Where do all the lost things go? (A Place Called Here - Cecelia Ahern)

Member Name: pink_glitter

Product:	A Place Called Here - Cecelia Ahern
Date:	09/10/09 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: interesting, well written, 'fairytale' element

Disadvantages: none

I have started reading approximately five or six different books in the last month and just not been able to 'get into' any of them. Yesterday I wandered into a charity shop and saw two Cecelia Ahern books I hadn't yet read. I'd already read 'Thanks for the memories' and 'Where Rainbows End' and really liked both as well as finding them both incredibly easy to read, so although I hadn't planned on buying any more books, I bought them.

I started with 'A Place called Here' as I had already read the blurb on Amazon and it sounded really intriguing.

~The Plot~

The story focuses on Sandy Shortt, a woman who runs a missing persons agency. She has had a fixation with missing things and missing people since she was 10 years old and a girl at her school, Jenny-May Butler went missing. A huge hunt was launched and Jenny-May's picture was in all the papers and on TV every night, and Sandy became quite affected by this.

Sandy wasn't particularly sure why Jenny-May's disappearance such an impact on her, as they weren't even close friends - in fact, quite the opposite, but it seemed to spark a life long obsession with finding. Anything or anyone that went missing, Sandy would search for obsessively, much to the worry of her parents, who sent her to a counsellor, Gregory, who Sandy fell for.

As an adult Sandy sets up a missing persons agency, and dedicates her life to finding missing people, even though this often shuts her family and friends out. When Jack Ruttle contacts her about his younger brother Donal, who went missing a year earlier, Sandy vows to help. The two speak on the phone several times and Jack feels a connection with her. He feels that she has the key to Donal's disappearance and they arrange to meet up. Sandy though, doesn't show up - it seems she herself has disappeared.

As we the reader know, Sandy went jogging one morning and veered off down some side alley, only to find herself in a strange and mysterious place. Sandy soon learns that the place is called 'Here' and it is the place that all lost people, possessions and even memories such as sounds and smells go to. It feels like the place Sandy has been searching for her whole life, but now that she has found it, all she wants is to go home. As the people living in Here explain, however, there is no way out. What will become of Sandy, why is she in this place, how did she get here, and will she ever get back?

~What I thought~

I absolutely loved this story from the word go. After so many rubbish books I'd attempted to read lately, it was refreshing to find something that drew me in from the first page, and I actually stayed up until 4am so that I could finish it!

I found the character of Sandy extremely intriguing. The effect that Jenny-May Butler's disappearance had had on her life was interesting, and became slightly clearer as we went through the book and regressed to moments of Sandy's childhood and meeting with her counsellor, Gregory. It was one of those books that made me want to read on, I was as fascinated as Sandy as to what had happened to Jenny-May, but I also wanted to know why it had an impact on Sandy so much.

We've all lost something at one time or another and I suppose this book throws up the question of Where do missing things go to? Obviously the logical part of us, tells us that things can't just vanish into thin air, they have to go somewhere, and I suppose Cecelia Ahern's imagination took her to 'Here'.
There is definitely an element of fairytale about this book, and the way 'Here' described was as a whimsical, slightly magical place. At the same time though I felt this book had a real sadness about it too.

Obviously it deals with the subject of missing people, and unfortunately I know myself what it feels like to have someone close to you go missing. Thankfully in my case there was a happy ending after several weeks, when the said person turned up announcing he had been on holiday and not bothered to tell anyone. For other families however, having a loved one - especially a child - go missing for a long period of time must be heartbreaking and Cecelia Ahern writes about the pain and the emotions that people go through when their loved one seemingly vanishes, very well and in fact I identified with some of it from my own experiences.

The character of Sandy is very interesting and likeable, but it was sad to see the way her obsessive compulsive disorder ended up pushing her family and partner away and stopped her making any friends.

The other main character of the book is Jack, who is searching for his brother. Again a very likeable character, and I thought he was also very well written. We saw the affect Donal's disappearance had had on Jack quite clearly, and I thought the way he continued to question himself after all that time with 'What if' was very true to life.

I really enjoyed this book and it is one I will keep to read again. The whole concept of 'Here' was really interesting to me and it was refreshing to read something that was not just your usual 'Boy meets girl' romance. Overall I would definitely recommend this book, it's definitely my favourite Cecelia Ahern book so far.

Summary: A must-read!