Reviews with content warning for Sexual harassment - Monday's Not Coming

I didn’t take the reviews seriously enough when they called this book heartbreaking.
It felt like my soul was being crunched up like gravel as the ending drew closer.

This was such a frustrating read. And it’s done on purpose to make you feel frustrated and helpless because it’s just so enraging that no one seems to care that this child has just vanished.

The way the story is told by changing between past and present was a nice touch, made more so once the big reveal happened.

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mepresley's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I really enjoyed this novel and found it to be a page-turner. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened. Jackson does a fantastic job building suspense, even when the reader knows more than our narrator, Claudia. She also does really well with capturing the voice and mindset of a young teenager. Claudia lacks confidence and is self-absorbed, though she’s also a very sympathetic character.

We see this youthful naïveté principally through Claudia’s blindness to the glaring signs that Monday is being abused, and through Claudia being stuck in the denial and anger stages of grief about Monday’s disappearance, focusing more for most of the narrative on Monday leaving her and the effects that has on Claudia than on concern for Monday’s well-being. It’s extremely human of her.

Jackson deftly weaves the narrative, jumping back and forth in time, and paints a vivid picture of the soul sister —Claudia’s words—friendship between Claudia and Monday.

I knew that

Monday was dead from the start, though I admit that Jackson got me to question it when Tuesday was talking about playing with Monday, even though Monday spent so much time in the closet, and when the social worker reported back to the school that he had seen Monday. At that point, my main theory was that Monday had gotten pregnant and her mom was hiding it by keeping Monday essentially as a hostage in the house. I was surprised at the We Were Liars-style twist: Claudia’s extreme mental health issues and amnesia even in the face of having been told the truth repeatedly—that she has been doing this same song and dance (appropriate metaphor—idiom?—given that Claudia and Monday love dance) for two years.

The ending was a lovely tribute to Monday, and reminded me quite a bit of the touching final dance with Sam and Jules in one of my favorite YA novels ever, A Time for Dancing.

Ultimately, I was frustrated that

we didn’t get to see more of Monday’s journal.

I was a little confused as to when

the bodies were recovered from the freezer and the funeral was held. Did that happen two years ago even though it seemed to be essentially in the present day?

Oh, I also love that we see Claudia’s immense growth

as a writer, from before we even know about her dyslexia; she’s composing this entire story as a kind of therapy exercise, and she does a beautiful job.

Content Warnings

3littlewordz's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Broke. My. Heart. This is one of those books where you have a pretty strong idea of what is going to happen in the first few chapters and you spend the rest of the book bracing for the moment it happens? This was me reading Monday's Not Coming.

This story devastatingly demonstrates what happens when a community is disconnected and everyone "minds their own business". Claudia fought and fought and FOUGHT for everyone to believe that her best friend was missing, and the adults were so caught up in either ignoring what was right in front of their faces or thinking someone else would handle it. Two children were murdered and no one found them for months and months! Claudia's mental breakdown after the discovery of the bodies was jarring (as those experiences usually are) and I was a bit disoriented trying to figure out where we were in the timeline.

I usually appreciate dual timelines, but the two in this book were incredibly close, so at times it was difficult differentiating between before and after the discovery.

Strong themes of child abuse, poverty, gentrification, and failing social services are pervasive throughout this story. PLEASE review the content warnings!

Content Warnings

emilyepew's review

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is unbelievably heartbreaking. It is such a raw portrayal of the things that affect poor communities every single day. I still think about the resolution of this book regularly and I feel so deeply for the kids in this book. Stunningly well written.

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just_one_more_paige's review

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I have seen many readers rave about Jackson's novels. And I've been meaning to read something by her for quite some time. She has quite a few books out now, and there seems to just be consensus that her books are great; no standout or obvious starting place. So, this ended up being a random choice.

When Claudia heads back to school to start her 8th grade year, she cannot wait to see her best friend Monday after a summer spent apart. But Monday isn't there. In fact, weeks go by and she still isn't coming to school - but no one seems to know where she actually is. And as far as Claudia can tell, no one cares but her. She and Monday are as close as sisters, so Claudia cannot figure out why she disappeared without telling her, not when they had so many plans for high school and dance and...everything...that they can only do together. Plus, after all the rumors from last year and how much Claudia needs her help for school, she just knows that something is wrong. Despite getting continued misinformation and run-arounds from everyone she goes to for help, including her parents, school teachers and counselors, Monday's family, and even the police, Claudia will not stop looking for her friend, determined to figure out why no one can tell her where Monday has gone.

Wow, y'all. I honestly don't know what I was expecting, as there can really be no "happy ending" or "uplifting message" to a story about a missing child that no one can find (or even really seems to be looking for). And yet, this was still way more intense than I was prepared for. First, the obvious. It is horrifying and infuriating that something like this can happen. Yes, I realize that this is fictional. However, this is one of those stories that is fiction only because these characters are not real, not because the situation/plot hasn't or doesn't happen. There are some heartbreaking moments when Claudia sees "red flag" moments but doesn't understand them for what they are, due to a mix of naïveté and overprotectiveness and that self-centered POV that youth have before puberty allows for empathy and perspective. Even worse though, are the ways that so many adults both missed and purposefully ignored those same red flags...and a whole child fell through the cracks, hard, as a result. Like, in how many ways, and by how many people and organizations, were Monday and her siblings failed? Jackson raises important and complex questions about who is ultimately responsible for your well being: your family, community, government, etc., but at the end of the day, the safety nets they should be for each other all failed too. And that is just too real.

Some other really intense content was included as well, which gave a lot of wonderful depth and nuance to the story surrounding the primary "issue" of Monday's disappearance. Considering what I do for a living, and the age of the characters, I really appreciated the way Jackson demonstrated puberty hitting in different ways, and at different times, for everyone. In the 6th-7th grade time on page, they were both clearly in different developmental stages, some due to environmental reasons, but some of it also hormonally. I love that they were given that complexity of consideration. There was a deeply impactful look at the stigma around disability, and how far a kid would go to "protect themselves" and avoid that stigma, even if they have all the best, and open, support from family and others around them. It makes you think about where they get those messages from (peers, media, etc.) that are more powerful than even your close friends/family, and how much work we have to do to counteract how harmful that is. In addition to that (internalized) ableism, there is also quite a bit of homophobic commentary, and an incident of digital sexual harassment that could be tough to read, depending on your personal experiences with that. As one more content warning note, there is an aspect of the story that covers miscarriage, specifically, and something I haven't read much before (perspectivally), the children who would have been siblings, which was really tragic.

There’re a couple other things I want to mention too, that had me reacting strongly, even as they held smaller parts in the overall story. The role that dance played in Claudia’s healing was lovely – art is unique in how it can help overcome and I love the central role it got here. I was particularly frustrated throughout the novel with Claudia’s parents because honestly, for all that they were supportive and caring, I feel like they really dropped some major balls, like getting legit mental health care for the daughter (especially after reading the “twist”) and (while I know it’s a cultural taboo about not getting involved in other families’ business) what little effort they made to follow up on Monday’s situation. I was pretty upset about both those things. The timeline really confused me until very close to the end. And I get it, in regards to Claudia’s “twist,” but also, it was so late that it was actually a lot of effort to go back and try to remember which aspects of the story took place during which of the time periods (it did help explain how some of the things Claudia was doing felt ”too old” for her, as an 8th grader, but still, it was a lot to mentally sort). Speaking of the twist…idk if it was necessary? It was a shocking enough reading experience even without that, in my opinion.

Anyways, this book had so much going on. How Jackson managed to make such a compelling mystery, a “taken from the headlines” crime situation, while also addressing as many social and cultural issues as she did, all in a reasonable-length and accessible YA novel is truly impressive. I was invested from start to finish in Claudia’s voice and narration, as well as the mystery of what had actually happened to Monday. I was horrified and shocked by so many things in the end, but in a great story-telling way. The next time I’m in the mood for a similarly emotionally intense and page-turningly dramatic narrative, I’ll be sure to look for another of Jackson’s works.

“She was my best friend. How could I not believe her? If she was lying, it had to be for a good reason. Right?”

“It’s hard facing a mirror and seeing all you are made of and all you couldn’t absorb.”

Content Warnings

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense

4.5

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uhhlexiconic's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

A stunning portrait of a young girl's life before and after her best friend goes missing, Monday's Not Coming manages to walk the fine line between depressing and hopeful.

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cookiecat73's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

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