Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance

"Very deep, thoughtful and dark novel about grief and grieving. Also funny though."

"5 stars"

"I loved the writing but I hate that the book is characterized as a love story even though it’s a “right person, wrong time” the ENTIRE book. Get a bit anticlimactic. "

"A book about nothing. It had a promising start but ultimately nothing happened. I understand that it was a book about grief and grief isn’t exciting, so I feel weird complaining. "

"Just boring. No ending or wrap up. No mystery or thrill, just bluah. Girl spends 330 pages falling in love with her sisters boyfriend, the sister who died at 16. So her whole family is dead inside, and just witness the sllllooooowww decay of the family."

"If you have an older sister, this might be perfect for you"

"If you enjoy reading coming of age stories, this book is a beautifully told, through the eyes of a sister that has gone through something terrible. <br/><br/>I have certain check marks in my brain that I mentally go through when reading a new book. This book definitely checked off most of them. <br/><br/>1. Well written<br/>2. Keeps my interest<br/>3. Tells a flowing story <br/>4. Can I identify with the storyteller. <br/>5. Do I feel Satisfied at the end of the story. <br/><br/>I really felt the sisters grief and healing process. It is a captivating story that game me all the feels. <br/><br/>I highly recommend. <br/><br/>Thank you to Goodreads Giveaways for allowing me to read this beautifully told story."

"ouch!<br/><br/>on the real, this book is devastating and tragic and also very beautiful and humorous. it feels like reading a long letter from a very real person. being an older sister to a younger sister, I found so much of my family in this book, which made it all the more heartbreaking and real.<br/><br/>I’d say approach this book with caution, specifically if you are close with your siblings and/or have experienced losing a loved one suddenly. but in general, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to see what love and grief really looks like, how they’re intertwined."

"I came across this book as a readalike to [b:Everything I Never Told You|18693763|Everything I Never Told You|Celeste Ng|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1386795198l/18693763._SY75_.jpg|26542311] and yes, definitely a spot on recommendation. Both are bittersweet explorations of grief of a sister and daughter. Espach's novel focuses mainly on Sally's grief, but we do see a bit of her parents'. I loved getting to see how their lives continued to be affected by the loss of Kathy years later, and that Billy remained a part of the narrative too. Also like Ng's novel, the ending is a bit ambiguous, but I'm choosing to believe a happy outcome for Sally and Billy.<br/><br/>Side note, I have no idea why this book is labeled as a mystery here and other places--there is no mystery as to Kathy's death. It's also not a romance in the traditional sense either. I feel mislabeling it both hurts the book and the readers for it. Coming of age and focus on grief are really the best way to categorize it."

"One thing we know for certain is that Kathy dies. Another thing we know is that every life has its limits. <br/><br/>As we move through Sally's life, we witness her desperate struggle to hold on to Kathy as she fades away—not just in death, which we never expect to come so soon, but in the way they spend time together and in their shared routine while she is alive. Change is incredibly difficult, especially when it happens slowly, like peeling wallpaper layer by layer. For Kathy, the life she's always dreamed of is unfolding right before her eyes—having a boyfriend she's had a crush on for years, getting ready for college, and even thoughts of marriage. But for Sally, she's not ready to let go of her familiar space, which includes sharing every little part of their day with one another. <br/><br/>No one can fully explain it until you're in the thick of it yourself, but once you lose someone, they become a part of you in the form of grief, filling the space where you once thought only love would reside. You see grief shape others and never imagine you’ll one day carry that same weight. And you never really realize how much you hate it until it starts clawing at you, scratching uncomfortably beneath your skin. <br/><br/>I love this story because it captures the essence of grief so profoundly—the way it forces us to revisit experiences that now exist only in memory. What makes a novel about grief so good is that the author doesn’t need to mention the word in every other sentence for us to feel it. Sally’s story itself conveys everything we need to understand her emotions and the depth of her loss. <br/><br/>It also had me in tears at the end. I didn't want this family unit's story to stop, even if it was so tragic to experience, it was also extremely beautiful. <br/><br/>I know a lot of people are disappointed because they went in with this expectation of a completely different storyline, but I could not be more pleased. Easily my new favorite author."