Noteworthy Passages: Me, the Missing, and the Dead

Me, the Missing, and the Dead by Jenny Valentine
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pub. Date: April 6th, 2010 (first published January 3rd 2007)
Pages: 224
Age Level: 13+

Synopsis
Fifteen-year-old Lucas Swain hasn’t seen his father for five years. One day, his dad just vanished. And the strange thing is, except for Lucas, nobody seems to care.

Then things really take a turn for the bizarre when Lucas discovers someone who might be able to help find his father. Her name is Violet, and she's reaching out to Lucas. But it would all be so much easier if Violet wasn't a pie of ashes in an urn.

Noteworthy Passages

Lucas; pg. 27-28
I do know, I am aware, that a boy my age should have thought more about bringing home a living girl than a dead old lady. And I did care about that other stuff, about girls and sex and stuff; I'm not a total freak. It's just that Violet was becoming my newest friend, and she was working her way to the front of my brain all the time, like new friends do.

Lucas; pg. 49
Pansy has a dog called Jack (Russell), and sometimes I have no idea if she's talking about the dog or Grandad.
"He's been under my feet all day and his breath smells terrible." (dog)
"He's not been for three days. I think he needs a good walk." (Norman)

Lucas and Pansy (his grandmother); pg. 52
..."What's a seventy-year-old woman doing in a cab office on a Friday night?", which was the question I'd been waiting for.
"She was on a shelf," I said a bit too quickly, and Pansy glared at me.
"Have you been smoking that wacky baccy again, Lucas?"
I glared back. "Gran, you know that's not really relevant."

Lucas; pg. 55-56
I had to leave the room then because Norman had woken up and was misbehaving in the kitchen. Norman and the dog scoff chocolate together behind Pansy's back. It's like she's running a prisoner-of-war camp and him and Private Jack Russell have got contraband.

Nick (Lucas's mom); pg. 78
"When I'm not livid with Pete for abandoning me, I'm jealous of him for getting out first. It was only ever going to be possible for one of us to escape."

Lucas; pg. 140
I know that mom didn't mean it, the whole heart-of-stone, let's-get-this-over-with act. I think she had to choose betwen hard as nails and mushlike jelly. Mushlike jelly doesn't do when you're clearing out your disappeared beloved's junk with your wreck of a son. So, hard as nails it was.


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I have to say, I had an especially hard time choosing the Noteworthy Passages for this particular book. Originally I had ten but knew I was going to have to narrow it down. I tried to pick ones that would give you a taste of both the humorous and emotional seriousness of this book. I hope these will make you want to read Me, the Missing, and the Dead. If you still want more, you can read my review HERE.









PLEASE NOTE: This is a feature hosted here at my blog in which I present you with selected passages or quotes that I deem Noteworthy from a book I've just reviewed. My hopes are of course, that these passages will make you want to pick the book up and read it. This feature was started and created by me in January in hopes of making my blog more unique. That being said, I would like to kindly request that you do not use this feature as it was intended to be for my blog only and is not a meme. If you see some one else using it, please know it is without my permission. Thank you.