Elizabeth Is Missing

Part of me couldn't put the book down, although at times I had to, that's how strongly this story affected me. My paternal grandmother had senile dementia when she was in her early 90's, and I found myself constantly thinking of the last time I saw her, throughout this book. She knew I was her granddaughter, but couldn't remember which one. All I could do was hug her and tell her how much I loved her. I never really thought about how dementia must have looked and felt from her view. This story really made me think about that. My heart just broke for Maud and my grandma. It was also very interesting how the mystery of Elizabeth and Sukey played out through the book, while you saw Maud losing herself more and more. There were some occasions when I got a little confused if it was past or present, and I had to re-read a paragraph or two, but the book still deserves 5 stars for a very realistic, albeit sad story. I kept having to remind myself this book was fiction. Kudos to the writer for that! My mother is Maud's age, and though she doesn't have senile dementia, I will think twice the next time my sister and I feel impatient with her and roll our eyes behind her back.

Imagine muddling through the world, trying to reconstruct what your mind cannot quite grasp. Everyday reality escapes octogenarian Maud, but she pushes along, longing for her missing friend as well as her long-missing sister.Amongst vividly vague geriatric confusion, parents, children, and clues are brilliantly interwoven until their truths are inevitably revealed.This isn't the story I contemplated writing about my grandmother, who sat at the window, endlessly watching the squirrels. I wondered what her inner world was, just as I wondered when my mother aged into dementia. Emma Healey has created a virtual world far more sprightly, nuanced, and complex than any I dreamed; in her ramblings, Maud has what is needed to solve the disappearance.Unlike too many of the indie published books I usually read,  Elizabeth Is Missing: A Novel  is well crafted and well edited, with only 2 minor proofing errors.

As a child of a mother who heartbreakingly endured Alzheimer's until her death in 2009, this book is absolutely heartless. Alzheimer's is not entertainment.Furthermore, who wants to be in the head of someone who cannot remember anything and who should be in an institution because she is a danger to herself living alone? It is frustrating how lightly the author takes this.We had to put my mother in a home because she was in danger of trying to cook and burning the house down. Plus, my mother would wander and then not know where she is. The character Maud in this book does those things plus more, yet the daughter leaves her alone in the house with only a 4-hour visit with a caretaker every day.This author is making money selling books which makes light of a heartbreaking family illness. Yes, the whole family is heartbroken. This book is boring, horrible, and painful to read.

I couldn't be done reading this book fast enough and yet I wanted it to last a little longer. It's a book worthy of your time but, if you are going to get something out of it, don't expect it to be a pretty journey. Elizabeth is Missing gives a great insight from the perspective so someone with dementia. The innocence that we (as caretaker, family, friend) don't always see and the handling of situations that we don't always get right. My mother has dementia and yes, I fear it. This book didn't quash my dread of following in my mother's footsteps but it did leave me with a lesson in patience and understanding. That my mother relies on my steady emotions. I might even send a copy to each of my sisters.

I loved this book. We become drawn in by the first-person narration of the story. Maud is in her 80s, and is suffering from dementia. As the story develops, so does the dementia. She must write things down on scraps of paper to remember, and she has become fixated on her friend Elizabeth, whom she hasn't seen in quite a long time. "Elizabeth is missing" she finds written on many of the scraps in her pockets. She has daily caregivers who come in to help her, and her daughter Helen also comes daily. Helen is frustrated because she has a job and a family, and her brother can't help because he has moved to Germany. Helen tries to be patient and understanding, but having to repeat herself and treat her mother like a child takes its toll. Maud has trouble remembering current events in her life, even 5 minutes before, but when she goes back in time to her childhood she remembers a lot. Her older sister disappeared soon after marrying at the end of WWII, and has never been found. There are lots of suspicious actions from her husband, and a single male who is living as a boarder in Maud's house. Since we see everything through Maud's eyes, we can never be sure if she is recounting accurate memories, or getting her sister and her friend mixed up, as both are 'missing'. I was hooked on the first page, and couldn't put the book down. Excellent debut novel from Emma Healey.

This book was recommended to me by someone who knows my Mum has Alzheimer's. I related to MANY of the situations the Alzheimer's sufferer wrote about when I thought about my Mum and her experiences. However, it also opened my eyes more to the thought process of a sufferer and made me understand just how frightened my Mum has been during her deterioration. Whilst reading the book, I laughed, I cried but most of all, I came to understand my Mum more and the love I have always felt for my Mum has deepened. This book draws such deep emotions from the reader, especially if they have a relative who is experiencing this reality day to day. I now find it far easier to be patient and understanding and just want to help Mum to feel safe, which is what she yearns for.When my Mum repeated herself for the 20th time, I always told myself "She's not doing it on purpose" to keep myself from 'losing it' and tried to be as patient with her as she needed me to be. I found the reactions of the daughter in this book quite angry and impatient and I found myself disliking the daughter because of it. I wanted to shout at her for being so insensitive and selfish. My Mum has gone through all of these stages and is now in a Care Home for Alzheimer's and Dementia sufferers. Although she took quite some time to settle in, she is now 'happy' but very confused. The confusion experienced by the sufferer in the book is so sad that I just wanted to hug her and make her feel better. A hug always made things feel better when we were children and, as adults, we all yearn for that feeling. An Alzheimer's sufferer regresses to their childhood memories and a hug is one of the best therapies for them, especially from those they love and feel safe with.

It's definitely a thought provoking book, I wouldn't call it riveting or suspenseful, you can pretty much figure it all out pretty soon but having a story narrated by a character suffering from dementia or alzhiemers gives it an air of sadness, tragedy almost. Like you are witness to someone's demise, the loss of themselves. You can almost imagine that this experience, is quite close to living with that level of cognitive decline. You can truly feel the frustration Maud has at not being understood or listened to, at trying to to hold onto a thread of thought as it flutters away, as she tries to piece together what she knows, from only badly written notes in her pocket. Don't read this book looking for a murder mystery or a thriller, this isn't that. This is a humanity centered, psychological insight into living with something like dementia, it makes you think about old age and cognitive decline, it makes you sad and it gives you just a little insight into those around us living with that level of confusion, panic, frustration and loss. It's a good read, the plot of Elizabeth being missing and Sukey's disappearance is almost secondary, a subplot, the real plot is, of course Maud and her decline. Worth a read

This book was suggested to me by one of my colleagues and I have to say it's an engaging and mysterious read. It details the inner thoughts and goings on of Maud Horsham, a mother and grandmother who becomes increasingly forgetful. However apart from marrows and tinned peaches, one thing sticks resolutely in her mind - Elizabeth is Missing.The book flashes forward and backwards between the present and Maud's past and at times leaves you wondering what's going on and whether Maud's suspicions are correct. The author has done an amazing job of articulating how the thoughts of someone with dementia flitters between past and present, and kept the mystery of Elizabeth going until the very end.I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in reading a lighthearted but intriguing mystery.

I really enjoyed this book. Maud lives in a confused world where the past and the present collide. She is obsessed with her friend Elizabeth who she believes is missing but no-one is taking her seriously. Written from Maud's perspective the author cleverly conveys what it must be like for Maud not to remember what is going on around her and getting caught up in a number of different adventures. Having personal experience of Alzheimer's through a close relative I could relate to a lot of what was going on and whilst at first I was uncertain whether I would find the book upsetting, it did give me a greater degree of understanding of this dreadful disease. Whilst the story is rather sad, there were many times that I would laugh out loud as some of the antics really resonated with me. I would recommend this as a must-read for anyone who cares for someone with Alzheimer's.

Maud is looking for her beloved friend, Elizabeth, who appears to have gone missing. But no one else is concerned that Elizabeth is missing. It becomes apparent that Maud’s obsession with Elizabeth’s ‘disappearance’ relates back to a decades-old mystery. Her fragile mental state (whilst never defined in the book, leads you to assume it’s a form dementia) is gradually falling apart. She struggles greatly in the ‘now’ - forgetting why she’s gone into a particular room and whether she’s even had anything to eat or drink. But her mind takes her back to her youth when she remembers everything with such vivid clarity. And it’s in these visits to her past youth that the pieces of the mystery start falling into place - but not in a linear fashion. You experience some of the toll her fragile mental health has; her confusion and fear, added to her concern for her missing friend, and her love for her family, whom she cannot remember whether she’s seen them that day and she sometimes fails to recognise them. It’s in these ‘now’ moments when the story is at its most heartbreaking. I’ll admit I found some of the story a struggle to read as it’s flips into various points in the past and then into the present, and as you’re living the story through Maud’s eyes her worsening mental state adds to the confusion. But it’s such a good read.