mrs_mander_reads
Written on Oct 3, 2017
Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged. When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late.
In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other.
- ISBN10 0606381716
- ISBN13 9780606381710
- Publish Date 8 March 2016 (first published 10 March 2015)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 6 April 2021
- Imprint Turtleback Books
- Edition Bound for Schools & Libraries ed.
- Format Hardcover (Library Binding)
- Pages 384
- Language English
Reviews
Sam@WLABB
Written on Jan 2, 2016
Wow! I did not see that coming.
I liked so many things about this story. I liked how it was told from different points in time (before and after the accident). This approach always makes me feel like I am part of the process, I have to piece together the clues, and assemble my own ideas about the story. It is told from dual points of view. Both sisters, Nick and Dara, have an opportunity to contribute to the story. I especially liked when there was overlaps, those provided the most interesting insights. The story also contains snippets from journals, online news stories, emails, and even a card. Again, I like when stories are presented this way, and I have to put the puzzle together. I would be remiss if I did not comment on the actual writing. Oliver's writing is pleasing, as always. She does an amazing job putting you in the scene. I developed an emotional connection to both Nick and Dara. I shared their pain, and felt their loss. I even sniffled a little.
Overall: great read filled with mystery, suspense, and complicated family drama.
girlinthepages
Written on May 3, 2015
Vanishing Girls is the novel that made me appreciate Lauren Oliver's writing. Varying between lyrical and dark, Oliver's prose sets a tone for the novel that's much like the book's cover: slightly mysterious, but more disturbing the deeper you go. Tackling tougher topics and darker twists than I've found in a lot of YA mystery/thrillers (with the exception of Abigail Haas), I have a new appreciation for Oliver as she laid out careful clues and wrote each scene with such intent. While the book didn't completely grip me as I was hoping, there's no denying that Lauren Oliver can craft a good story.
The book's premise led me to believe I'd be reading a book about two mysteries that intertwine, and that it'd be a whodunnit sort of story. While there are two disappearances in the book, they felt like secondary plot points. The main plot was the tension and relationship between sisters Nick and Dara and their family. The book varies between their point of views, although both girls are very biased and clearly unreliable narrators (I love unreliable narrators, so no complaints about that here). The book didn't really take on that mystery/thriller feel until the last third, and I was bored at the beginning because I was expecting it to be a thriller through and through, but a lot of it was setting up Dara and Nick's relationship and their world, like a normal contemporary. Which is fine, but again, not what I was expecting/wanting when picking up the book. The book also has a slight dossier type feel, as the narrative is broken up with diary entries, newspaper/online news articles, photos, etc. I was surprised by this aspect of the book but really enjoyed it.
The story also had a darker feel to me than most YA. There's a dark, seedy underbelly to the otherwise historic, suburban area that Dara and Nick grew up in and some of the twists were disturbing but also shed light on how young girls can be exploited, which is important. There was also a lot of heavier topics hinted at, specifically with the situations Dara often got herself into involving alcohol, drugs, and general substance abuse. I'm glad that Oliver didn't shy away from these darker topics that can definitely fester in even the areas that seem the most benign.
The backdrop of this book was also surprising, but fit the subtly sinister undertones of the book. Nick ends up with a summer job at an amusement park that's seemingly gone to seed, but holds a lot of nostalgia and history for the local community. At first I thought the run-down amusement park setting would be a bit cliché, but some of the imagery it conjured fit really well with the books, such as the broken down rides that haunted the park with memories of past tragedies. I could easily picture the park serving as an ominous and dusty backdrop with a mystery festering there.
I'll admit I was a teeny bit spoiled going into this book because I happened to glimpse the copyright page when opening it (you know, where at the bottom it classifies the book according to subject). Although I wish I had gone in blind, I think I still would have guessed the twist. About 40% of the way through it hit me what the twist was and how it was going to end and the nature of Dara and Nicole's relationship, and once I had my theory I was able to pick up tons of clues. While I didn't love the explanation for the whole mystery I thought it was pulled off well for what it was. It's still pretty debated within the psychology field as to whether Multiple Personality Disorder is a thing, and fugue states are pretty convenient and overused tropes in tv/literature. I mean, it's mighty convenient for your character to run around and do things with no memory the next day if the book is a mystery.
Overall: Vanishing Girls is written with pretty prose with eerie undertones, but it wasn't the thriller I was expecting it to be. Much more about sibling and family relationships than it was a mystery, I wish it had focused more on the disappearances of the girls and the process of finding them. While the twist may be predictable to the keen reader or one who has read a lot of thrillers, it's fun to see how everything comes together once you realize what's going on, and all of the nuanced clues that Oliver wove into the story. If you're looking for more of a contemporary novel about sibling/family relationships with a hint of a mystery, this is a good book for you. I'm glad I picked this up because it made me appreciate Oliver's prose style and while I won't be rereading this one, I'll definitely be giving her other works a try.
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ibeforem
Written on May 1, 2015
The good part is, I was interested in the story. I wanted to know what was going on between Nick and her sister, what happened that night of the car crash. I wanted to know how the missing girl tied in to everything. So the interest kept me reading. But it took an awful long time to get to any sort of action. I felt like a lot of the middle of the book really didn't go anywhere.
And then, the twist. Frankly, I feel like this particular sort of twist is way overdone by now. It is similar to another very popular YA book from last summer. Granted, there was an extra sort of twist on this twist, but it still felt very expected once it was revealed. I was like "Oh, we're doing this again?"
So overall, it generally kept me interested and reading, but I was disappointed in the ending.
shannonmiz
Written on Jan 28, 2015
Well, Lauren Oliver has done it again: Written such lovely words, told such a moving story, and reminded me of why she's one of my favorite authors of all time. Vanishing Girls was exquisite.
Vanishing Girls features Nick and Dara, sisters who used to be extremely close, but are now anything but. Not having a sister, the dynamics have always fascinated me, and the relationship in this book is no exception. Nick and Dara were best friends, seemingly soul mates, until life started to come between them. Different tastes and opinions, boy trouble (well, that may be putting it mildly), and most horrifically, a serious car accident, have pushed them far apart from the close siblings they'd been.
I connected with Nick from the start of the book. I don't know why, she simply resonated with me, and reminded me a bit of myself I suppose. Yes, she had her faults, but I feel like I have quite a few of the same faults, so I found her insanely relatable. I didn't connect to Dara as much for a plethora of reasons, some of which made a lot of sense to me as the book progressed. But I was still captivated by her story even if I couldn't relate to her as much.
There is so little I can say about this book without spoiling things, so I will provide you with a few tidbits that really solidified my love for this book, and then I will suggest that you read it, okay? Fabulous.
- There is mystery. Oh no, this isn't just a story about sisters. It starts off with some talk about a young girl who has disappeared, and I am going to be honest (and this may make me an awful human being), I didn't care at all at first. I just wanted to get on with the real story. Silly me, this was all part of the real story. Sorry!
- The writing is magnificent. I have said before that I'd pay to read Lauren Oliver's grocery list, and that applies now more than ever. There are times when I was thinking that maybe some of the descriptions were superfluous, but then I realized that I was so very in the scene, that it all made sense. She was able to evoke such a feeling of being present in the story, that the words became necessary. There was one scene in particular (and don't worry, this is not even close to a spoiler!):
“I towel off with the scratchy brown paper towel unique to public restrooms, the kind that smells like wet earth.”*
I felt absolutely in some grimy public bathroom! How is that even possible? Oh, because Lauren Oliver paints magnificent word pictures, that’s how. - There's a big old twist. Now, I figured out the twist (not incredibly early, but quite a bit before it was all revealed) but it didn't decrease my enjoyment of the book at all. In fact, it was almost the opposite. I felt like I had a better appreciate and understanding about what was going on and that my newfound insight helped me connect with the story more.
Bottom Line: I can’t and won’t say anything more for fear of revealing something, but Vanishing Girls and I got along quite well. I cared deeply about the characters and the story, and my emotions were all over the place, in the best of ways. Definitely a win for me.
*Quote taken from uncorrected proof, subject to change.
**Copy provided by publisher in exchange for review.
This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight