Disparue

by Mary McGarry Morris

Aubrey Wallace is the kind of man no one notices. Dotty Johnson is the kind of woman no one can ignore. One afternoon, they both disappear from the small Vermont town where they live. The next day, two hundred miles away, a toddler is snatched from her Massachusetts home.

For the next five years, Aubrey, Dotty, and the kidnapped child - bound together by strange love and desperate need - are trapped in a nomadic existence governed by their constant fear of discovery. Canny, the little girl, becomes Aubrey's entire existence. But Dotty wants out. She is tired of being saddled with this fearful little man. When she meets Jiggy Huller, a brutal ex-convict, the wheels of Canny's return to her natural parents are wrenched fatally into motion.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Literary Fiction, Dark, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary, Literature

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Mary McGarry Morris is an American novelist, short story author and playwright from New England. She uses its towns as settings for her works. In 1991, Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times described Morris as "one of the most skillful new writers at work in America today"; The Washington Post has described her as a "superb storyteller"; and The Miami Herald has called her "one of our finest American writers".
She has been most often compared to John Steinbeck and Carson McCullers. Although her writing style is different, Morris also has been compared to William Faulkner for her character-driven storytelling. She was a finalist for the National Book Award and PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. As of 2011, Morris has published eight novels, some of which were best-sellers, and numerous short stories. She also has written a play about the insanity trial of Mary Todd Lincoln.

Reviews

[Jennifer Anderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Steinbeck begins setting his novels in the 1980's and writing under a female pen-name. I couldn't stop reading, but it was like watching a train wreck. So well-written, I couldn't look away, even though I knew I was going to be so depressed along the way and when I was finished. Not an uplifting read: almost a horror-story. But an amazing feat of authorship. I'd read Morris again, but only after I've had a little light-heartedness.

[Carol Brill · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing and language are flawless and Precisely create desperate characters and a haunting, psychological tone. The down side is the tone is so well crafted and dark I find it too depressing to finish.

[Louise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a really good book! Yes, I did have to go back to 1988 to find it but it's far better than most of the recent new reads that are out there. Treat yourself to an "oldie but a goodie" and read this story with compelling characters, an intriguing plot line and a nicely written book. You won't be disappointed if you are an avid reader like me who's always looking for my next good book. Yeah!! I finally found one. This easily gets an 8.5 on my 10 scale!

[Vel Veeter]

I did not enjoy this book very much. I found it a kind of souring experience, and a weird mix of misplaced sympathy and character building, and stark but also kind of affected language used to create the story, the characters and the tone.

In short, it felt a lot like poverty porn. And maybe that’s just the late 1980s for you in terms of what books even to be about any more. I’ve read a lot of Southern Gothic novels, as well as, Southern novels that are less Gothic, but still seek to understand underrepresented voices. And this appeal has always spread to other parts of the country. Morris, I think, is from the Northeast and no one part of the country has a monopoly of impoverished communities. But this novel felt that it was about the communities that the characters came from and not from them, the way that very good writing often works. And when your gaze is outside, you have to bring more to it — Flannery O’Connor’s irony, William Faulkner’s sympathy — but here it feels exploitative. And to what end?

The novel is about a fairly grotesque couple, a man that gets continuously mocked at his work and a youngish “harlot” character who run away together–fine so far–and kidnap a toddler. Oh. And then spend five years on the road in a kind of “family.”

So the final effect here is like horror-show version of Raising Arizona blended with a horror-show version of The Shipping News, both of which are significantly better.

[Madelyn Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much as I disliked the brutality, and the characters of this story, something about the writing compelled me to finish this novel about a mismatched couple, and the little girl they kidnap. It is one of those books where you fear turning the next page because of what may happen, and yet cannot help but turn that page, knowing everything is going to go badly.

[Georgia Papadopoulos · Rating 1 out of 5]

Save ur time and money and skip this book! It was the most depressingly disturbing book I’ve ever read!It should have been called “Scum Bags"!

[Halie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of Morris' lesser known books but I think it's one of her best! It might be one of the only books I have ever read several times. It's a very quick read but the story has stayed with me for years.

[E M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read it when it first came out and have reread it a half-dozen times since. It is astonishing for a debut novel, peopled by characters so real - and so awful - that they are unforgettable. As other reviewers have noted, it's not an "and then they lived happily ever after" kind of book ...

[Stephanie A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

It kept me turning pages, but barely; tediously dim and/or annoying characters made for a generally unpleasant read cover to cover. Had Aubrey not been borderline mentally handicapped, perhaps I would have been less grossed out, but it felt too exploitative this way.

[Jimcarl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book left me with a broken heart.

[Kylle · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was, not to put it lightly, the most depressing book I've read to date, and I think that's a compliment! 🌞 I would've given it a 4 because I couldn't stop reading once I'd started, but the whole journey was me just wondering how much worse the situation can get for the characters. And boy, did it get much, much worse.

It had gripping characters on a simple setting, and it felt like an indie film or an intentionally very sad student theatre screenplay. 3.75 for making me at least feel this consuming sorrow instead of nothing! 🥳

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary McGarry Morris is a writer! This novel had excellent plotting, great writing, and a quick pace. She described the multilayered characters so well I could almost see them. The part about the newspaper article in Aubie's shoe bothering him was outstanding on many levels. I loved the epilogue, because it was exactly what Dotty would have said after everything that happened. Bravo!

[Alb1 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Si seulement je pouvais être comme le protagoniste et avoir des trous de mémoire afin de ne pas me rappeler de cette lecture

[BunTheDestroyer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was DEPRESSING. I was wondering if it would even have a good ending and it definitely did not. I didnt always know what was going on and i was so sad thinking of Canny being reunited with her parents but in the changed way she became used to. How much therapy she would need if it was available. I dont believe anything Dotty says but Aubie made my heart hurt even though he also frustrated me. I only felt sorry for Canny.

[Ken Oder · Rating 5 out of 5]

The writing is superb; the story gripping. The characters are so well developed they live and breathe long after you finish reading the story. My one reservation (and it's major): this is a deeply sad tale, heartbreaking, emotionally devastating, dark beyond words. So much cruelty and misery. The hurt grows as the story progresses and it becomes clear there is no hope for the characters. Having said that, I could not put it down and I'm glad I read it, although I'll be nursing wounds over it for some time to come.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Mary McGarry Morris paints as vivid a picture of American white trash poverty and desperation as I’ve ever read in her debut novel Vanished, a short book I found far superior to her later bestseller Songs in Ordinary Time. In 1980 Vermont, an unlikely couple meet by abrupt chance and randomly kidnap a toddler girl, fleeing for five years throughout the country with no plan other than the young woman Dotty’s vague naive aim to make it big in Hollywood. Surviving by petty crimes, the threesome become an odd family of sorts in which the little girl Canny and her ‘father,’ the slow-witted Aubrey Wallace, develop a particularly tender if awkward bond. The prose, dialog and character development are pitch-perfect even as foreign as the characters themselves may be to the typical reader. After Candy’s kidnapping early on there is not a lot of action until about halfway through. Then, when the trio hooks up with another poor rural family in which the father suspects who they are, events hurtle them toward a shattering conclusion which will haunt readers long after.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

AN OLDER BOOK I FOUND ON THE LIBRARY SHELF. I HAD NOT READ HER IN QUITE SOME TIME AND REMEMBERED LIKING HER NOVELS OF THE PAST. THIS IS TRULY A TRAGIC, YET EMOTIONAL BOOK ABOUT USING AND HURTING PEOPLE TO GET WHAT YOU WANT. THE CHARACTERS ARE SAD HUMAN BEINGS WHO HAVE NO DIRECTION IN THEIR LIVES, ONE BECAUSE SHE IS RUNNING FROM HER PAST WITH UNLIKELY HOPES FOR THE FUTURE AND THE OTHER WHO BELIEVES SHE WILL ALWAYS BE THERE FOR HIM BECAUSE HE CAN'T HANDLE LIFE ON HIS OWN. THEY COMMIT A CRIME TOGETHER WHICH ULTIMATELY CAREENS THEM DOWN A BLACK HOLE, TO A TRAGIC ENDING.

[Bea · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book actually kept me up finishing it, even though it is kind of like watching a train wreck. I felt sorry for the main male character, who is a little slow in thinking, and I hated his girlfriend right from the beginning. The real tragedy is for the little girl who was kidnapped and is totally innocent and believes these are her parents. I guess I would call this a frustrating, sad thriller.

[Anne Gustaferro · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. The character development was absolutely beautiful. The second a character shows up I knew the person . . . really felt close to the person. The topic took me to a life of poverty that I've never even imagined and, unimaginably, I enjoyed the ride! I was there. I could breathe it, smell it, taste it. A must read. Ms. Morris took me deep into the psyche of each person I met in this book. Thank you, Ms. Morris!

[Joanna Spock Dean · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm sorry. I actually purchased this book based on the reviews, but once I started reading it,I l realised it is one of those books that is too depressing for me to be reading, as I have decided that it it not necessary for me to read depressing books anymore; there are too many other books out there. I made it to page 57, wanted to weep, as I had through most of it and gave up. I cannot recommend this book.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second book I've read by Mary McGarry Morris. She's a fantastic writer. I can't get over the ending to this book. The characters in this book were so believable; I couldn't put the book down for the last 50 pages.

[Jane Broadribb · Rating 2 out of 5]

Oh Mary... this is a a million miles away from Songs in an Ordinary time. Vanished is so far under the underbelly of society... It seemed like a crystal meth saga without the crystal meth. No. No. No.

[Jake Akawayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't mess with Dotty Johnson!

[Jodell · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I read this book, some of the other books crossed my mind that were just as horrifying:
Bastard out of Carolia
The death of Sweet Mister
I could name a few more, but you catch the drift. A man named Aubby, who is slow and simple-minded, has an encounter with a young girl named Dottie. Dottie has run away from home and decided Auby will help her. He and Dottie head out of town. She is a petty theft and had a rough life you find out about later in the book as she tells a story to a couple about a girl she once knew. That girl is her.

Dottie steals an 18-month-old little girl, and they ban together as a makes shift sort of family. But Dottie is not exactly the mothering type, so poor little "Canny" is who they call her gets the worst end of the stick. Although Aubby loves the girl and tries to take care of her best, he can for being simple-minded. The girl is sick a lot, doesn't get enough food, has lice, is always filthy dirty. She's had no schooling and has no clue these people are not her real parents.

Five years into their traveling nomad style Dottie is now 20, Canny is now seven. The age of Aubby is never revealed. But they meet up with some white trash people who are just downright evil, and Dottie and the husband make a plan to send a letter to Canny's real parents for ransom.
She has grown older, and she is tired of lugging Canny and Aubby around what she wants free of them.
The plan all goes awry, and everything goes to hell in a handbasket.

In the prologue, it shows that Dottie blames it all on Aubby, and you get confused like did Aubby kidnap the girl or did Dottie kidnap the girl either way. I wish that I could know what happened to little Canny, but then I think, do I? Because she will never recover really. Kids that go through this stuff never fully recover. I honestly wish I didn't read this book. Because I got to invested in wanting Canny to be saved asap. And well, she's a fictional character, but there are many out there in the world who are not because they are alive and real. It may take me a few days to get over my heartache.

[Martha Alami · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is dark and not for everyone, but I felt it was one of the better books I have read lately. The author has created characters who are so real and multi-dimensional that you wonder how she could do so without firsthand experience! The dysfunctionaliity and despair of the main characters, Aubrey Wallace, Dotty and Canny draws you in and keeps you reading. Aubrey is waiting at his work site for the rest of his crew to return from lunch, when a a young woman, Dotty, appears out of nowhere, first almost drowns him, then tries to steal his boss’s truck. In attempting to stop her, he ends up on a five year ride, leaving behind his wife and two sons, and traveling from place to place catering to Dotty’s whims and wishes. Along the way, Dotty kidnaps Canny, an 18 month old baby girl who ends up captured in this ride with the two debilitated persons who basically become her parents. Their adventures are totally dysfunctional, dark and sometimes sickening, but the story could be real, the people they meet could be real, but, hopefully they are not your next door neighbors. With shades of Joyce Carol Oates, who is my favorite author, this story was thought provoking and disturbing.

[Sidney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok, so I picked this book up, read a few chapters, then put it down. I'm not sure why; probably because the female protagonist was whiny and the male protagonist, though I like him now, was slow and dimwitted. Picked it up again a couple days ago and blew straight through it. Dotty is a teenage rebel who talks 40 something Aubie into giving her a ride away from all the trouble she had caused. Along the way, Dotty kidnaps a small girl, Canny but decides after 5 years of "caring" for her, she wants to hand her back over for the $25000 reward money. Aubie, however, has grown attached to Canny and treats her like his own child. Canny knows nothing of the kidnapping and thinks of Aubie and Dotty as Momma and Poppy. Don't get me wrong, this is about as dysfunctional/white trash as you can get including the head lice and excons thinking they can have their way with any female, young or older. The ending really bothered me but it was disturbingly good. Glad I picked it back up.

[Bobbie Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aubrey Wallace is the kind of man no one notices. Dotty Johnson is the kind of woman no one can ignore. One afternoon, they both disappear from the small Vermont town where they live. The next day, two hundred miles away, a toddler is kidnapped from her Massachusetts home.

For the next five years, Aubrey, Dotty, and the kidnapped child—united by a mix of strange love, desperate need, and the crime that brought them together—are trapped in a nomadic existence governed by their constant fear of discovery. Canny, the little girl, becomes Aubrey’s entire existence. But Dotty wants out. She is tired of being saddled with this fearful man, and when she meets a brutal ex-convict, the wheels of Canny’s return to her natural parents are wrenched fatally into motion. This book was one wild ride. Never read anything like it. Interesting story.

[Mrs. Read · Rating 5 out of 5]

I reread Vanished by Mary McGarry Morris in 2014 and reviewed it as follows: I read it when it first came out and have reread it a half-dozen times since. It is astonishing for a debut novel, peopled by characters so real - and so awful - that they are unforgettable. As other reviewers have noted, it's not an "and then they lived happily ever after" kind of book ...

It was not until recently (2022) when I tried to read it again that I remembered its frequent and detailed description of dogs’ mistreatment which I could no longer read due to an intensified aversion to accounts of animal abuse. Hence this follow-up review, complete with warning: Mary McGarry Morris is a wonderful writer, but Vanished contains disturbing depictions of cruelty to animals.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of the story grabbed me--a young woman and a married man disappear together from their Vermont town, and kidnap a baby en route. While the story seems at first implausible, and I questioned whether or not I could like characters who would do such a thing, in time the reasons are understood and while it was often uncomfortable to read about the cycles of abuse and mental illness, eventually I did develop empathy for these characters. "Dotty" is like a modern-day Blanche DuBois, too, which makes for good reading. As a writer, McGarry's sparse, economical writing lets readers fill in the gaps in the plot but it also mirrors the numbness these characters have learned to embrace as a shield against experiencing hurt and shame.

[Kimberly Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

I finished this one but only because I wanted to see if something - anything - would ever go right for poor Wallace. Wallace is working for his father-in-law, married to a woman who doesn't love him anymore, and beaten down by life when Dotty walks into his life and takes him on a years long "adventure". The adventure begins with a stolen truck and an abducted baby girl whom the two call Canny. They act as Canny's Momma and Poppy, moving from place to place and scam to scam. Wallace is portrayed as a little "slow" which put me in mind of "Of Mice and Men". This is definitely not an uplifting story, and it's more than a little bit disturbing in lots of ways.