Vanishing Girls

by Lauren Oliver
Hennepin County Library hardcover 357 pages
genre: YA mystery, coming-of-age, relationships

I didn't like this book but I recognize its merit for older teen readers. My issues?

1. Immediately got the sense that I was being jerked around as a reader. Reminiscent of We Were Liars (Lockhart) and The Raft (Bodeen), I knew there was something behind "what happened" in the accident. I could never really get into the character's stories, because I was trying to psych out what was real and what wasn't. Is she actually in a coma and dreaming this? Did one of the sisters die? Why is the author yanking the reader's chain?

2. The alcohol, illegal drugs, dangerous choices . . . yeah. Don't want this "normal teenage behavior" in my middle school collection. This is more appropriate for older, more jaded readers.

3. The sisters' love/hate relationship was incomprehensible to me. I "get" the older / perfect vs. the younger / "bad girl" dynamic, but why did Dara (younger) keep dragging her older sister into things? And why did Nicole go along with it?

4. Nicole "protecting" her little sister did way more harm than good. I understand that parents who are getting a divorce may not be aware of what is really going on, but they were seeing a therapist and ignoring warning signals. It also just bugged me that Nicole was addressed by "Nick," which made me initially think it was a brother/sister thing.

Okay. It wasn't that bad, but I personally just didn't like it. Parker is a great character. The FunLand bits were good. The Madeline Snow disappearance was interesting.