SUSAN S. (susieqmillsacoustics) -
This was good and fairly realistic in that I'm sure such events occur, but probably with worse consequences in real life. This was a sheltered 14 year old that was naive and reckless as teenagers can be. It is a scary scenario and it is told alternately from the perspective of the runaway daughter and the perspective of the mother who finds the note. The father is, by far, the most sensible one in this family, but we only experience him through the others' eyes. While it is a good story with some tension, my biggest problem with this book was how stupid the mother actually is. I liked it, despite her character, though. It has food for thought, especially for parents with teenagers.
Check out the full review at Kritters Ramblings
Told from Day One of Marley's disappearance and each day both mother and daughter are given the opportunity to tell their side of the story - a new inventive way to tell the story of a runaway.
At the point when the reader thinks they know everything behind Marley's reasons for running and the mother's issues - the author gives just a bit more and the reader really gets the full picture. I loved not having all the details thrown in all at once and instead getting them just as a real unfolding story would. The ups and the downs and the twists and turns were perfectly timed in the story and I think the author put the story together very well.
Told from Day One of Marley's disappearance and each day both mother and daughter are given the opportunity to tell their side of the story - a new inventive way to tell the story of a runaway.
At the point when the reader thinks they know everything behind Marley's reasons for running and the mother's issues - the author gives just a bit more and the reader really gets the full picture. I loved not having all the details thrown in all at once and instead getting them just as a real unfolding story would. The ups and the downs and the twists and turns were perfectly timed in the story and I think the author put the story together very well.
In this book, a woman finds a short message from her 14-year-old daughter on the fridge saying that she'd left and not to try to find her. The parents are devastated and start up a social media campaign to help get the word out that this girl is missing and to generate tips. This opens the family up to incredible public scrutiny and complicates the matter for them. The point of view switches between the mother as she's trying to deal with this whole situation and diary entries written by the (frankly dumb as a post) daughter as she sets out on her own.
I actually really liked this. It was interesting to see a seemingly normal family be pulled apart to reveal...actually, a completely normal family! But even though your problems are so normal they might even be considered utterly pedestrian doesn't mean they're not still real problems with real consequences. And it was also interesting and sadly believable to see how completely normal behaviors and problems get completely spun out into something new and lurid on the internet, and both the gleeful cruelty and the generosity and helpfulness of complete strangers when stuff like this pops up.
I actually really liked this. It was interesting to see a seemingly normal family be pulled apart to reveal...actually, a completely normal family! But even though your problems are so normal they might even be considered utterly pedestrian doesn't mean they're not still real problems with real consequences. And it was also interesting and sadly believable to see how completely normal behaviors and problems get completely spun out into something new and lurid on the internet, and both the gleeful cruelty and the generosity and helpfulness of complete strangers when stuff like this pops up.
