The Missing

By Andrew O'Hagan

Book Overview

Hailed by the Times Literary Supplement as an "International Book of the Year" on its publication in Britain, The Missing is a fascinating literary meditation on missing persons by the acclaimed young Scottish writer Andrew O'Hagan.

Writing with what one reviewer praised as "passion, eloquence, and honesty," O'Hagan explores one of society' most enduring, yet unexamined, concerns--missing persons. He writes movingly of his own grandfather, lost at sea during World War II; of Sandy Davidson, the three-year-old who disappeared from a construction site near O'Hagan's childhood home; of James Bulger, the toddler abducted from a mall in Liverpool and murdered by two ten-year-olds in 1993; and the twelve young women Fred and Rosemary West murdered and buried in their Gloucester backyard over a period of nearly thirty years.

In all of these cases, O'Hagan goes out with police and meets with social workers and families, always looking for the deeper truths so often left forgotten. What kind of lives did those who have gone missing lead? What made them disappear? What happens to those left behind?

Merging social history, memoir, and reportage, The Missing is one of those rare books that bring a neglected corner of human experience into the public eye, and a memorable debut from an exceptionally perceptive and talented new writer.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1565843355
• ISBN13: 9781565843356
• Release Date: October 1996
• Publisher: New Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.7" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

A good, solid book full of information.

Part memoir, part social commentary, this book is about missing people in Great Britain. It's a bit dated now as it was written before the internet came into widespread use, but much of what it says still applies. The book is not about specific cases so much as the phenomenon in general. O'Hagan, a journalist, interviewed runaways and homeless people in addition to law enforcement officials as part of his research. Much of what he says, especially about the people who die and are left undiscovered in their apartments for months, makes for very depressing reading. This book is well worth the time to look at and fostered greater awareness in myself, although I knew a great deal about missing people already.

Stunning

This is an astonishing book on a number of levels. At its most basic, it provides a fascinating account of how easily it becomes possible for people to 'disappear'. If you've ever sat staring at a kid's face on the back of a milk carton, and wondered 'What happened?', The Missing will go a considerable way to providing answers. But that's not all: as a piece of autobiography -- indeed, as a piece about memory -- The Missing is stunning: precise, lucid, beautiful despite itself. As a piece of reportage, it is, simply, astonishing. My hat goes off to Mr O'Hagan.