All the Missing Girls book club discussion (all can join!)

[aurora]

Mar 22, 2017 10:48:18 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

So I really was super impressed by Miranda's ability to tell the story in reverse while still keeping the suspense by withholding just enough information without making it too confusing. The idea of "foreshadowing" being really "postshadowing" in this case was pretty cool. She even put flashbacks to high-school through out on top of all that.

But I think if you took the story and put it in chronological order, it wouldn't really be too interesting honestly. And I don't mean just because you would immediately know what happened to Corinne and would know about the black mail. I mean, the idea of all of them lying only because Jack didn't want anyone to know he left her alone out by the caves and because Tyler thought the police wouldn't believe that Corinne really did step into the path of the car on purpose, and the idea that a young teenage girl would blackmail Nic's father - it's just weird. The explanation of why Laura killed Annaleise was also a bit of a stretch. She killed her because she had an affair with her husband when she is pregnant? And Tyler got to her body out in the farm field before the police did but not enough time to do anything? What was he going to do anyways - it was already reported the police were on their way and someone would have seen him putting a body in his truck I would imagine. And why would he try to hide it anyways, he didn't kill her, right? The motivations just didn't add up to me.

So I have a very high appreciation for how the story was told - technically speaking it was very very memorable. But the plot itself, once you boil it down to what actually happened in the correct order - eh. Kind of average in my opinion.

That might be the case, but I wonder if a really complicated mystery told chronologically would have been just impossible told in reverse order. I think a big part of the draw of this book for me really was just thinking about how to tell the story in reverse.

[aurora]

Mar 22, 2017 18:57:09 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

...

The whole she cheated on her completely blameless fiance but it's ok because it's her childhood sweetheart and they were meant to be together thing irritated me too. Then she gets pregnant instantly so everything comes full circle and now she gets to live happily ever after with Tyler? Blech. 

...

I don't think Nic was right to cheat on Everett, but I also never thought he was right for her. He just didn't seem to get her, or maybe she was never comfortable enough with him to open up and show him who she was. Either way, I didn't think they should have ended up together. Now, that also doesn't mean she necessarily should have ended up with Tyler, of course, but at least he seemed to see her for who she really was.

[aurora]

Mar 22, 2017 21:12:34 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

Mar 22, 2017 21:10:38 GMT -5 Vespasia said:

I think it's what Corrine was saying to Nic while they were waiting for the pregnancy test results.

Oh I think you're right! Still. How did that have anything to do with all the other times it gets said in her head? I still don't get it.

I had forgotten about that, but it seems like being a teenager finding out you're pregnant, deciding to keep the baby, and then losing it to miscarriage would be traumatic enough that little memories from that time would stick in your head.

[aurora]

Mar 23, 2017 12:08:02 GMT -5 cole said:

Loved the reverse chronology of the book.

Everett = snoooooze

I think Tyler hit her because 1. He was upset and didn't control his emotions, and 2. Red herring like travella said

I disagree with CheeringCharm that a vehicular manslaughter conviction isn't the kind of thing that ruins your life, I think it would absolutely set someone down a different path and could see lying about it. Especially regarding a person who at the top of the ferris wheel told her to kill herself.

Yeah, I can see why (especially) scared teenagers would try to avoid all of the issues that an investigation and possible prosecution would cause.

[ufcasey]

Mar 24, 2017 13:41:02 GMT -5 aurora said:

Mar 22, 2017 9:47:46 GMT -5 ufcasey said:

...
Tagging people who have said in previous posts that they have read the book or are reading it:
rachelgreen , anglashly , cole , brewco , aurora , travella , spedrunner , CheeringCharm , mrspez07 , Vespasia , doxies , rainbowchip , monkeyfeet , litskispeciality , jojoandleo , jr009j , charlatti , RoxMonster , robyn , fiddles , ksun ,

I am really impressed you kept a list. What an organizer!

The power of Google I was even able to find people who mentioned reading it on other boards
*waves hi to those people who hopefully won't think I am a weird stalker or something*

[leeba25]

Ok, I finally finished this one last night. I have so many thoughts.

First, re: the reverse order. It bugged me a lot but only for a short time in the middle. And I think that was because I was feeling anxious like I wanted to finish it, and so busy at work that I haven't had a lot of time to read this week. I appreciated it by the end, because everything unfolded beautifully in the way she told the story. At the beginning we had "normal" Nic, who was pretty put together, coherent and generally on top of things. But then, bam, we are two weeks in the future, no idea what's happened, and she's a hot freaking mess. Somebody's watching me from the woods? I have to hide these papers before I answer the door? She was unhinged, which I think added to the dark and uneasy tone of the story.

The false flags were all over the place, and I guess that's just part of a mystery, but it can be somewhat annoying.

I thought the reveal was a little bit "meh." I thought because of how dark the story seemed to be, that it would have been something much more terrible than what it was. That being said, the father hiding Corinne's body was pretty ridiculous. He decided that he's going to try to be a father, for once, and ten minutes later decides to haul a teenage girl's dead body into his car, and hide it in the foundation of the house?! What about her family? He was willing to let the family have this unfinished mystery forever just so - what? - his own daughter didn't have to potentially have to be implicated in her death? Which he knew nothing of the cause anyway? How does one go from somewhat negligent drunk father to ... that? And maybe I missed this, but was it supposed to be that when he pulled over, he heard or saw Tyler and Nic there, and knew or figured that they had done something?

Also, and I guess this is minor, but I am having trouble picturing her hanging from the outside of the ferris wheel and then jumping down without killing herself. I guess she waited until she was closer to the bottom, but then you have the metal stands where people are waiting and boarding. I wish that whole part were fleshed out a little better, actually. I didn't even realize what Corinne was telling Nic until I read this thread. I know she said "jump" but Nic did jump ... I guess I didn't understand that she meant that Nic should jump from the very top and that she meant that she thought Nic should kill herself. Maybe I missed it in my crazy week I've had, but the whole thing wasn't as clear as it could have been, imo.

[Vespasia]

leeba25 I found that stuff with her dad to be incredibly far fetched and annoying too. He went from being blackout drunk to master body hider? Pfft.

[expectantsteelerfan]

I wasn't a huge fan of the book.

I didn't realize it was told in reverse order at first, and it took me a few chapters to catch on because I don't really pay attention to chapter titles. Once I realized it, I thought it was a cool idea, but it got old for me instead of getting better, and the more I got into it, the more I realized, like ufcasey said, it wouldn't have been that interesting or even logical a story if told in correct order.
Like vespasia, I thought the book was trying too hard.

My irl book club was reading "Before I Fall" last month, and it had a similar vibe with a non-standard timeline, a larger than life best friend of a teenage girl protagonist, but it was majorly YA. I read them at the same time and couldn't help comparing them. I feel like the language of "All the Missing Girls" was more sophisticated, but the characters of "Before I Fall" were still so much better and I found myself picking that one up more often and finishing it first.

[leeba25]

Mar 27, 2017 18:49:21 GMT -5 expectantsteelerfan said:

My irl book club was reading "Before I Fall" last month, and it had a similar vibe with a non-standard timeline, a larger than life best friend of a teenage girl protagonist, but it was majorly YA. I read them at the same time and couldn't help comparing them. I feel like the language of "All the Missing Girls" was more sophisticated, but the characters of "Before I Fall" were still so much better and I found myself picking that one up more often and finishing it first.

You make a good point here. IDK if it was deliberate as part of the creepy vibe, but the characters - especially Corinne - were not fleshed out very well at all. This goes back to my comment about not even knowing what really happened on top of the ferris wheel, and  also someone  else's comment previously about how the Bailey character just sort of went nowhere. 

[minzy]

I'm super late to the discussion, but just finished this today. I did like the reverse storytelling; it kept it suspenseful and a page turner, which I appreciated. The false flags kept me guessing. At one point I considered that pretty much any one of them killed Corinne, but I did not suspect Annaliese's killer too much in advance. It did seem to be teeing up that Nic's father hit Corinne as a drunk driver, while off to retrieve his defiant daughter, instead of Nic hitting her while driving Tyler's truck (especially since she didn't seem to see or feel the impact and that it took her ten years to figure it out!?!). There was so much talk about the caverns and the woods and I think they were employed to keep a sense of spookiness, but not too much actually happened there. I thought Nic's pregnancy was not explained enough - I guess we're supposed to assume she lost it in the accident?

I think they were scared but also each had something ugly to reveal about themselves or someone else if they told the full truth about the night Corinne died. I actually don't think Daniel had an affair with Annaliese - I think she had been blackmailing him for awhile since the father was incapacitated. She was pretty twisted. Corinne's home life definitely seemed to have had an impact on how she manipulated everyone. Nic's chemistry was definitely stronger with Tyler than Everett, but I didn't like how she just strung him along for years and reverted right back to her 18 year old self when she was home. I agree that the brother hit Nic because he was terrified she was going to hurt herself on the Ferris wheel, and she was the only family he had left.

Thanks to the board for the recommendation; I might not have picked this one up on my own.

[anglashly]

I hate that I am late to this. I loved this book and was really looking forward to the discussion. Stupid work.

I will go back and read what else has been posted

[anglashly]

- How did you like the reverse chronological storytelling? Yes. I really enjoyed it and I have never read something like that before.
- Did the false flags bother you, like when Daniel tells Nic to get out after she says Tyler was with her? No. I think this played its part in telling the story. I for one hate being able to guess the mystery and I loved that this had me going till the end and I had several suspects in my head throughout reading it.
- Why do you think they all lied about what happened the night of Corinne's death? I think that they were young. I remember that there was drinking at the party. While Nic wasn’t drinking due to the baby she had alcohol spilled on her or something. I think that they were afraid to get in trouble and I also wonder if they truly knew that she was dead.
- Do you think Daniel had an affair? Yes I do.
- Why do you think Corinne was so twisted up? I think that Corrine had a little bit to do with it. They had a very toxic relationship and that can cause people to have issues. I think that she obviously buried what happened the night of Corrine’s death and never fully dealt with the fact that she had a part in it.
- Who were you rooting for, Tyler or Everett? I at first was rooting for neither. I felt that Everett was for her since he didn’t know the real her, but I also thought Tyler was holding her back. Tyler grew on me though and didn’t seem as selfish as the book went on and we learned more about him.
- Why did Daniel punch Nic? This is my main question on the book that I don’t really know the answer to. I know that he didn’t like her with Tyler and she had just done something really stupid, but I don’t understand the violence. I guess it was to show that he could lose his temper.

[litskispeciality]

I haven't had a chance to read everyone's reaction yet, but I can't wait. I think I missed a few things I hope you can fill me in.

- How did you like the reverse chronological storytelling? This was ok. I said before that I didn't have time to read this in big chunks. I think that would help. I also liked another post about reading this backward as see if that helps fill in my gaps.

- Did the false flags bother you, like when Daniel tells Nic to get out after she says Tyler was with her? Haven't really thought about it, but yes. Looking back I never considered Daniel to be the killer.

- Why do you think they all lied about what happened the night of Corinne's death? Hmm, I guess because it's easier to pretend it didn't happen? They were so young and scared. It doesn't make what they did right, but I think they felt like Corrine "deserved it" a little bit. Just in the sense that she was always pulling things on people etc. They didn't feel "as bad" about her demise?

- Do you think Daniel had an affair? I think so, but I'm more disappointed because she was 10 years younger. I guess age doesn't matter, but it's kinda creepy seeing as though she was the little girl next door. This sparked a question for me if Laura got pregnant on purpose after finding out about the affair to trap him so to speak? As Nic said, Laura had a whole future planned, this affair would/should end her marriage and end that plan. I assume she doesn't want to be a single mom...so it's almost like she's punishing Daniel? But that doesn't seem right or fair to the baby...

- Why do you think Corinne was so twisted up? Sounds like she had some trouble at home. Who knows what example she had growing up.

- Who were you rooting for, Tyler or Everett? I didn't really care for Everett and Nic made it clear she wasn't that happy. I think it was a convenience engagement. Like she said he proposed to show he was serious. She was happy with his financial stability. I didn't necessairly root for Tyler because she left the small town for a reason (although later we found out why). I wasn't sad they ended up together again at the end, but I wasn't happy either.

Overall this was ok, but a bit of a let down. I think maybe it was just overhyped with the backward story. It was hard to keep my interest, and I never suspected it would end the way it did. Should I have seen that coming?

My follow up questions, although you may have addressed these:

Do we know that Laura did kill the younger girl?
Did Nic get her ring back at the end? She ended up giving the ring to the girl to cover up Corrine's body?

[ufcasey]

Apr 10, 2017 12:43:59 GMT -5 litskispeciality said:

My follow up questions, although you may have addressed these:

Do we know that Laura did kill the younger girl?
Did Nic get her ring back at the end? She ended up giving the ring to the girl to cover up Corrine's body?

I think so because she called Laura/Daniel's house but Daniel was with Nic I think?
She didn't because Tyler didn't find the ring on her body but Nic suspected that the girl's brother or someone in their family found it and kept it from the police? That's what I think I remember anyways. Hard to keep details straight with that crazy book