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doramar 's review for:
Elizabeth Is Missing
by Emma Healey
I loved this book, which is odd as I don't usually like sad stories. And this story is indisputably sad, because the narrator is suffering from Alzheimer's and is obviously deteriorating - there can be no happy ending for her.
And yet somehow, I didn't end the book feeling depressed. Perhaps it's because Maud never feels sorry for herself or bemoans her lot, she just gets on with it. Whatever the reason, I loved taking the journey with her. Of course I don't know what it's like to have dementia (and hope I never will), but I felt the author painted a convincing picture of it.
Maud is obsessed with the fact that her best friend (Elizabeth) has gone missing and it becomes mixed up in her mind with an incident in her past, when her sister went missing. As Maud searches for Elizabeth, we learn all the details of her sister's disappearance. So there are two mysteries, both of which are solved at the end.
The only thing I didn't like, in hindsight, was the fact that.
However, I only thought of that snag after I'd finished reading - at the time it didn't bother me.
Some reviewers have said they found the mysteries too easy to solve but I don't think that was the point of the story, really. The point was Maud's journey.
And yet somehow, I didn't end the book feeling depressed. Perhaps it's because Maud never feels sorry for herself or bemoans her lot, she just gets on with it. Whatever the reason, I loved taking the journey with her. Of course I don't know what it's like to have dementia (and hope I never will), but I felt the author painted a convincing picture of it.
Maud is obsessed with the fact that her best friend (Elizabeth) has gone missing and it becomes mixed up in her mind with an incident in her past, when her sister went missing. As Maud searches for Elizabeth, we learn all the details of her sister's disappearance. So there are two mysteries, both of which are solved at the end.
The only thing I didn't like, in hindsight, was the fact that
Spoiler
Maud was apparently told, perhaps more than once, that Elizabeth had had a stroke and was in hospital - but of course she kept forgetting, which gave the author the excuse not to mention it. But that doesn't make sense, because Maud kept a note of important facts, so why didn't she ever write that one down? Also, several times we read accounts of conversations which she then forgot. So it did seem that fact had been conveniently concealed unlike most others, just to keep the mystery goingHowever, I only thought of that snag after I'd finished reading - at the time it didn't bother me.
Some reviewers have said they found the mysteries too easy to solve but I don't think that was the point of the story, really. The point was Maud's journey.