Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance

Alison Espach

2022 • 352 pages

Ratings14

Average rating3.8

From Alison Espach, author of the New York Times Editor's Choice novel The Adults, comes a dazzlingly unconventional love story for readers of Ask Again, Yes and Tell the Wolves I'm Home. The summer before Sally Holt starts the eighth grade begins as a gloriously uneventful one. It's full of family trips to the beach and long afternoons at the local pool with her older sister Kathy, which they mostly use as an excuse to ogle Billy Barnes, who works the concession stand there. A rising senior and local basketball star, Billy has been an unending source of intrigue for both girls since he jumped off the school roof in fifth grade, and their fascination with him is one of the few things the increasingly different sisters have in common. By summer's end Billy and Kathy are an item--an unthinkable stroke of luck that ends in an even more unthinkable tragedy. Set over the course of fifteen years, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is narrated by Sally as she addresses Kathy before, during, and after her death. We watch as Kathy's absence creates a gaping hole that only Billy--now firmly off-limits to Sally--understands and might possibly begin to fill. Charting years of their shared history and missed connections, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is both a breathtaking love story between two broken people who are unexplainably, inconveniently drawn to each other, and a wry, sharply observant coming-of-age story that looks at the ways the people we love the most continue to shape our lives long after they're gone.

Genres

Want to edit this book?Become a Librarian

Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

Christina

When Emily St. John Mandel praises a book as “deeply moving, always excellent, and often unexpectedly funny,” my expectations are going to be sky-high, so frankly I was a bit wary to read Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance - I didn't want to be disappointed if it didn't live up to the hype. Happily, and astonishingly, it exceeded it.

I absolutely loved this book. It's in that elusive sweet spot - strong plot, compelling characters, AND excellent writing. I felt so strongly for Sally - and, even though we never hear from them directly, for her mother, her father, and Billy, her sister Kathy's boyfriend when she died. Even though most of the book takes place in the aftermath of the accident that kills Kathy, she's such a vivid character, too. (I will note that plot-wise, it reminded me strongly of another ARC I've read recently, Kaleidoscope by Cecily Wong. At a high level, they can be described quite similarly - girl loses beloved sister to a horrific accident, trauma-bonds with her left-behind partner, their relationship begins to transform...)

On reflection, it's fitting that Emily St. John Mandel wrote the review she did. She's described her recently adapted-for-TV book, Station Eleven, as a story not about the apocalypse, but about post-apocalyptic joy; Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is similar. Kathy's death is apocalyptic for Sally and her family - but, though their grief is endless, there's joy to be found, too. (Along those lines, while the ending may be controversial, I loved it.)

5+ stars. I'll be buying a copy to reread, and I've requested Alison Espach's first novel from the library.

Thank you to Henry Holt & Company and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

February 1, 2022

Lisa

This book is a perfect description of grief and how differently people can be affected by it. It was beautifully written, and even with the length and not a ton of dialogue I still finished it in one day. Initially I had picked it up to try out a chapter and ended up reading the entire thing. I love the writing style and how we as the reader were meant to be Kathy. I loved Sally's character and the story she told of a grief that spanned decades. Beautiful.

August 9, 2022