Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey rounded up to 5 stars

[Karin]

The blurb is well written, and I'm not going to repeat that information. Suffice it to say that a woman with advancing memory loss is obsessed with a missing friend. As her memory loss progresses she naturally goes back more into the past and remembers things from 50 years before. On the one hand, you can argue quite easily that she's an unreliable narrator, but what I love about this book is that you can't be sure that she hasn't got at something she buried away when she was young.

However, the very best part of this book, and I have raised my rating all the way from 4 to 5 for this, is just how brilliantly Healey captures someone with memory loss. I live far from my parents, but finally got to visit this summer for the first time since Covid and I could easily see that this was fitting even though the woman has a very different personality than my mother (my mother is very rare for a dementia patient in that she is always aware she doesn't remember things.) I realize that this means I need to take some time before reading Healey's later novel

[Robin P]

This book was excellent on audio. The narrator really captures the character as both older and younger. The glimpse into what is going on inside her head was fascinating. Often there was a connection between things that seemed random to others. It actually made me more patient with my own mother-in-law, who was dealing with similar issues.

[Hannah]

I really liked this when I read it, and it is one of the very few occasions when I saw the TV adaptation and thought that was even better than the book.

[Karin]

Hannah wrote: "I really liked this when I read it, and it is one of the very few occasions when I saw the TV adaptation and thought that was even better than the book."

Okay, I'll have to see if I can find that then :)

[Hannah]

Karin wrote: "Hannah wrote: "I really liked this when I read it, and it is one of the very few occasions when I saw the TV adaptation and thought that was even better than the book."

Okay, I'll have to see if I..."

The BBC made it about 3 years ago, so I'm not sure which channels in the US tend to show BBC programmes. Glenda Jackson played Maud in one of her first roles since stepping down as an MP.

[Karin]

Hannah wrote: "Karin wrote: "Hannah wrote: "I really liked this when I read it, and it is one of the very few occasions when I saw the TV adaptation and thought that was even better than the book."

Okay, I'll ha..."

I just found it on DVD in my public library network and have put a hold on it :)