Didn't finish it. It was just too weird and hard to follow. I didn't like the writing style nor the ridiculous set up for paranormal stuff. ( )

The summary blurb of this book gives you the skeleton of the story. But it doesn't give credit for the writer's terrific imagination and humor. The story keeps you guessing - along with the protagonist, Julia - at what is going on! It does get complicated, and sometimes confusing, but it's a satisfying, if quirky read. ( )

3.5 Difficult to rate. A wondrous, compelling plot and engaging tone are a little at odds with inconsistently polished prose and a bit too much explanation. A good book that might have been great in a draft or two. A more experimental form could have better matched the content. Worth it for the descriptions of furniture. ( )

"I imagined the dread and hopelessness suffered by the person who'd vanished so many times there was no place else to go. She was known to everyone."--from The Vanishers





I finished The Vanishers last night and it is still all I can think about today. A wild, weird, amazing read with a main character so messed up by life you might find her annoying in less skilled hands than Heidi Julavits', this novel will haunt you long after you have finished the last page.

Don't let the psychic background turn you off if you prefer your novels spiked with lots of reality. The universal themes that run throughout The Vanishers definitely keep the supernatural threads from undermining any credibility on the writer's part or ability to suspend disbelief on the reader's end. Instead you (if you have any heart at all) will find yourself feeling for Julia Severn as she battles a psychic onslaught from her mentor and deals with her lifelong sense of missing a mother she never knew and for whom she has no idea how to grieve.

Part mystery, part David Lynchian head trip, all heart, The Vanishers examines how women can wreak havoc on each other emotionally and physically.

I found myself so fascinated (magnetized, really) by this book that I continually jotted down my favorite quotes. Heidi Julavits is a marvelous writer who makes you think...and hate to see the book end.


( )

The Vanishers is a fantastic novel, using absurdist humor to explore grief and illness. Julavits has some interesting things to say about illness, our perception of illness, and our perception of our own emotional lives. The tempo of the thriller / mystery novel allows you to get pretty deep into the protagonist's mind, laughing at her hapless adventures (As this unusual customer beelined for my desk, however, she caught her toe on the corner of the jute rug and departed the floor, kraft tray outstretched and then released so that it collided with my chest as I'd been uttering in Arabic to no one, "I'll transfer you to the sales department." p. 50) and then suddenly you realize that you're having a great many insights into the nature of emotion. I particularly liked the description of anger as women often conceive of it — something ugly, feral, something that must be defended against, something that originates from the hate and jealously of other people.

There was some material about performance art and mid-century modern furniture; if I happened to share those particular interests, this probably would have been one of my favorite novels of all time. Sadly, I know nothing about either. So we'll call it 4/5 stars for fantastic writing, unerring humor, an intelligent message about the human condition, and if you know what a Barcelona chair is, boy are you in for a treat. ( )