I've often thought that novels conveniently focus on characters who don't seem to need to worry about ordinary things, like paying the bills, or who have regular jobs. Regular, everyday people, in other words. This novel does just that. It tells the story of very ordinary people experiencing a truly awful situation: the disappearance and possible murder of a young woman close to them. Although it begins with her experiences and POV prior to disappearance, this really isn't her story. It's the story of her parents, sister, boyfriend, and best friend as they experience her loss. It took several attempts before I could fall into this story, perhaps I just had to be in the mood for it. But once I did, I found it interesting enough to keep me going, but still oddly unsatisfying. I suspect that this is because the characters were just what I thought I had wanted. Very ordinary people. I couldn't feel any emotional connection with any of them, perhaps because it focuses mostly on what they do, and what they don't feel. We hear little of their interior dialogue. I still don't really understand their motivations and can only guess at them. In the end, the story just ends. No idea what happens in future, and I find myself not really caring, either. Overall, the time spent on this book was worthwhile, but I don't think I'd recommend it as a good read to others. ( )

I spent a long time deciding what rating to give this book. Some review that I read, the people said it was slow...it was. They said it was boring...indeed, sometimes it was. They said that Stewart O' Nan portrayed the characters like real people facing the disappearance of an 18 year old daughter...he certainly did. He made the family and the entire small Ohio town "real"...sometimes almost too real as he allowed the reader to feel what Kim's parents, her 15 year old sister, her friends that lied to the police to begin with...and even Cooper, the family dog...felt as they struggled for 18 long months to hold their family together and endlessly...tirelessly, search for Kim...the missing part of their hearts....and how in spite of everything, life simply must go on. ( )

A typical high school senior in a Lake Erie town, Kim Larsen goes missing. Much of the book is a macro-level view of her family’s days after it happens, not especially interesting, even mundane, except in light of the fact that they struggle to maintain a sense of normality when nothing can be normal. Everything you might want to know about a missing persons search and how one motivated family goes about it is here. Also, the draining emotion of the missing Kim being in their thoughts. Always. ( )

A taut story that gives a sense of story weaving against a constant unknown. Showcases the talent of a brillant writer ( )

I would read a phone book written by Stewart O'Nan. He knows just the perfect detail to include to immediately draw the reader in and identify with his characters and their experiences. This novel is about the aftermath of the disappearance of an 18-year old girl. The different ways in which her parents, and her sister, and her friends cope with her absence and the mystery surrounding it, are illustrated in vignettes told from various perspectives. What I loved was how the characters were all distinct and how O'Nan gave them each their own story but ultimately brought them all to the same place, as if acknowledging the importance of the paths we take, as opposed to the destination we come to. ( )