Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance

This is a good book, well written , entertaining even if it doesn’t really have a plot. At first I was somewhat puzzled by the fact that Sally, the main character, tells most of the story addressing it to her dead sister, but once I got used to this, I got to enjoy this different style of narrative. As I was about to finish it, I thought I wasn’t liking the ending but after totally finishing it, in fact I loved its ending. Brilliant! A book I can recommend.

This should really be called something like Love Letter to my Dead Sister. I enjoyed this book, but it wasn't the best I've ever read. I honestly found it very hard to relate or engage with any of the characters in this book. The writing is good, but the story is all told from one person's perspective. You don't really get a good sense of the other characters other than what the narrator says. Growing up, Sally and her older sister Kathy have been infatuated with Billy Barnes from the beginning. Then one day Billy and Kathy start dating. Sally is happy for her sister but soon feels left out and like Kathy only talks to her when she wants something or if it's about Billy. So Sally blackmails Kathy into Billy driving her to school. Unfortunately, on the way they get in the accident which takes Kathy's life. Bonded by tragedy, Sally and Billy try to move on with their lives. As time moves on, they develop feelings for one another...will they act on their feelings or just let the world drift them apart? Told from Sally's POV is the story of love, tragedy, loss and trying to find your way back to yourself.

It quickly falls off a cliff right about the point the reader (me) started to get irritated by the way Sally kept calling Billy, ‘your boyfriend’. Because Sally is obviously obsessed with him and the whole point of this book is for them to get together. Sally is thoroughly unlikeable once she is no longer 12 because who wants To spend time i side the head of someone who is lying to themselves about their own motivations? Everyone saying that this book is so original or about dealing with grief is wrong- its a wish fulfillment tale which is as old as time- mousy awkward (but SMART) heroine is the true love and soulmate of the guy, over his beautiful vivacious popular free spirit girlfriend. Ok, so the free spirit girlfriend is her sister who dies but the trope is basically the same. Read another way, there are hints that Billy is drawn to Sally early on when he’s dating the sister. And the fact that Sally is the catalyst for causing the accident due to her jealousy over her sisters relationship just makes everything that much more sinister.