This is a novel I
keep hearing people talk about. It’s a mix of crime thriller and complex psychological
literary experiment – a strange combination that works. Our narrator is Maud,
an eighty-two year old woman with dementia, who realises she hasn’t seen her
friend Elizabeth for quite some time. Still haunted by the disappearance of her
sister almost seventy years ago, Maud latches onto the apparent disappearance
of her friend. The novel then gives us an interweaving narrative both of Maud
at eighty-two and of Maud at sixteen or so (I presume) when her sister disappeared.
With the exception of Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen (which I reviewed a few weeks ago), Healey’s Elizabeth is Missing is probably the most moving thing I’ve read in the last year. Healey narrates Maud’s dementia and increasing forgetfulness in a really tender and touching way. They are some brilliant details. Whether from films and real life we’re very used to the image of an elderly person not quite recognising their relations, their own children, or maybe forgetting where they live – but it’s the internal details I found particularly moving. There are moments when Maud forgets the words for certain objects. In her mind and narration a bath is not a ‘bath’ but a ‘cooking pot for humans’; cigarettes become ‘the things you light up’, and umbrellas are ‘shield’s from the rain. It’s makes the prose more authentic, and the story more poignant.
It’s an incredibly
cleverly written novel, one that I imagine must have been very difficult to
write on a technical level. The reader may know what Maud did and said three
paragraphs ago, but she often has no idea. It makes it not only heart-wrenching
to read at times, but shows off Healey’s excellent writing. The subtle
repetition throughout of phrases, questions and memories, is very effective
throughout. To weave a gripping plot into this complex narrative voice, as
Healey does, is something that really impressed me.
The characterisation
throughout is strong. Maud is sympathetic, complex and wonderful, and I like
Helen and Katy too. In the flashbacks I really get a sense of Sukey and of her
and Maud’s relationship before her disappearance. Frank and Douglas were in
some ways to my mind the strongest characters in the book (with the exception
perhaps of Maud). Frank especially was very cleverly and ambiguously drawn, so
that I could never quite make out his character, in a really good way. However,
I would have liked to know more about Patrick, to have a few more flashbacks to
Maud’s life with him than those few glimpses we do get. And the character I
really wanted more from was Elizabeth. The novel is structured around the fact
that ‘Elizabeth is Missing’, but we see very little of her and Maud’s
friendship. I love the little detail that Maud often brings her chocolate that
her son doesn’t let her have, but I wanted more. It would have been nice (and
perhaps natural, in terms of how memory works), if amongst those the flashbacks
more relevant to the plot, we could have had other ones, memories of her and
Elizabeth’s friendship. I did find at times in this novel that Elizabeth feels
too much like a narrative device to let Maud explore the past.
Which brings me on to
another point. I love novels that have two interweaving stories, and I
especially love novels that have a historical story weaved into a present day
narrative. I love that aspect of the structure of the novel – but at times it
does feel a little clumsily done. That is, Healey feels the need to find a
specific trigger for every memory Maud has of the past, a moment, a smell, a
word, a face, and so on. Now on the one hand, this is natural, and old memories are often triggered by little things,
I imagine especially so if your memory is fading – but not in neat
chronological order. I would have been more than happy for the narrative to
just skip into past tense and into Maud’s memories of the past. As it is each
transition feels a little clumsy and formulaic, especially as most chapters
tend to have the same structure: present, past flashback, present. These
moments of transition feel often quite unnatural, which brought me out of the
story. Still, this is a minor point in the midst of a great novel.
And now we come to
the ending. I’ve heard a few people on twitter getting a little cross about the
ending of Elizabeth is Missing, and I
myself am conflicted about it. The final chapter is fitting, moving, superb. I
had tears in my eyes. (On a side note, it’s just occurred to me that this blog
of mine must give the impression that the majority of my life is spent crying
over books, mostly whilst on trains. I promise it isn’t entirely true. It’s
merely that I happen to read a lot of sad books, and if a novel brings me to
tears I absolutely want to review it and share it with the world. I don’t just cry
indiscriminately at everything I read. I promise.) Anyway, the thing is that I’m
less sure about the rest of the ending, about the resolution itself. It’s not
that I didn’t like it or that I don’t think it works so much as that I’m just
not sure. If you want to read more about my view on the ending click the
spoiler button below, but please only do so if you’ve read the novel, because it’s a
great book and I don’t want to spoil it for you.
Overall, I really
like Elizabeth is Missing. It’s not
only a great mystery story and an engaging read, but an incredibly poignant account
of someone suffering from dementia. Its beautifully written and generally well-articulated.
I strongly recommend it.
Greatest
strength: I think
the natural and poignantly written depiction of Maud’s dementia.
Greatest
weakness: As I
mentioned earlier, the slightly clumsy transitions between present and past.
Let’s
finish on a quote:
‘Elizabeth is missing!’ I shout. I shout so the part of my brain that forgets
will stop forgetting. ‘Elizabeth is missing!’ I shout it again and again.
SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!Hi.I got a real pit drop in my stomach as I reached the conclusion and Maud says she buried Sukey(just after they've discovered her remains buried in Elizabeth's garden) and Helen says 'no you didn't".Maud drifts into reverie and remembers burying Sukey in the sand at the beach when they were ids,but seems confused and hesitant when she says this.It's like the memories have overlapped and both are true.Sukey killed her sister.She was very jealous of her life and was attracted to her husband.After killing Sukey she always wore her clothes and make up and went to the same dances like her,she so wanted to be her and needed to replace her......Oh god I don't know...but there was something there at the ending of the book that threw me.As has been stated,the narrator of the book is very unreliable!!Does anyone else think this to be the case??
ReplyDeleteInteresting! I hadn't thought of it like that, but I suppose you could read it like that, and the end was quite confusing... How do you think that would work with the 'mad woman' and her role in the story?
DeleteHi,thanks for the reply.I'm probably reaching with my interpretation,but I think I'm on to something or maybe its just me !But that passage is very disconcerting in how Maud's fractured mind slips into the truth for a mere second and then her memories start to meld and break again.It is only about three lines in the book,but it was enough to startle me.I actually think the 'mad woman' is just a standard literary device to juxtapose Maud's present day mental state and the 'mad womans' mental state to show how they both reacted to the loss of a loved one and how society can misread their behaviours and marginalise them from society as being odd or peculiar.They both suffered similar fates in regards to their losses.Hey I'm just riffing,I have no idea really.Would be interesting to see it on the big screen.Saoirse Ronan to play Sukey,Vanessa Redgrave to play Maud!You heard it here first.
ReplyDeleteOoo very interesting. I feel like it's the kind of book I really need to reread! But yeah, I'd love to see a film of it. I'm sure they must be doing it - it's been so popular.
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ReplyDeleteSo I didn´t understand so well where Sukey was found and what happened to Elizabeth? Can you help me pleeasse!? :)
ReplyDelete