, by skipping on the details and events which made it uncomfortable, choosing its own version of memories and failing to explore beyond its obviously directional observation. Dawson makes us realize not just the potential a human brain has to remember and unpuzzle the greatest mysteries in our personal lives but also to forget and ignore the most important things which could harm us emotionally if ever admitted.
I would also use this opportunity to point out the brilliant references made with the help of sea horses which had nothing to do with the story, but were used as a unique yet beautiful prop without which the book could have never felt so simply complete.
December 7, 2010
For a few pages at the beginning I ummed and ahhed over whether to put this down and put it on the "going straight back to the library" pile. After that I struggled to put it down at all. It was a completely captivating read.
The narrator is Tina, a girl from the Fens who ends up working at a prestigious American university. She's researching seahorses, which isn't really essential to the plot, but the detail adds a depth to the book. Coming home to England for her brother's wedding she digs into her own thirty year old memories of being ten years old when one of her best friends went missing.
It's coincidental to the plot that the area Tina returns to is in the midst of searching for two missing girls in a real life story. The reference is obvious and I'm not sure why the author doesn't make it explicit. Coincidental to the plot, but not to the book.
The author did a fabulous job of constructing the layers of the story and gradually stripping them back. It was all very believable, the cultural references nearly all seemed bang on, and I can't find much to fault about it. Great stuff.
November 25, 2022
This story of a woman piecing together and realising things from her childhood - particularly surrounding the disappearance of her friend when they were both ten - was much better than I had expected it to be. Considering the heavy subjects of child abduction, abuse and the sexualisation of young teenage girls, this is not an exploitative or explicit book. Instead it is a layered story that really captured the experiences of friendships and the attentions of men when you're a pre-teen/teenage girl, and while that doesn't make for a comfortable read, it did make it really resonate with me as a reader. There is such a strong sense of time and place too, and the dark elements are balanced out with some beautiful descriptions of the Cambridgeshire Fens and also of seahorses (it makes sense in context, I promise). This book was published before all the Jimmy Saville et al revelations came to light, but it really portrays the downplaying or outright turning of a blind eye to the predatory behaviours of men towards children that lead to those abuses of power. But it does so in a thoughtful rather than a titillating or sensationalist way, and I think that is so important.
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August 24, 2014An interesting read this novel. Tricky to follow in places as the MC, Tina, is an epileptic and possibly mildly autistic. She is not always easy to understand.
It is always said that we can never go back, but Tina goes back to her UK home to her brother's wedding. She did not have a happy childhood and her own daughter's behaviour triggers memories. When Tina was eleven her friend vanished; she had supressed this, but now bravely traces those memories and comes to a kind of peace for herself, but not for her unloving mother and 'into denial' brother. They will have to trace their own memories to find peace of mind.
Readers who like to think, to puzzle out the clues, and enjoy watching a character sort herself out will like this book. It is not a quick, candy floss read but well worth reading.
Until I can have a private star rating for my own personal use - I do not agree with the Good Reads/Amazon methods of apply our readers' star ratings to an author's rating, which can affect their sales - I will not add a star rating.
It is always said that we can never go back, but Tina goes back to her UK home to her brother's wedding. She did not have a happy childhood and her own daughter's behaviour triggers memories. When Tina was eleven her friend vanished; she had supressed this, but now bravely traces those memories and comes to a kind of peace for herself, but not for her unloving mother and 'into denial' brother. They will have to trace their own memories to find peace of mind.
Readers who like to think, to puzzle out the clues, and enjoy watching a character sort herself out will like this book. It is not a quick, candy floss read but well worth reading.
Until I can have a private star rating for my own personal use - I do not agree with the Good Reads/Amazon methods of apply our readers' star ratings to an author's rating, which can affect their sales - I will not add a star rating.
January 21, 2013
I'm a huge fan of Jill Dawson and I have quite a liking too for novels based on child disappearance so I thought this would be a match made in heaven. And whilst it was wonderful and far superior to many other things I've read it didn't quite achieve the pinnacles of her previous books for me. Which lead me to think about why and I've come to the conclusion that perhaps I like Dawson best when she is writing about things that I don't have a pre-existing interest in. What I admire is the way she draws me in and makes me care about something I hadn't previously considered. I think perhaps I also enjoy her writing more about time periods further back than the setting for this one - again a surprise as I usually prefer modern settings.
February 15, 2013
Took me a while to get into this one. I like Jill Dawson's affinity for characters, getting right into their heads and emotional lives but the foggy, cotton-wool perspective was really difficult to wade through.
Once the story really got underway, I began to engage much more.
It was left vague and somehow unfinished (which it had to be) as though we just stepped out of the narrator's mind, as if she had cut us off, the way she had chosen to be for most of her life.
Probably a really good exercise in understanding disociative behaviour. the feeling that you are the one that is wrong and to be quietened when perhaps that is not the case.
Could have been more of the separate threads in the narrator's life.
hmmmmmm, intersting to think about it after reading.
Once the story really got underway, I began to engage much more.
It was left vague and somehow unfinished (which it had to be) as though we just stepped out of the narrator's mind, as if she had cut us off, the way she had chosen to be for most of her life.
Probably a really good exercise in understanding disociative behaviour. the feeling that you are the one that is wrong and to be quietened when perhaps that is not the case.
Could have been more of the separate threads in the narrator's life.
hmmmmmm, intersting to think about it after reading.
August 31, 2016
Meaty subject and well-drawn setting thrown away by author's grim determination to have nothing to do with plot of any kind - not even a little bit of something. Consequently, this is an extremely boring book to read. I felt preached at too, there was an agenda but nothing to engage the intellect or emotions. And as always an ending that just couldn't be bothered with itself. This is the second one of hers I've read and it's the same unfocussed meandering endeavour masquerading as experimental art.
Characterisation was good with some characters, vague with others. Lovely writing, oh how those sentences have been worked on, but nevertheless a dull book, its saving grace is it was at least short.
Characterisation was good with some characters, vague with others. Lovely writing, oh how those sentences have been worked on, but nevertheless a dull book, its saving grace is it was at least short.
November 12, 2012
This book was interesting and all the imagery the author used was really accurate. At many points in the book you could imagine yourself there. I also really enjoyed her descriptions of growing up and becoming sexually aware and how that feels. That's a taboo for many authors who like to portray children as being totally sexually unaware.
However the story didn't go anywhere. There was no ending and no conclusion to the narrators suspicions which was really disappointing. I would have liked her mum to confess that she knew something or some evidence to surface about who Mandy's killers was to provide some closure.
Overall a clever read with very vivid emotions but no tale to tell.
However the story didn't go anywhere. There was no ending and no conclusion to the narrators suspicions which was really disappointing. I would have liked her mum to confess that she knew something or some evidence to surface about who Mandy's killers was to provide some closure.
Overall a clever read with very vivid emotions but no tale to tell.
July 9, 2014
The novel starts very slowly. A lot of descriptions of the lives of het characters now and in the past. It was not always clear to me what the connection between the stories nore the characters was.
The second part makes the connections between the stories and the characters. From the second part on I liked the novel a lot more.
The second part makes the connections between the stories and the characters. From the second part on I liked the novel a lot more.
September 27, 2015
Very good. I enjoyed the contrast between the British and American points of view on family secrets, coming-of-age, and other topics. I'm not sure the part about her seahorse research was as well integrated as it might've been with the rest of the narrative. But the whole thing was very readable and enjoyable.
May 4, 2016
Brilliant disturbing story about dysfunctional family life, childhood and a friend who goes missing. I was totally engaged from the beginning and couldn't wait to get back to the book every evening! And it raised lots of issues about the sexualisation of girls and the assumptions girls have already internalized by the time they reach adolescence.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 41 reviews