Vanishing

by Bruce Brooks

Alice just can't stop crying. To her, it seems as if it should be simple. If your parents split up, you live with the one who understands you best. Alice's father had always been the one to "get" her. But somehow she had ended up living with her mom, who drank too much, and her stepfather, who didn't like her and didn't care who knew it. So when a bout with bronchitis lands her in the hospital, she decided she just can't face going home again--ever.What if she simply stops eating--goes on a hunger strike? They would have to keep her there, wouldn't they? It seems like the simplest solution, even when the hallucinations start, even when they kind of take over. But suppose she goes into a coma--or dies? If that happens, she'll have her new friend Rex, the mysterious boy who says he's dying, but whose jaunty ways have brought Alice to life.

Once again, Bruce Brooks tells an intriguing story that puts new twists on the oldest, biggest issues--love, death, and taking charge of your own life as you move toward adulthood.

Genres: Young Adult, Family, Psychology

103 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Bruce Brooks (born September 23, 1950) is an American author of young adult and children's literature. He was born in Washington D.C., but spent most of his time growing up in North Carolina as a result of parents' being divorced. Although divorce is never easy for a child, Brooks credits moving around a lot between the two locations with making him a keen observer of social situations. Switching schools often and having to make new friends evolved his ability to tell good stories. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972, and the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1980. Before earning a living as a writer, Brooks had worked as a letterpress operator and a journalist for magazines and newspapers. Brooks has reported a very diverse list of influences, like Charles Dickens, Henry James, P.G. Wodehouse and Raymond Chandler. Brooks has three sons: Alex, 23, Spencer, 15, and Drake, 1. He lives with his wife Ginee Seo in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Reviews

[Keven Pantaleon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vanishing by Bruce Brooks is very depressing book because it is touching to see people with wild illnesses, like Alice who was suffering from bronchitis. Alice had an abusive family by her mom being an alcoholic, and her dad that left her. Alice had a friend in the hospital named Rex. Rex was a boy with cancer and he was dying. It looked like Rex was going through depression and he didn’t care about anything at ALL, like he hated his life and he just wanted it to end. This story makes me grateful that I don’t have a wild disease like Alice, with bronchitis, and that my parents are abusive. I would recommend this book that are looking for a short story, and to make them grateful about themselves. I wish this story was longer, but i really enjoyed Vanishing, by Bruce Brooks.

[Claire Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really wish this book was longer, or had a sequel. It was well written. ;3

[Pyrate Queen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eleven year olds Rex and Alice are roommates in a hospital ward and are "vanishing" from this earth: Rex into a terminal illness (he calls himself the Prince of Remissions) and Alice into anorexia-induced hallucinations.

Alice has imposed a hunger strike upon herself in the hopes that she won't have to return to her cold mother and domineering stepfather. The irony of her choice- death over a difficult life- is bitterly amusing to Rex in contract to his own situation. The story is saved from the pathos by the exchanges of gallows humor between the two kids and their wiseacre nurse, as they spar to see who can put up the coolest front.

But when Rex is taken into intensive care for his last hours, he finally drops his pose of sophisticated detachment to convince Alice that "dying sucks"- an admission that helps her makes the choice that Rex has been denied.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember reading this book when I was in elementary school and was completely obsessed with it, (yes I was an odd child). Its moving, emotional, and will leave you feeling raw. I took a star off because it might be a little too depressing but I didn’t mind it too much. That and the dry sense of humor was right up my alley, even then.

[Abbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

very good book

[Barbara Bengston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging story, good use of humor.

[Pollypan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a valuable book as a teenager. Rereading it, dreamy style of writing isn't up my alley. Solid points though.

[Josiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Vanishing, we see a life teetering on the edge of the abyss, an eleven-year-old girl (Alice) whose life at home with her alcoholic mother and cold stepfather is bad enough that she chooses to stay in the hospital rather than go home. The leveraging point for her indefinite hospital stay is her refusal to consume food via conventional methods. Alice is withering away, nonetheless, and after weeks of virtual starvation her body and mind are beginning to detach and simply float away into nothingness.

Alice can dimly see the finish line of her life in the distance. Her roommate in the hospital, a boy named Rex who is afflicted with ostensibly terminal cancer, is the only one who can effectively call her back from her moments of suspended animation, from the hallucinations that have become as real to her as anything else in her life. Rex's outlook on Alice's situation and on his own irreversible illness are fresh and unique, adding perspective and color to the moments of the story as Alice's body deteriorates further.

Written in the intellectual style that always marks the work of Bruce Brooks, Vanishing successfully takes us into the life of a troubled girl who feels that her connections to everyone in her family have eroded beyond repair over time, that she shares no profound bond to anyone that can serve to tether her to her life. It's as if something went wrong somewhere along the way for Alice, and her happy life as a child slowly morphed into something that could no longer be enough for which to live. What is Alice leaving behind, after all? Nothing but trouble and hurt and the people who have rejected her again and again, her parents, the people who are supposed to care for her no matter the inconvenience that such an endeavor may bring.

This entire book may take place in a single hospital building, but that doesn't prevent Bruce Brooks from crafting a memorable and captivating journey. It is a journey taken primarily through the tunnels of the mind, as Alice and Rex talk back and forth with the sort of candor that only comes from the impending certainty of death. Alongside of Alice we come to see what it means to be in charge of one's own life, what it means to live at all in the first place, even when the parts of one's life seem bleak without reprieve.

Vanishing is a relatively short book (one hundred three pages), but it has a strong central theme and stands worthy of inclusion with the other works of Bruce Brooks.

[Janine Darragh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eleven-year-old Alice doesn't want to go home from the hospital, so she stops eating. She only starts back up as, basically, a dying wish from her hospital roommate. I guess a hunger strike IS an eating disorder, but I felt like it was totally simplified- Alice one day decides to stop eating, and one day decides to start eating again. The end.

[Tina Kacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars seems too low for this book, but four stars is definitely too high since I didn't really like the book. It's a quick read with a couple great characters and a great friendship between two people whose faults don't make them bad for each other. It's just not that much fun to read, and not deep enough to make up for that. It's memorable, I'll give it that.

[Diane Mueller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Young adult, quick read, about 100 pages but not worth the time. I have several of my students come in looking for a book around 100+ pages for class credits. I was hoping this would be a good one for them but do know if I would even bother recommending it.

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

A quick shallow thing that stretches logic to the breaking point. For a girl in her situation it seems unlikely that social workers would not have been called in. While the relationship subplots were interesting, there are better reads out there.

[Magda · Rating 2 out of 5]

There seems to be a lot missing from this novel. It's reminiscent of Izzy, Willy-Nilly, but somehow too sparse.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recognized the cover from middle school or early high school, but I didn't remember the plot at all. It's a really quick read. The characters seem more advanced than the 11-year-olds they supposed to be, but it's a pretty good read for the grade level.

[Charlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the better statements about the power of love and addiction that I've read yet. It aint literature but the song remains

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Touching and bittersweet. Readers will feel for Alice and Rex for their friendship and their struggle to live.

[Cassidy Stokes · Rating 2 out of 5]

it was oa, interesting story, deffinently not one of my favorites.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75