There's a little bit of suspension of disbelief [LOTS of coincidences]to totally enjoy this book, but enjoy it you should. It reads fast, but unfolds slowly, and has a highly satisfactory ending that shouldn't come as a surprise, but did to me.
14-16 death-and-dying family
Author 6 books76 followers
July 18, 2018
Niet zo goed als Gebroken soep: deze kon me iets minder boeien. Wel weer mooi geschreven: yay voor het jongensperspectief en Lucas’ ontwikkeling en de thema’s die daarbij horen vond ik goed neergezet. Uitgebreide recensie: //thebookreview.nl/recensies/con...
602 reviews64 followers
November 11, 2011
This novel gets four stars for many reasons, but at the top of the list is that it is a short novel. This makes it an easier sell to reluctant readers, especially guys. Guys are my second top reason for giving four stars. This book is written from a "guy" perspective in a voice that resonates with how boys/men think and communicate.
Women, and maybe even many men, often forget that the "real" male and the fictional male are often worlds apart. Novels abound with stereotypes of men both positive and negative. It is a rare novel that captures the essence of male thinking and being. Male characters are often two dimensional in comparison to their female counterparts in a story.
This novel does a good job of capturing the essence of an eclectic male teen.
I loved the balance between a touch of supernatural [that could almost be coincidence] and realism.
This books has a touch of mystery, a healthy dose of coming of age and a suprising amount of introspection.
Great read for just about anyone:]
ya
443 reviews27 followers
December 27, 2016
Ik had eigenlijk niet verwacht dat ik dit boek met zoveel plezier zou lezen, maar het zat goed in elkaar en heeft me aangenaam verrast!
174 reviews292 followers
December 9, 2017
3,5 sao.
Cuốn này mua cũng đã lâu rồi bây giờ mới đọc, lúc đó chưa xài goodreads, mua vì thấy bìa sách lạ lạ, tựa sách hay hay, tóm tắt nội dung cũng thú vị, chứ nếu là bây giờ chắc mình không mua đâu vì điểm trên đây thấp hơn mong đợi ở một cuốn sách mình chọn đọc.
Trước khi đi tới nội dung thì phải nói tới bản dịch cái đã. Cuốn này làm mình nhớ tới cuốn Cây cầu đến xứ sở thần tiên cũng của Kim Đồng làm. Cuốn kia mình xem phim trước, thấy rất hay nên mới tìm sách đọc, và sau đó thì thất vọng vô cùng luôn. Vẫn là những nội dung đó nhưng cách diễn đạt, dùng từ rất gượng ép, rối rắm làm cho mình đọc mà như nhai cơm khô ấy, không có chút cảm xúc nào, dù đó được đánh giá là một cuốn sách gây xúc động mạnh. Cuốn này cũng mắc lỗi y hệt như thế, đọc rất là khô, nhiều khi đọc xong 1 câu mình phải suy ngẫm xem ý của nó là gì. Vì vậy trong lúc đọc có một số thứ về nội dung thì hãy cứ nhớ là mình đang đọc qua một lớp lọc là bản dịch vậy, dù có khi vấn đề là từ bản gốc thật.
Cuốn này ban đầu gợi cho mình nhớ tới cuốn Người bạn bí ẩn [When you reach me] ở chỗ đều cùng có 1 sự vụ bí ẩn xảy ra xuyên suốt, lồng vào đó là những câu chuyện về cuộc sống hàng ngày xoay quanh nhân vật chính. Nhân vật chính ở đây là Lucas, một “cậu bé” sống cùng với mẹ, người cha thì mất tích một cách bí ẩn, bên cạnh cậu còn có ông bà nội, cậu bạn thân Ed, cô bạn gái [tên gì ấy nhỉ] nhưng tất cả hiện lên khác nhạt nhòa, tất cả chủ yếu xoay quanh Lucas thôi. Chính điều này cũng làm cho cuốn sách mang một cảm giác khá bí bách, vì có rất ít lời thoại, ít những tương tác giữa Lucas với những người xung quanh, hầu như đều là từ suy nghĩ của cậu, và mọi việc mang tính kể lể lại hơn là ở thời gian thực.
Cũng như cô bé trong cuốn kia, Lucas là một cậu bé tò mò, hồn nhiên, suy nghĩ rất nhiều về những việc, con người xung quanh cậu, nhưng mỗi khi tưởng mình đang đọc một cuốn sách thiếu nhi thì những chi tiết hơi “người lớn” về tình dục lại xuất hiện trong suy nghĩ của cậu nhắc mình nhớ rằng Lucas không còn là một cậu bé mà đã 16 tuổi rồi. Điều này gây cho mình cảm giác gì đó không tương xứng trong cuốn sách này, vì nếu bỏ những chi tiết người lớn đó ra thì đây hoàn toàn là một cuốn sách trẻ con. Tất nhiên lứa tuổi đó cũng ở khoảng lấp lửng không hẳn là con nít mà cũng chưa gọi là người lớn, nhưng lúc đọc nó cứ cho mình cảm giác có gì đó không phù hợp cho lắm. Thôi thì ở đây có 2 thứ để đè ra đổ lỗi vậy: hoặc là do bản dịch, hoặc do bản gốc thôi.
Thật ra đây là một cuốn sách khá thú vị, mình thích tựa đề gốc của nó hơn: Me, the Missing, and the Dead [hoặc tựa thứ 2 của nó: Finding Violet Park, mình thật không hiểu vì sao Kim Đồng đặt tựa cho nó là Bí mật tiếng dương cầm, vì hoàn toàn trong cuốn này tiếng dương cầm không có vai trò gì cả, và nó cũng không hề có bí mật gì hết, đọc xong rồi mình mới thấy tựa sách và nội dung chẳng có liên quan chỗ nào, làm mình lúc đầu mua truyện cứ nghĩ đây là một cuốn thiếu nhi kỳ ảo ấy chứ :>
If you don’t like semi-open endings then don’t pick this book up yeah? Cus I rlly wish I new the full story to what happened tbh.
Listen, I know I’ll get cancelled for this or something but I really don’t mean it in a bad way I just want to say that while I was reading it was really hard to set myself into the perspective of Lucas being a guy because he sounded so much like a girl idk why. He just acted a little weird.
Overall… no ❤️
𝙁𝘼𝙑𝙊𝙍𝙄𝙏𝙀 𝙌𝙐𝙊𝙏𝙀/𝙎: “mum says Mercy has low self-esteem. If you ask me, low self-esteem is what most girls live on, instead of food”
𝙁𝘼𝙑𝙊𝙍𝙄𝙏𝙀 𝘾𝙃𝘼𝙍𝘼𝘾𝙏𝙀𝙍: Jed and Lucas [sometimes]
𝙏𝙍𝙄𝙂𝙂𝙀𝙍 𝙒𝘼𝙍𝙉𝙄𝙉𝙂𝙎: Vomiting Disturbed eating patterns [mentioned] Talk of wounds/blood Death of close family members Absent parent Weed, alch Talk of life/death kind-of stuff yk? [Cremation, etc.] Talk of suicide Drunkenness/drunk behaviors [recklessness]
𝙏𝙍𝙊𝙋𝙀𝙎: absent parent
Author 2 books177 followers
April 2, 2021
Hmmm...so a teenager who's trying to deal with being abandoned by his father, finds an ash-filled urn in a cab and decides to rescue it. The said father has vanished into the wind, leaving behind a family of six and a best friend. As the boy unearths more about whose ashes he has, he discovers that the person may be linked to the mystery of his father's disappearance.
The protagonist was likable, even if he did behave like a jerk towards the one parent available to him, i.e., his mom. Unlike the way many YA characters are written, this one made time for his elderly grandparents, rescued the ashes of another older woman who had passed away, and showed growth as the story progressed.
The mystery when it was finally solved wasn't earth-shatteringly shocking. Even though the coincidence behind the mystery seems unlikely, I liked the execution of it. The characters, like the boy's grandparents, were quirky but not enough to become irritating.
To conclude, this was a quick, short, and enjoyable read that kept my interest throughout.
200-300-pages blue-cover contemporary
631 reviews6 followers
October 22, 2019
Verhaal: 4/5 Karakters: 4/5 Schrijfstijl: 4/5 Papier/audio? Gelezen. Herlezen: Denk het wel!
73 reviews42 followers
April 29, 2017
I think the cover is brilliant [much better than the photograph I have taken] and when I first got the book, I thought someone had actually doodled all over it. I remember thinking I liked it and at the same time wondered how could they sell such a book, even if it is second hand, until I read the blurb. Silly me.
I knew the book as Me, the Missing and the Dead [but I must confess I like the title Finding Violet Park better because it is a title that doesn’t give anything away] as it was released in America.
After reading Broken Soup, I came to know that her first book, Finding Violet Park, won the Guardian children’s fiction prize and I wanted to read it [the stunning cover was the actual reason]. Then university happened and I forgot all about it. Jenny Valentine felt like a nom de plume to me but it is indeed her real name [she married her Valentine].
It is odd coming back to an author whose work I had read when I wasn’t as much of a cynic and sullied by the world as I’m now. While reading I felt as if I was reconciling the present and past versions of me, which is weird because it is the first time I am reading this book but my mind associates Finding Violet Park with an earlier time, a pre-university era.
I read a major chunk of the book while awaiting my turn in a long line [which twisted and turned in ways unimaginable] of people waiting for their turn at the registration counter at a hospital. And if my nose wasn’t buried in the book, the two hour wait in the line moving slower than a snail, which ultimately turned out to be for nothing, would have been maddening. If there is anything I have learnt all these years, it is this – Never leave the house without a book.
The book deals with how Lucas, a 16 year old and his family – mother, sister, brother and grandparents, cope after his father goes missing [read ghosting in real life]. It’s a book where death has a strong presence since the other lead character Violet Park, is in a urn [as in already dead]. Their paths crisscross and what happens then forms the rest of the narrative.
Lucas has been forced to grow up before he hit his teens. He is a bit of an oddball and strange for his age but that is what growing up too early does to you. He talks to himself often. I get you. I really do. When others don’t understand the only option left is oneself. He idolizes his father, who vanished without a trace, leaving behind his pregnant wife, two children and ageing parents. And this breaks my heart because I know the truth won’t be pretty.
Though published by Harper Children in 2007 this is not a children’s book but would belong in the category YA [young adult]. The writing is simple but the themes are complex but then YA books have never been traditional and that is what I like about them. Some people think YA books are rubbish and precocious, and isn’t worth the hype. Read the book for the most unexpected pair of protagonists, if not for the themes it addresses – death, alienation, loneliness, assisted suicide, dissolution of a marriage and growing up in a broken family, trials of old age and ravages of dementia all without ever getting heavy handed.
The book is equal parts funny, tender and sad and hopeful though not all at once. And the ending will leave you gobsmacked. I suggest you get your hands on a copy, if YA floats your boat.
"It's what you do when you grow up, apparently, face up to things you'd rather not and accept the fact that nobody is who you thought they were, maybe not even close."
Originally posted at //eternaloxymoron.wordpress.com/
own ya
1,956 reviews80 followers
November 3, 2022
A charming story about a teenage boy whose father has disappeared, who claims an abandoned urn of a stranger's cremated ashes that has been left in a taxi, and starts discovering who this old lady was. I think there's supposed to be a supernatural/magic realism element, but it's not very clear.
ultimate-teen-guide
343 reviews34 followers
February 13, 2009
Lucas Swain is almost sixteen years old, and his dad has been missing for five years when he meets Violet Park on a shelf at a cab office. Thing is, Violet Park is more than a little bit dead and living in an urn at the time.
But Lucas knows that she has something to tell him. Even though she's no longer among the living.
As Lucas tries to unearth the truth about Violet Park and what she wants from him, he realizes that there may have been a connection between Violet Park and his missing father. The more he digs, the more he begins to learn truths about the dad he's always idolized--truths he's not sure he ever wanted to know.
I love this book. It doesn't sound like much from the description, and when you hold it in your hand, a slim little volume, you won't believe that it can worm its way into your heart and make you care, but it can, and it will. In a few short pages you'll get to know Lucas. You'll hear his voice in your head, honest and contempletive and real and true, and you'll want to keep talking to him.
Because like Violet, the fact that Lucas isn't real won't stop you from getting to know him--or from caring about him.
There are lines in this book that ring so honest and true that they break your heart even as you know they're true.
"It occurs to me that all most people do when they grow up is fix on something impossible and then hunger after it...And the thing about everyone else in my family is that we are so busy being miserable all the time about impossible stuff that being miserable has started to become normal and strangely comforting.
I mean, how much would we actually like it if Dad showed up tomorrow and became part of the family again?
Wouldn't it make everyone a bit awkward?
It would be like having a stranger in the house, like a new lodger.
It would be really weird.
At some point, without anybody noticing, the impossible object of desire must turn into the last thing on Earth you want to happen."
And let me just add in one last thing--just when you think this book couldn't possibly get any better, that the ache of goodness and honest writing and characters you've grown to love in such a few short pages couldn't swell any larger in your heart--just wait for the last chapter. Just wait for it. Because it's perfect.
2009 teen
771 reviews27 followers
January 2, 2009
In a nutshell – London teenager Lucas Swain bonds emotionally with the cremated remains of an old famous pianist named Violet, causing him to come to a greater understanding not just of old people, but also of himself, his family, and his long-vanished dad. Oh, and Lucas gets quite a great girlfriend as well.
This is an unusual premise but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that there was no hint of cloying quirkiness about this book. Young Lucas knows that communing with a dead old lady’s ashes is odd, but he doesn’t work the weirdness, much less anguish over it – he just gets on with his life, which at this stage means coming to terms with his damaged family and his own feelings about it.
The tone is matter-of-fact and not quite breezy, just right for all the bits involving slightly eccentric folks such as Lucas’ grandma Pansy and grandpa Norman. They are warm, strange, and wonderfully human – totally believable in other words. Lucas’ affection for these people shines forth and warms up the story.
Less successful is the portrayal of Lucas’ mother. She’s been a wreck since her husband left without a word five years ago – but it’s hard to see why. We get glimpses of her diary, we hear anecdotes from Lucas’ parents’ best friend Bob, and we even hear a bit from the woman herself – but it’s all confusing and contradictory. I didn’t understand her at all, although Lucas seems to come to terms with her eventually. Lucas himself is obviously a good person at heart, even if he occasionally comes across as a jerk [especially to his mom, naturally]. He listens to people and is able to question his own feelings and actions – and even change!- as a result [a trait that is surprisingly rare]. The fact that he befriends the ashes of an old lady demonstrates that this is one worthwhile teenage boy.
Although the emotional issues permeating Lucas’ family aren’t particularly successfully explored, the warmth and understated weirdness of this book make it definitely worth a read.
Grade 7 - 10
ya
2,659 reviews62 followers
June 14, 2017
This is one of those stories that you'll read, and then look up to think 'what on earth?' As with the other Jenny Valentine novels I've read, there's a weird mix of totally unbelievable coincidences and really charming quirky characters. In this story we are asked to believe that teenage Lukas discovers the ashes of an old woman in a cab firm, decides to work out who she is and then uncovers all manner of odd links between himself and the deceased. I liked the way Lukas pursues this, even though most teenage boys wouldn't give it a second thought. He gets the opportunity to grow as a character, learning more about himself/his family and finally being given the chance to join a few missing dots in his life. However, the reality of what he discovers - and the seeming lack of response to it - struck me as beyond reasonable. For too many teen readers this will not grab their attention, and the obvious message we're being given will probably put them off.
September 26, 2018
[By the way I didn’t know how to update the story as I was reading until now so this is my review of the book Mr. Hart]
Heavenly Review of Me, the Missing, and the Dead
The novel ‘Me, the Missing, and the Dead’ by Jenny Valentine is all together about three people. Lucas Swain, a very curious 16 year old who lives in London who is determined to find out how his father disappeared which is the “missing”. The main help along Lucas’s journey to find his dad is with the dead, named Violet. Lucas found Violets urn and is persuaded that she knows and is trying to tell him what happen to his father.
Through out the whole novel Lucas would get more and more clues about his father mainly from Violet which is what I loved. I liked to try and piece together what I thought was happening and what the turnout could be. One quote from page 89 is “and come to think of it, how well does anyone know their own mum and dad”, at this point you can see Lucas already making assumptions about what could have happed to his father. He makes himself double guess his dads actions which makes the reader as well this harder.
Also the ending made perfect sense and was well explained but it may not have ended how many of the readers wanted it to end. Personally I would have wanted a different ending and I can’t say why without spoiling it.
If you like mysteries, and putting clues together then this novel is probably great for you. If you don’t like reading through memorizing details and piecing them together then this book may not be for you.
169 reviews16 followers
August 9, 2015
Tôi đã phải phân vân vài phút khi rate cuốn sách này ở mức 2 sao hay 3 sao. Đây là một trong số ít các cuốn sách mà tôi đã quyết định sẽ đọc lại vào một ngày nào đấy ngay khi vừa đọc xong. Bên cạnh cuốn Rừng Nauy. Nhưng nếu với Rừng Nauy là do cảm giác không thể hiểu được hết thì cuốn này lại là do không nắm bắt được ý chính. Tôi đọc cuốn này như trong trạng thái mơ ngủ vậy, vẫn còn rất mơ hồ về nội dung chính của sách nhưng cũng không phải là không hiểu gì cả. Tôi cho 3 sao vì tôi nghĩ tôi cũng hiểu được một ít. Vả lại có một số đoạn cứ như nói hộ lòng tôi vậy. Thế thôi, một ngày nào đó đọc lại vậy.
72 reviews
September 28, 2017
Eerlijk gezegd weet ik niet wat ik van dit boek moet vinden. Het is een echt vreemd boek en het gaat om 2 nogal zware onderwerpen, de dood en verdwijning. Ik had al het gevoel dat ze aan elkaar waren verbonden, Violet Park en Pete Swain. Maar de manier hoe ze uiteindelijk elkaar kennen en uit elkaar gaan vind ik nogal teleurstellend. Ik ben iemand die meer is van de happy ending. Een minder tragisch einde. Maar eerlijk gezegd ben ik sowieso niet echt van zulke boeken. Ik hou eenmaal van fantasy en dan zijn deze boeken toch minder leuk. Het is totaal niet mijn stijl.
Ik heb het te doen met Violet Park. Het boek draait om haar, maar uiteindelijk weten we niet super veel over haar. Alleen in grote lijnen weten we iets. Voor de rest is het niet alsof we haar echt kennen. Maar het boek is nog geen 200 pagina's dik. Je moet niet te veel verwachten met zo weinig pagina's. Violet Park is een bijzondere vrouw, maar tegelijkertijd ook heel erg alleen. En dat raakt mij wel een beetje. Eenzame ouderen is wel iets wat veel vaker voorkomt dan lijkt. De arme vrouw, helemaal alleen zonder kinderen te wachten op de dood. En dan gaat ze om met een geldwolf. Een man zo vreselijk, die haar achterlaat in een taxi. Het is gewoon niet leuk. Ik vond het boek ook niet super.
Alles is vreemd. Deze wereld mag dan wel normaal zijn, maar de wereld lijkt zo anders. Ik vond het gewoon zo bijzonder. De manier waarop alles zo is zoals het is. Het leven van Lucas en alles eromheen. Het is gewoon anders, en ik weet niet of ik anders wel zo leuk vind.
150 reviews2 followers
December 9, 2017
This was one of those books that I didn't really know how to rate, or how to feel about. It felt a little different from most things I've read, but let me back up. I got this from the library, barely skimmed the title and gave it a shot because library books are low-investment. I sat down and read in bits and pieces.
This book is written exactly like what it says it is, a teenage boy trying to get his thoughts together on paper after some crazy things happen. I wasn't enraptured at first, but in a lot of ways the book grew on me, for doing a really good job portraying what it's like to be a teenage and start realizing some things you aren't happy to realize. I wasn't that big a fan of the writing, and I don't think this is something I'll go back to again or rave about, but it was engaging, and did a good job of being what it is. I was also impressed with how it captured realistically complex personalities and situations in a simple, easy to follow way.
Overall a high three, rounded up because this was just very different from anything I normally read [though that is partially because I don't usually read short dramatic pieces].
2017
123 reviews52 followers
September 13, 2021
This book is gratifying! - 4.2/5
Finding Violet Park is a Young Adult book, and is easy breezy read which you definitely going to end up loving to its core.
It's narrated by a teenage boy who is trying to figure out his father's whereabouts, and also happens to stumble upon an urn containing ashes of Violet Park! Now the whole book is the pursuit of finding them both, uncovering Violet Park's identity and figuring where his father might have gone. It is such an original premise, with a lot of coincidental stuff going on here and there. The characters are well defined and easy to imagine and live through.
The narration is sweet, funny and splendid, I enjoyed reading every word of this book. Such a feel good book, highly recommend, this was indeed a pleasant discovery! :]
fiction humor-me
7 reviews
January 2, 2022
This book is 5/5 because the story telling is so different then other books. At the begining, the main charecter loves his missing dad, but at the end he dosn't like him. Also, the families backstory makes you want to read more, to wonder if the family is stuck like this or everything will turn around. 10/10 👌
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
9 reviews
March 18, 2018
Not a fan. At all. Writing style wasn't to my taste. Plot didn't interest me. Seemed to go very slow for a book of 200 pages
297 reviews4 followers
August 28, 2020
Mon problème avec mon père ne concerne que moi, alors que celui que posent les dirigeants mondiaux moralisateurs qui s'acharnent dans l'erreur et sont cons comme un balai, c'est celui de tout le monde.
1001-children british-literature
450 reviews40 followers
January 3, 2017
I requested this book through our library's ILL program. Usually I request a book because I owe a review on Net Galley and no longer have access to the ecopy, or it is on some Best of the Best list, etc - but for the life of me, I do not know why I requested this book! Despite that, it was a quick read.
Lucas discovers this urn with ashes in it at a cab office and feels drawn to it. Thinking about the urn later, he feels that Violet [the woman in it] is trying to communicate with him. He concocts a story with his grandma to get possession of the urn. Once they have it, he starts to run into people and places that Violet has been more often than can be coincidental.
I should tell you that Lucas' father, Pete, disappeared 5 years earlier when he was 11. He has pretty much put his father on a pedestal and thinks he could come back at any day. He often wears some of his father's old clothing as well. Through all of the information that he finds out about Violet Park, he also discovers that his father knew her and had actually interviewed her.
Lucas may have been right when he thought that Violet was trying to communicate with him. Through her, he learns some truths about himself and his parents, and that people are not perfect, even if you want them to be.