Book Review: ‘Picture Me Gone’ by Meg Rosoff

I haven’t read any of Meg Rosoff’s books before. I know, I know. Everyone tells me how awesome they are. As with most things, I am missing out. What finally propelled me to read Rosoff’s latest Picture Me Gone was…

1. A copy arrived in the mail, thanks to Penguin.

2. I was missing Hannibal, the new NBC show that aired earlier this year. The main character of Picture Me Gone seemed like a person who can experience a form of pure empathy, which reminded of Hannibal’s lead character, Will Graham.

Anyway, it doesn’t take much reason for me to read a book, especially when I’m feeling like I’m in a reading slump. That’s how I was when I cracked opened Picture Me Gone on the train to work one morning. As with most books, I didn’t find myself absorbed right away. But eventually, as we get to know Mila and she becomes more and more involved with the mystery of the novel, we do too. Picture Me Gone is an odd little book. From the outside it doesn’t seem astounding, but its subtlety, language and unique main character make a rather non-spectacular story into a riveting and thoughtful piece.

Mila has excellent observation skills. Her intuition is almost beyond comprehension. She notices things that most don’t and can piece together the most insidious clues. It’s no surprise that her father chooses to bring her along on a trip to upstate New York. Mila and her father are from Britain, and the trip originally was supposed to serve as a long-awaited reunion between her father and his best friend, Matthew. Days before they leave for their trip, Matthew goes missing. His disappearances aren’t considered too strange, since this isn’t the first time Matthew has gone away without notice. However, this is the longest he’s been gone, and Mila and her father decide to go ahead with the trip in order to find him. Along the way, they uncover mysteries about the elusive Matthew and discover secrets they never anticipated on finding.

Picture Me Gone is a slow-moving novel, but that’s exactly the right pace for a story like this. Mila and her father spend most of the book road-tripping through small towns in upstate New York. The constant steady movement helped create a slightly eerie and picturesque world. This is mostly thanks to Mila’s observational and inquisitive nature. It’s really the shining gem of the novel because she is so different and it’s fascinating. The writing style of the novel adds to this by going without quotation marks for the dialogue. It makes us feel like we are in Mila’s head. At first, it’s jarring, yet makes the story all the more interesting.

In terms of plot, it’s nothing especially shocking or groundbreaking. It’s really all about how Mila sees it unfolds and what it reveals about these characters. There are suspenseful build-ups here and there, but to call it a flat-out thriller would be kind of wrong. It is a reading experience worth taking though, especially if you’re in search for a different type of character. Regardless, it doesn’t need the shocks or surprising twists to be memorable; the plot’s ordinariness in contrast with the main character’s distinctiveness makes Picture Me Gone quite unforgettable.

Rating: 9/10

Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff is now available wherever books are sold.

Book Info:

Publisher:  G.P. Putnam’s Sons (October 2013)
Length:  256 pages (Hardcover)
Series: N/A
Source: ARC (Provided by publisher)
Genre: Young Adult, Fiction, Mystery
Completed: November 2013