ARC Review: Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff
16October 1, 2013 by Alice in Readerland
Printz Award-winning author Meg Rosoff’s latest novel is a gorgeous and unforgettable page-turner about the relationship between parents and children, love and loss.
Mila has an exceptional talent for reading a room—sensing hidden facts and unspoken emotions from clues that others overlook. So when her father’s best friend, Matthew, goes missing from his upstate New York home, Mila and her beloved father travel from London to find him. She collects information about Matthew from his belongings, from his wife and baby, from the dog he left behind and from the ghosts of his past—slowly piecing together the story everyone else has missed. But just when she’s closest to solving the mystery, a shocking betrayal calls into question her trust in the one person she thought she could read best.
Thanks to ARCycling for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest and unbiased review. Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff will be released October 3rd, 2013 by Putnam Juvenile.
The Cover
First of all: I cannot possibly talk about the rest of the book before I talk about the fabulous cover. I love all the details in it and how they go so well with the book. I love how it looks like you’re looking out of a car windshield, with the white frost curves on two opposite corners and the outline of the windshield wiper, and how it really fits with the road trip aspect of Picture Me Gone. I also love the neon sign with the bright, right-off-the-cover colors that are reminiscent of the hotel and diner signs that Mila and her father stop at along their journey. The dog on the sign–a nod towards Honey the dog who Mila travels with, and perhaps even a nod towards how Mila got her name–was cute as well. Finally, the falling snow just makes everything look magical to me.
Okay, I think I’ve gotten all my gushing about the cover out. Moving on:
Mila
I really liked Mila’s character and thought she was a wonderful break from your stereotypical lead. Mila was named after a dog (not that she minds) and also has dog-like (or detective) senses. Mila can sense things and figure problems out, making deductions and spitting out what she knows to be facts. What shoes did her mother wear when she went out this morning? They must’ve been flats because she was going someplace with stairs. Is this cabin abandoned? No, because the flower beds are too tidy. She was almost like the younger, nicer, female version of Sherlock Holmes.
The Settings
I love road trip books and I think the road trip was a really great aspect. I also enjoyed reading about the culture differences between London and New York.
Cynical Cindy Says
The author made a choice not to use quotation marks for the dialogue in this story (perhaps to put us deeper inside Mila’s head in a teeny little bit of stream-of-consciousness style). While I respect her decision and that it may work for other readers, it didn’t work for me. While I really did enjoy the aspects of the book that I mentioned in this review, Picture me Gone really wasn’t my type of book.
All in all, I’d recommend this book to readers looking for a a new writing style or a darker “family problems” mystery.
Alice in Readerland 
I just started hearing about this book and now I’m so eager to read it! And yes the cover is fabulous. The setting sounds great too, but I can see how the stream of conscious style could be a challenge to read. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this one :)
I would be curious to see what your thoughts on it are! :)
I read a book that didn’t use quotation marks and I found it really strange and I didn’t like it. Though this book sounds interesting.
This is the first I’ve read with no quotation marks, which book did you read? :)
Too bad it wasn’t what you hoped it would be..that is an interesting choice…that would jar me as well!
It definitely took some getting used to!
Not using quotations marks would definitely throw me, but this actually sounds like something I would enjoy. I agree with you about the cover. It’s stunning. Great review!
I hope you enjoy it if you read it! :)
I’m actually not a huge fan of the cover which seems too busy to me, but I love the idea of a sherlock-holmes-like main character. I like the Veronica Mars TV show for the same reason. Even though the show is more noir than Sherlock Holmes, what I enjoy about both is having such an intellectual main character. I think intelligence is too often portrayed as less important than being popular or adventurously heroic in YA and I’d love to see that change :)
I’ll have to watch Veronica Mars! I agree, I’m glad we’re getting more adventurous MCs, but I’d still like to see more MCs who are proud of their intelligence.
I haven’t heard much about this book yet. But I love road trip books and this one sounds like it could be really good. Thanks for the review!
If you love road trip books, I’d also recommend How My Summer Went Up in Flames! :)
I was basically getting more and more excited as I read your review. The cover? YES. Mila? YES. The Sherlock-y aspects to it? YES. But then no quotation marks? No. Please no. It’s too bad because I love your review and think I would like the book, but wouldn’t be able to stand no quotation marks :)
Ha, I totally get it! It really didn’t work for me (frankly, it still befuddles me), but I think it’s a really interesting choice the author made.
I totally agree with you on the cover; it is gorgeous and it would definitely stand out on the shelf! :) The no quotation marks has me a bit confused however. I get that it was the author’s choice, but personally, I think I would find it too frustrating and give up halfway through!
I really was confused about the no quotation mark thing!