Seventeen-year-old Linsey Hart disappears the day before she’s due to leave for college. As her neighbors piece together what they saw and what they think they know about the missing girl, their long-held secrets, prejudices, and entanglements become rudely evident.
There’s Linsey’s mother, Abigail, whose door-to-door searching makes her social outcast status painfully obvious; stay-at-home mom Reeva, whose primary concern is covering up the affair she’s been having with the Starbucks barista; Mr. Leonard, a reclusive retired piano teacher—and the last person to see Linsey alive; George, an eleven year-old gifted loner who is determined to find out what happened to Linsey; and
Timmy, Linsey’s ex-boyfriend, who is left grieving as he embarks on his own college career.
My Review: 3.5 stars
Without hearing from Linsey’s point of view, the main character in this book, we instead hear from a fabulous cast of characters and their actions during the 5 days that Linsey “was gone”. This title leads you to believe this is more a mystery genre than what it actually is. This is a wonderful microscopic look into the lives of the family and neighbors who knew or saw Linsey in some capacity. Secrets are kept and sometimes unveiled during this tumultuous time. It’s interesting to see what happens behind closed doors especially with the excellent descriptive writing from this author. I felt the wrap to the mystery was not realistic although that was what kept the pages turning. Great, quick summer read!
Quotes I liked:
She wasn’t in love with this boy, she told herself, she couldn’t be, but she wanted to eat his history, suck him up, be a girlfriend.”
– “Until high school, I thought she was a snob, but she was just busy doing, while I was busy thinking. Wasteful. Mental masturbation.”
– “…his parents bought him a used Nikon camera he’d coveted from the camera shop in town. Its silvery body was an empty notebook awaiting possible poetry.”
– “He wasn’t even listening. She could open her mouth and birds could spill out onto the table, mockingbirds, crows, raptors, and he’d just get up and leave his dish on the counter and go sit down in his permanently pleated work pants and beige cashmere sweater reading a travel magazine and she’d never know what he was thinking-because he could never know what she was thinking.”
– “…it was as though he walked inside parentheses, keeping him from other words of the sentence, just a bit off from everyone else.”
– “ -maybe there was something about this queen bee she could rely on. Or maybe she was just being lulled by the honey and the wing beats.”
Review:The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar is another excellent example of creating a novel with richly layered characters while comparing Indian and American lifestyles. In this story, Remy returns to Bombay, which he has dubbed the museum of failures, as he sees his native country through the lens of his American life. He’s there to meet his friend’s niece with the hopes of adopting her baby, as he and his wife are unable to conceive. This innocuous trip turns into a much more complex time as Remy is hit with roadblocks time and time again.It’s the story about Remy and his mother that really got to me. He lived a life of never measuring up and feeling quite unloved by her. Through their time together in Bombay, he learns critical information that allows him to see her in a more thoughtful and understanding way. This time away has brought what’s left of his shattered family back together.His trip extends much longer than anticipated and he realizes the value of being home. His American wife Kathy seemed too good to be true, but I did like their relationship, born of trust and equality. Remy’s life as a poet was buried away, but through his visit in India, he realizes the importance of doing work you love, not just working for a higher paycheck.Overall, this was a satisfying read and one that fans of Umrigar will appreciate. Her last book, Honor, along with The Space Between Us, are my two favorites of hers. I haven’t met an Umrigar book I didn’t enjoy!@thrity_umrigar @algonquinbooks 📘: Do you dress up for Halloween? If yes, what's your costume of choice? If not, what's a scary book you've read? ... See MoreSee Less
