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17 & Gone

Nova Ren Suma

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Mar 21, 2013 Allison rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, printz14

It was interesting to start reading this book just as the news about the rescued women in Cleveland was breaking. 17 & Gone is a novel about girls disappearing at age 17 and with all the media talking about this topic at the time, it was pretty creepy reading at first. Soon, however, I was completely engrossed in the world of the story and forgot all about the real world situations while the voice of Lauren took over and started to creep me out in a completely different way.

Lauren is 17. Her li It was interesting to start reading this book just as the news about the rescued women in Cleveland was breaking. 17 & Gone is a novel about girls disappearing at age 17 and with all the media talking about this topic at the time, it was pretty creepy reading at first. Soon, however, I was completely engrossed in the world of the story and forgot all about the real world situations while the voice of Lauren took over and started to creep me out in a completely different way.

Lauren is 17. Her life gets sidetracked one day when she spots a Missing poster on a telephone pole for a girl named Abby Sinclair, also 17. Abby is classified as a runaway, but Lauren knows it was more than that. Soon Lauren is obsessed with finding Abby. Before too long, it isn't just Abby she is looking for. She finds out about many, many missing girls from across the region, all of whom disappeared at age 17.

The ghosts of the missing girls start appearing to Lauren and she dreams of them all trapped in a burning abandoned house. All the while she feels the urgency of finding Abby Sinclair before it is too late for her, like it is for the other girls. And maybe, just maybe, Lauren herself is in danger of going missing as well. She is, after all, 17.

17 & Gone is an atmospheric, dream-like read. We spend the majority of the book inside Lauren's head, where reality is not always easy to distinguish. Suma certainly does an excellent job of establishing the tone and the feel of the novel. The themes of loss and despair and isolation are present as well. My main complaint is the way the story started to drag towards the middle. So many new missing girls were making their appearance and telling Lauren their stories that it really started to detract from the pacing and momentum of Lauren's urgency to find Abby.

I have also heard other reviewers say they felt they did not know the Lauren before all of this happened and I would have to agree. I would have really liked to have something to contrast what her life is now to what it was before. Because of this, I didn't think the characterization of Lauren was very strong. However, I really enjoyed the ending that had a surprising twist and gave me a lot to think about. I love psychological thrillers and here is an excellent one for teens. ...more

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