Picture Me Gone

rozeb - I really can't write a long book review for this book because, well, I did not like it. The only part that I liked was when she met Matthew and decided she shouldn't have sent those texts. That part was really the only part where I could feel how she felt. One of the things that I thought was really annoying with this book is that there were no quotation marks used at any part in this book. That drove me crazy. I hated the Mila's best friend's character. She was not interesting in the way the author created her to be. The first 5 chapters kind of dragged on forever and I felt like there was a cloud over my eyes when I was reading this. It was almost like it was a rainy day and I could almost see how the characters felt...But not quite. So, I guess this did turn out to be king of long, but most of it was spent complaining about how I did not like it.

Starred review from August 26, 2013
Twelve-year-old Mila has remarkable powers of observation, but even more impressive is her insight into people’s minds. This may be why her college-professor father takes her with him from London to America to track down his oldest friend, who has suddenly disappeared, leaving his wife and young son behind. The mission, which takes them through upstate New York, is more complicated than Mila expects, with clues not quite adding up and disturbing secrets unveiled, including the realization that her father hasn’t been entirely honest. Teeming with complex adult problems—infidelity, marital collapse, the death of a child—this thought-provoking coming-of-age story requires that readers be at least as mature as Mila as she confronts unpleasant truths. Yet Rosoff’s (There Is No Dog) writing isn’t all gloom and doom. Mila’s sharp observations of the people she meets and the winter landscape add a fresh, poetic aura to her discoveries and the novel as a whole. “The sun is shining, the sky impossible blue,” she thinks. “The world looks so dazzling, I almost can’t bear to look at it.” Ages 12–up. Agent: Zoe Pagnamenta, Zoe Pagnamenta Agency.

Starred review from August 15, 2013
Mila, 12, a keen observer of people and events, accompanies her translator father, Gil, on a journey from London to upstate New York in search of Gil's lifelong friend, who's disappeared. Mila applies her puzzle-solving skills to the mystery of why Matthew would abandon his wife and baby, not to mention his dog. On a road trip to Matthew's cabin in the woods, she mulls over the possibilities while Gil keeps his thoughts to himself. Mila, who finds strength in her multinational pedigree and her ability to read people, is the one who eventually puts the pieces of the story together. Rosoff respects her young character, portraying her as a complete person capable of recognizing that there are things she may not yet know but aware that life is a sometimes-painful sequence of clues to be put together, leading to adulthood. The author skillfully turns to a variety of literary devices to convey this transition: the absence of quotation marks blurs the line between thoughts spoken and unspoken; past, present, and future merge in Mila's telling just as they do in the lives of the characters as truths come to light and Mila is able to translate Matthew's darkest secrets. A brilliant depiction of the complexity of human relationships in a story that's at once contemplative and suspenseful. (Fiction. 11 & up)

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Starred review from October 1, 2013

Gr 7-10-Rosoff is back with another young protagonist trying to navigate the confusing adult world. Mila, a middle schooler with a knack for tapping into others' secret thoughts, travels to New York state from London with her father. Their original plan had been to visit with Matt, the family friend who once saved her father's life, but he disappeared two days before their arrival, creating tension between Mila's father, Gil, and Matt's wife, Suzanne. Gil and Mila leave Suzanne and her young son behind as they search haphazardly around northern New York, looking for clues about Matt's whereabouts. Along the way, Mila exchanges several texts with him and wrestles with keeping them secret from her father. As more characters are introduced, Matt's reasons for leaving become even more clouded, and Mila's father is implicated as an accomplice in the disappearance. Mila must keep her wits about her to get to the bottom of this complicated scenario. With strong characters and a well-articulated plot, Picture Me Gone is a welcome addition to any collection. The author accurately captures this mature adolescent's view of adults without condescension or judgment, a feat worthy of praise. Complex issues are dealt with, and, true to the novel's trajectory, a tidy ending would have been out of place. Rosoff does not disappoint.-Colleen S. Banick, Westport Public Schools, CT

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2013
Grades 6-9 *Starred Review* Mila, 12, is something of a mentalist. She can read expressions, sense underlying emotions, and put human puzzles together. Even though her father's lifelong friend Matthew has gone missing, Gil and Mila carry on with their plan to fly from England to Matthew's home in upstate New York, only now, instead of a visit, the purpose of their trip is to find him. The story is presented as a mystery, and it is, but it is so much more. Rosoff, who writes each of her books differently (and often brilliantly), shapes this story as much by form and intuitions as by events. In making the choice not to use quotation marks for the dialogue, readers are immediately pushed inside Mila's head. Every conversation is filtered through her observations; even the way she can read Matthew's loyal dog, Honey, informs what she learns and understands about Matthew, including his motives and machinations. Wisely, Rosoff also provides a parallel subplot about Mila's own best friend that anchors Mila as a recognizable 12-year-old. Without that plot point, her multinational heritage and surprising gifts might make her hopelessly other. As readers move deeper into the story (literally deeper as Mila and Gil find themselves in snowbound rural settings), Matthew's situation becomes a surprising tunnel for Mila to learn more about her own father and what adults are capable of. There's no condescension or compromise to the obvious audience either in premise or prose. It's another choice, one that allows the book to offer its many insights on the human condition to a widespread readership.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)