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Mele’s Musings: Celebrating an un-independence day

Australians could wait until next week for election result

<p>As a former middle school teacher, I sometimes like to pick up a young adult novel to see what the kids are reading out there. Lauren Oliver, author of &#8220;Vanishing Girls,&#8221; previously wrote a dystopian trilogy about forbidden love, which I have not read, but I was interested in the story of two sisters that this novel follows.</p><p>Dara and Nicole (Nick) could not be more different. They are close in age and look similar, but Nick is the serious, older sister, while Dara is the irresponsible younger sister. At some point before the book took place, the girls were in a serious car accident, which left Dara injured and scarred, even though Nick was driving.</p><p>The accident left the girls estranged. Nick spent time with her father and his new girlfriend, while Dara stayed in their home with their mother. At the start of the novel, Nick moves back home. She is not permitted to drive, but her mother arranges for her to have a summer job at the local amusement park.</p><p>This job puts her in the path of her former best friend, John Parker, who used to be close to both sisters before he started dating Dara on and off. Nick and John start to grow close again, but she is unable to reconcile with her sister.</p><p>At the same time, a 9-year-old girl named Madeline Snow goes missing while under her older sister&#8217;s care. Something about her sister Sarah&#8217;s story rings false, but no one can put a finger on it. One night, Nick sees Dara getting on a bus and when her sister doesn&#8217;t return, she begins to think something is really wrong.</p><p>Using Dara&#8217;s diary and her own intuition, Nick begins to investigate what happened to Dara, taking her from a dive bar to a dilapidated lighthouse to the amusement park.</p><p>The story skips from past to present and includes diary entries, news reports and emails from the girls&#8217; doctor to her parents. Neither girls&#8217; perspective seems entirely reliable. Between Dara&#8217;s abuse of drugs and alcohol and Nick&#8217;s amnesia after the accident, it&#8217;s difficult to piece together what really happened the night of the accident and what has now happened to Dara.</p><p>Nick becomes increasingly frenzied as she searches for her sister. As the book draws to a close, the twists and turns become more intense. The final revelation of what happened to Dara is shocking and haunting. I wasn&#8217;t entirely taken by surprise but still, it was an interesting ending.</p><p>&#8220;Vanishing Girls&#8221; isn&#8217;t a particularly good book. It&#8217;s definitely designed for a younger reader so keep that in mind if you like thrillers and are looking for a new one. Middle and high school girls will probably really like it, but the older reader might find it cliched and shallow. There are some great middle grade and young adult books out there, but I wasn&#8217;t impressed with this one.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dorothy Sasso</p><p>On the Books</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p>&#8216;Vanishing Girls&#8217;</p><p>Author: Lauren Oliver</p><p>Page Number: 337</p><p>Publisher: Harper Collins</p><p>Rating: &#9830;&#9830; 1/2 </p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Dorothy Sasso is a former Soap Opera Digest writer and a private school teacher. She is busy reading books and raising her two daughters.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

On the Books: ‘Vanishing Girls’ is a decent thriller for young readers