"She’d always told her
daughter that if they ever got separated, she should go back to the last place
they had been together." (9) That is why Jesse continues to go back to the
place where Sophie was last seen 6 years ago. Just in case Sophie would be
there. Whenever she saw a teenage girl with the slightest resemblance or just a
hint of the habits Sophie had, Jesse would follow. Even after a policemen
handed her a pamphlet on surviving the aftermath of a missing child, one verse
stood out to her the most: Never stop looking.
Now divorced and childless,
Jesse was forced to remain in their family home...alone and waiting. She couldn't
even be around Star, Sophie's best friend, without being reminded of her.
Unfortunately, Star knew that
there was no happy ending to Sophie's disappearance with wild scenarios like
torture, rape, and...murder.
Jesse and Star have never been
able to forget That Day, and their sporadic memories take the reader through
intervals of happiness and darkness. At times, the scenes―scenes that were
often filled with drama and heart-wrenching loss― were a little drawn-out,
which tended to create a dreary monotony. I thought there were a few too many
references to birds, but it made sense to have them since Sophie loved birds so
much. The bulk of it mainly centers on the scarring trauma of Jesse and Star,
the only ones that have never been able to move on.
Things certainly take a turn
when Star starts seeing ghostly images of Sophie. How can she be talking to Sophie?
Wasn't she supposed to be dead? And why did she keep coming to her? I thought
the plot would quicken at this juncture, that we would finally get down to the
mystery of what happened; however, it remained stagnant on the emotional dramatic
aspect. Every element revolved around the time Sophie was last seen. The story
didn't really move forward to me.
Overall, the story was
well-written and insightful, however, it was fairly slow and often repetitive. It
was good, but I expected more.
My rating: 3 stars
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