Picture Me Gone - Meg Rosoff

Pages: 208

Publisher: Puffin

Release Date: 5^th September 2013

Edition: e-book, review copy

Other Titles by this Author: How I Live Now, Just in Case, What I Was, The Bride’s Farewell, There is No Dog

Picture Me Gone is the compelling new novel by the author of How I Live Now.

Mila is on a roadtrip across the USA with her father. They are looking for his best friend but Mila discovers a more important truth. Sometimes the act of searching reveals more than the final discovery can. Adults do not have all the answers. It all depends on what questions you ask. A brilliantly atmospheric exploration of someone on the brink of adulthood from the prize-winning author Meg Rosoff.

If you know me at all you’ll know that I’m a huge fan of Meg Rosoff’s and Picture Me Gone is a book that I feel like I’ve been waiting for forever. It was definitely worth the wait.

As soon as I started Picture Me Gone I began to feel as if it would be in a more similar vein to How I Live Now with its lack of speech marks; internal, almost stream of consciousness, narration; direct address and the emotional intensity. The thoughtfulness and depth of characterisation digs deep and asks some extremely thought-provoking questions.

I was especially interested in the realisation that you unintentionally weave a web of people around throughout your life that you constantly affect, often without meaning to. It made me wonder what would happen if I disappeared like Matthew did: who would be the most hurt? Who would be the most worried? Would anyone know me well enough to realise where I was? Like with all of her novels, Meg Rosoff jumps to the questions at the heart of what makes you human.

The landscape of a bleak spring in upstate New York really reflected the isolation of the characters and the desolation and desperation that caused Matthew to run. I think it was also the perfect place for Mila to learn that the people that she has relied on to lead her in the right direction, be right and good and generally teach her the ways of growing up are flawed too; they don't always have the answers. Perfect, I tell you.

Picture Me Gone is another gorgeously thoughtful novel from Meg Rosoff. This woman continually blows me away.

For my 2013 YA Contemporary Challenge

Thanks to Penguin/NetGalley for the review copy.

Sophie