Missing: A Memoir

by Lindsay Harrison

A beautifully written, intensely poignant memoir that looks at grief, family dynamics, and what happens when your world comes crashing down.A twenty-five-year-old recent graduate of Columbia University’s MFA program, Lindsay Harrison began writing Missing as a way to cope with a terrible loss. During her sophomore year at Brown University, Lindsay received a phone call from her brother that her mother was missing. Forty days later they discover the their mother’s body had been found in the ocean. Missing is at first a page-turning account of those first forty days, as it chronicles dealings with detectives, false sightings, wild hope, and deep despair. The balance of the story is a candid, emotional exploration of a daughter’s search for solace after tragedy as she tries to understand who her mother truly was, makes peace with her grief, and becomes closer to her father and brothers as her mother’s death forces her to learn more about her mother than she ever knew before.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Family, Biography Memoir, College

213 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 2, 2011

About the author

Lindsay Harrison is a writer and media professional with a decade of experience in the industry. She is the author of Missing and holds a degree in literary arts from Brown University and a master’s in nonfiction writing from Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sad story telling the tale of a troubled mother and the consequences of her actions on her children, most especially her daughter. Michelle Harrison is the type of mom who is overly involved in her children's lives, calling them at least twice a day and expecting them to be there with and for her every chance they get. When Lindsay and her mom have a huge argument over one act of typical adolescent rebellion, she assumes that it will all blow over. Her mother's mercurial moods have always been a part of her personality, and, while not fun to live with, they are accepted by her children. This time, however, no matter what Lindsay says or does, her mother will not forgive or forget. The pain ratchets up a few months later when Michelle disappears. Lindsay and her two brothers put their lives on hold and spend every minute searching New England from Cape Cod through New Hampsire to Maine trying to find her. Eventually her body is found and the siblings must find a way to come to terms with a life that is forever altered, and to accept that they will probably never know why. The fact that this is non-fiction makes it harder for the reader because there are no answers in this kind of situation in real life. We share Lindsay's desperate wish to find answers, and absolution, and her pain when they are not forthcoming. It's a readable book and I hope it gave the young author her much needed catharsis.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing itself was fair, the story tragic, the sadness between a mother and daughter tangible. But a strange thing happened to me while reading this book that I find a bit fascinating. Without giving away the events, as I was reading this story the day after I returned home from a trip to New England, it was apparent I had stood on the very earth where the tragedy unfolded. The very same spot in New England. The same small town, the same street, the same pier, looking out into the same cold water. What are the chances?

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....


Grief is such a powerful and personal emotion. Lindsay Harrison shares her grief with us in a gripping and emotional memoir. I enjoyed it as much as a person can given the circumstances. And I hope that writing this book helped Linds move one step closer to peace

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since this is a memoir, I will try to be honest in my judgments, yet spare the snark for the most part. After all, it's about a real-life family living through a real-life drama; one to which thankfully I can't relate.

Missing is one young woman's story about the 40 days her mom was missing, and the aftermath of finding her body. But it is more than that. It's the story of one dysfunctional family, a messed-up mother / daughter relationship, and of growing up and recovering from an unspeakable tragedy.

Lindsay Harrison is immature, but honest. She doesn't try to make herself out to be the hero, or the one holding the family together. She lays it out there, flaws and all, and it makes her unlikeable. There were times when her bad decisions, immaturity, and rudeness made me want to shake some sense into her. I can't imagine what the family went through during this time. Unfortunately we only get Lindsay's thoughts, and reading about the perspective of her brothers and her father would have made the story more complete. Instead we are stuck inside the head of a pot smoking 20-year-old who seems to need counseling from the years of living with her manipulative, selfish, potentially mentally ill mother. Her POV just didn't do it for me.

This book is just ok. Not great. Not particularly captivating. Something was missing from making it "un-put-downable" for me, but it was still finishing from my "to be read" shelf. Two 1/2 stars.

[McGuffy Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was immediately drawn into this memoir, and haunted by it after I was through reading it. It is an unforgettable story.

Lindsay's mother suddenly goes missing. As Lindsay and her family track her actions, searching for her, other things are revealed as well.

The tragic events that Lindsay shares with us are intimate and difficult, yet she shares these with sensitivity and honesty.

Lindsay learns things not only about her mother, but also about herself. She begins to understand her family and the relationships within it, that make it what it is. Her love for mother is a focal point. It is obvious and poignant. This book is much more than the confusing and complex search for her suddenly missing mother. It is more about a daughter searching to understand her mother, who she is and who she really was. It is easy to forget that out parents are people.

Lindsay Harrison’s memoir is so heartbreaking and beautiful that it will stay with you. It will make you look at your own family and relationships, while you still can. And it should.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but didn't love it. It's a true story of a missing person told from the daughter's perspective. When Lindsay had a fight with her mother on New Year's Day she assumed that it would quickly blow over in a few days, but then it didn't and a few months later her mother goes missing. The book covers Lindsay and her brothers frantic search for their mother and later how their family deals with the grief when their mother's body is found. You definitely feel Lindsay's guilt and pain over losing her mother and it does make for a quick read. But, it was kindof depressing too. Overall, like I said before it was good, but not great.

[Kristie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt Lindsay wrote an honest book about her own downfalls after learning that her mother was missing. Yes, at times she seemed immature but she was so young and trying to get through college when this happened. It is not a very flattering portrayal of herself but she knows that and has gotten herself (with help) beyond her grief and on to her long life ahead. She even gives credit to those whom she felt handled the situation in more positive ways, like her two brothers and father.

I have to admire her for having the guts to write this book. May your life be smooth sailing onward!

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still not sure how about the book. It was a sad book. The author took pains to tell us how she thought, what she did, and how she felt about her Mother's disappearance and the subsequent experiences. After finishing it, I couldn't help wonder if this was some type of catharsis for her, and some closure. When I thought of it that way, I thought it should have maybe meant to be a diary or journal for her alone. Maybe others in the same circumstances might feel differently, and be able to identify with her grief.

[Rebecca Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am grieving a sudden loss in my family and randomly grabbed this at the library. I had no idea how helpful it would be. Lindsay’s writing is raw, precise, and painful in its transparency. I give her so much credit for articulating all of the emotions that I can’t even begin to voice.

[Kirsten · Rating 1 out of 5]

ugh, library staff pick, you led me astray. sad story, terrible writing.

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a memoir of a girl trying to come to grips when her mother goes missing. It is an honest and open story about the many feelings we go through when tragedy hits.

[a. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sad, not well written.

[Jennifer Eckley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can’t even imagine the day I’ll have to live without my own mother. To read this book, the pain and devastation that Lindsay went through. The struggles to regain any kind of normalcy in her new life without her mother. The questions left unanswered, the heartbreak and life ahead must live without her mother and her best friend. Heartbreaking

[marianne gaffey · Rating 4 out of 5]

comments re Missing: Memoir

the book portrayed real emotions realistically enough that the reader could experience them as well. the narrativemoved quickly and seamlessly

[Ruth Aschmann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Losing a mother to suicide. Coping, accepting, honoring the mother. Moving on with insight.

[Paul Pessolano · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Missing” by Lindsay Harrison, published by Scribner.

Category – Autobiography/Memoir

It is New Years Eve and Lindsay has just had a fight with her mother. Lindsay’s mother and father have been divorced for many years and her mother has brought Lindsay up and her two brothers. This has not been their first fight and they have been able to work through their problems, however tonight is different. Lindsay is told to pack her clothes and she is driven to her father’s house and told to live with him.

Lindsay is attending Brown University when he brother calls and tells her that her mother is missing. The two brothers and Lindsay start a frantic search for their mother who is not answering her cell phone and has kept in touch with her children at least several times a day.

Lindsay keeps hope alive for forty days believing her mother has just gone off on a vacation and just didn’t tell anyone. Her hopes are dashed when her brother calls and tells her that her mother has been found dead. Her body was found in her car in a lake. It is determined that she died of an apparent suicide.

Lindsay must come to grips not only with her mother’s death but the fact that it was a suicide. She finds herself disappearing in pills and alcohol, trying desperately to understand why her mother would do this. She is also haunted with the fact that she and her mother never reconciled and she feels that her actions may have contributed to her mother’s death.

A true story that shows a family that is torn apart by grief and yet finds a way to come together and overcome adversity. A good story for those who have been confronted with personal tragedy and are looking for help in facing their problems.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize until after I started reading this memoir that Harrison was at Brown when the story took place and grew up in Boston's north shore. Funny since I just finished The Marriage Plot, which was also set at Brown and took place partly in Cape Cod. Okay, maybe it's not that funny, but I'm a Rhode Islander living in California so I get excited about glimpses of home like this. Sue me.

Throughout the first half of the book I wanted to reach in and shake 20-year-old Lindsay even while I felt sorry for her. By the time she started to recount the ugly side of her relationship with her mother I no longer blamed her for being a whiny twit at the opening of the story. I just felt for her. And I was terribly chilled to see a situation I can relate to on so many levels unfolding on the pages of a book. Without going into more detail, I'll just say that while this book wasn't perfect, it was quite impressive for a 25-year-old writing less than five years after the events she's recounting. I'm looking forward to what Harrison will do next.

[Kdevoli · Rating 4 out of 5]

My heart really went out to the author Lindsay, whose mother committed suicide while she was in college. They had a very enmeshed relationship, lots of guilt trips, and Lindsay's last interaction with her mother was a fight over Lindsay not wanting (at age 20!) to sit on the couch with her mother on New Years Eve and blow horns. Her mother's response to this normal developmental milestone was to pack Lindsay's belongings in trash bags and kick her out of the house. Lindsay's brothers seemed to have less trouble drawing lines in the sand with their mom, but I'm afraid Lindsay identified with her too closely. I think the brothers may have been right in their post-mortem assessment that the mom may have been bipolar, but she saw medication as weakness and refused to take any. Not an easy read.

[Jennifer Margulis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before her body is discovered, Lindsay Harrison's mother is missing for 40 days. Lindsay Harrison is a student at Brown University; she has two older brothers and an estranged but loving father who has remarried a younger woman and had another child, Lindsay's half sister. Lindsay and her mother had a bad fight on her birthday, which was also New Year's Eve, and Lindsay has been having dizzy spells ever since. Then her mother, a reliable, punctual, organized person who always sticks to her routine, fails to show up for work on March 17. Lindsay tries desperately to figure out where her mother has gone, and understand how all of this could possibly have happened.

My heart ached as I read this memoir. It is a brave book, and devastatingly sad.

[Scribd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few years ago I was at an alumni event at Brown University when I heard Lindsay Harrison read from her powerful, tragic memoir, Missing. I was amazed at how she’d managed to cope with the disappearance and death of her mother. Finding the book on Scribd inspired me to go back and read the entire story.

Missing opens with Harrison frantically traversing New England in search of her mother. But unlike a mystery novel, there are no subtle clues to follow, and no clear solutions. Instead, we have an exploration of how elusive truth is, and how we need stories – even purely speculative ones – to give us hope and healing in times of despair.

[Jessica]

An emotional page-turner, , Missing is a stunning memoir by any standard, and particularly so for a twenty-five-year-old writer (I went to school with this writer, but don't know her personally). It is incredibly rare for a memoir about grief by a young author to be this tightly controlled, particularly since relatively little time has elapsed between the tragedy itself and the publication of the book. Harrison's prose is economical and her organization is spot-on. I highly recommend this to anyone who loves memoir, and also to college-age readers grappling with loss.

[Donia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Missing is a very sad story written about the discovery of a mother's suicide. The memoir is told by her daughter. The psychologically troubled daughter is open about her own drug use, drinking and personal issues. I have deep compassion for this young woman. Having said that, I found this book to be poorly written and juvenile in its approach. I simply could not connect with this family and it's tragedy. Written in better form, it could have been a gripping tale of a family ripped apart by trauma.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good memoir written by a daughter whose mom goes missing. Sadly, they weren't really speaking at the time which only adds to the guilt this young lady is feeling. The book takes you through the missing period, the tragic finding of mom and all the intense feelings, emotions and experiences of this girl and her brothers and dad (mom's ex-husband). Well written, very quick read. She told her story well.

[Teddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It is well written and extremely honest. The author has been able to capture the experience of grief. The profound sorrow of losing one's mother and the shock of realizing that your mother was all too human. It reminds us all that only the passage of time will allow to live more easily with our loss.

[Amaya Swanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lindsay Harrison's story of her mother's disappearance is touching, haunting, and beautifully written. You feel as though you're on the journey with her -- the 40 day search for her mom -- and the guilt, anxiety, fear, and ultimate dread of what is to come. It's a great balance of scenes as well as narrative, and an easy read for such a tragic story. Highly recommended.

[Linda Nichols · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Missing" is the story of a mother's disappearance, her family's search for her, finding her, and dealing with the aftermath. It is a story of grieving, bereavement, and healing, told by the woman's daughter. Lindsay has to deal with her own demons while trying to climb out of the crater left by her mother's apparent suicide. Definitely worth reading.

[Libby · Rating 3 out of 5]

To tell the truth I skimmed through the last half of the book. it's a very sad story.

This book is from Scribd- For a free 60 day free trial use the following referral link-
http://click.mail.scribd.com/?qs=7e3b...

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Odd that I should find myself reading two NF books taking place in the same area (Newburyport); I like visualizing the locale as I read ... this one included yet another familiar place (Beverly Farms). In the process of looking for the "why", the author was able to grieve and heal her loss.

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great writing, horrible story. Your catharsis is my anxiety. I'd rather read something that makes me dream. Sorry for the one. I'd give a 5 for the amazing writing ability but a book is not just technique. My opinion is totally subjective.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read about the disappearance of the author's mother, and what happened after they found her. The anxiety, and the need to know, carry you along so you can hardly put it down. At the end the author appears to have learned very little about herself, unfortunately.