I can understand some of the bad reviews. If you are expecting a mystery or thriller you will be disappointed. If you can't stand not having answers you will be left frustrated. This book is actually a drama about not so much the missing girl but her family and friends and how they deal with the aftermath of her disappearance. At times it got a little boring and I was confused with some of the details that weren't relavant, like all the details about the house the dad listed to sell, I did find myself skimming here and there. But overall a good story. A missing girl. A distraught family. In the hands of another writer, this might have turned into just another thriller. However, Stewart O'Nan isn't as interested in the thriller aspect as he is in what sort of effect an unexplained disappearance of a loved one has on friends and family. Shifting narrative points of view as the story develops, the story left me with a sense of grief, longing and confusion ... just like it does to the Larsen family. When I reached the end, I was as lost by the "incoherence" of life as Ed Larsen. This is my second book by O'Nan (the first being The Odds, which I wasn't a huge fan of), and I plan on reading more.
What do You think about Songs For The Missing (2008)?
I was so bored of it that I stopped reading it about 10 pages from the end.
—allysiawho
