Vanishing Girls in What's the Name of That Book???

Dec 31, 2014 Jessica rated it it was amazing

Shelves: contemporary, youngadult

I find it interesting that a quick scan of other reviews shows that many readers didn't like it for the very reason that I give it five stars! There are lots of complaints about, "Oh, blah blah, sisters fighting, and then the ending! Whatever." These people are being silly, and they need to look at this book again.

This is much more like my beloved BEFORE I FALL than her DELIRIUM books. There aren't big fight scenes, nobody's trying to overthrow the government. These are real people having real ...more

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Jun 08, 2015 Kate rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: psychological, age-ya, 2015

Ever since a car accident back in March, Nicole's been on rocky grounds with both her sister Dara and Parker, her best friend and Dara's boyfriend. Now it's summer, and Nick's got a job at the Funland amusement park alongside Parker, but something still doesn't seem right with Dara. Nick's determined to figure out what's going on, when a young girl disappears.

This was a fairly fast-paced mystery, with a lot of psychological things going on. I did not guess the twist ending at all. The story del ...more

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Mar 17, 2015 Rachel Piper rated it liked it

Shelves: own

Review first published here: http://www.sltrib.com/entertainment/2...

It's sometimes the mundane parts of life that turn out, unexpectedly, to be the most terrifying.

With "Gone Girl," Gillian Flynn exposed the dark, uncertain elements that exist in all romantic partnerships, even those that don't end in murder. In Lauren Oliver's "Vanishing Girls," it's a relationship between two sisters at the crux, with 17-year-old Nicole — "Nick" — hurt and then increasingly fearful as her charismatic sister, Review first published here: http://www.sltrib.com/entertainment/2...

It's sometimes the mundane parts of life that turn out, unexpectedly, to be the most terrifying.

With "Gone Girl," Gillian Flynn exposed the dark, uncertain elements that exist in all romantic partnerships, even those that don't end in murder. In Lauren Oliver's "Vanishing Girls," it's a relationship between two sisters at the crux, with 17-year-old Nicole — "Nick" — hurt and then increasingly fearful as her charismatic sister, Dara, 11 months younger, follows her appetite for risk to more and more places that Nick can't reach.

The book's nonlinear plot — alternating between "After" and "Before" — hinges on a car accident that left Dara scarred and withdrawn and Nick, the driver that night, consumed by guilt and anger. Dara refuses to speak or interact with Nick and then disappears without warning, and her secrets threaten to destroy more than their relationship when a 9-year-old girl goes missing and Nick's efforts to understand her sister's actions reveal that the two lost girls may be dangerously linked.

The push-and-pull tensions of Nick and Dara's mutual regard and resentment will be recognizable to those who've gone through life with a close sibling — someone who's you but not you; a soul mate and yet a stranger; a rival whose defining qualities are both coveted and disdained. For Nick, Dara is someone who lights up a room but leaves little space for anyone else, least of all quiet Nick. At the same time, Dara begrudges Nick her role as the "good" daughter, able to sail effortlessly through life with the favor of all — most gratingly their mutual best friend, boy-next-door Parker.

Though Parker is the source of much of the girls' drama, he's one of the weaker aspects of the book, his important role in their life explained via memories — Nick seemingly can't look at a tree or a gum wrapper without it reminding her of Dara and Parker as they were at ages 5, 9 or 13 — and his basic character spelled out in the slogans on his T-shirts. It's reminiscent of old-fashioned romances where two brothers vie for the attentions of a featureless woman, and while it might be good for feminism, it's bad for this book. Far more interesting is Nick's summertime job working at the town's amusement park, though the subplot — with enough charm and quirky characters to fill a Sarah Dessen novel — is slightly out of place here, working too well to ease the tension for both Nick and readers looking for a fast-paced thriller.

But in that vein, the book does contain a fairly major twist. And even if readers see that coming, there's still a — fairly dark — mystery to be solved.

"Vanishing Girls" is Oliver's third standalone novel for young adults and her 10th published book in five years. The New York City author's debut, "Before I Fall," was another high-concept novel, a dark take on "Groundhog Day" in which a cruel high-school queen bee dies in a car accident and is doomed to live her last day on Earth again and again. Though neither book's plot is particularly original, Oliver's deft descriptions elevate what could've been a soapy story or by-the-numbers thriller into something more resonant and able to cross genre boundaries.

And that seems to be Oliver's M.O. Also the author of a best-selling teen dystopian trilogy, books for middle-grade readers and a ghostly family drama for adults, Oliver says she hopes the YA publishers will abandon their chase for the next big "craze" and instead move toward a richer, more varied landscape of books. ...more

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Jan 31, 2015 Laura rated it really liked it

Shelves: old-reads, mt-bookpile-2011-2015

I didn't see the ending coming. Really. In some ways I feel a little manipulated by the author because there should have been a few hints along the way, but mostly I appreciate the surprise.

The mystery of what happened to Madeline seems to have much more importance for Nick than it should have, mostly serving as a way to get to the mystery behind Dara's disappearance and what led up to the car accident. This was the least realized part of the book, which was disappointing. Having said that, the ...more

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Jun 10, 2015 Susan rated it it was ok

Shelves: teen-fiction

From the description on the back, I thought this would be a mystery. It wasn't. I suspected the outcome about halfway through the book. ...more

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Dec 26, 2014 Lisa rated it liked it

Shelves: library-has, 2015

I really wanted to love this book, and I did, up to a point. The big surprise, just made me mad I wanted to throw the book but it was a library book, so I refrained........

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