Book Recommendation

The Vanishing Game was a book that really interested me. I really enjoy mystery murder mystery novels, suspense and related genre books. The reason I picked up this book it because of its suspenseful cover. It made me think it was a science fiction story due to the reasoning that the people could not just vanish. But as the plot thickened, I became more apparent that it was actually a story about misperception.

If you enjoy reading this book I recommend that you pick up, Murder on Orient Express by Agatha Christie. This book is honestly one of the best books I have ever read! The plot of this story just thickens with every paragraph. For a general gist of this book link this link: http://www.shmoop.com/murder-on-orient-express/summary.html. It’s basically a story of a detective trying to figure out who killed a man on the train. It was a very surprising twist at the end. It wasn’t an ending you could just predict like other mystery stories, the author made sure to state every single suspicion anyone could have had and created a great ending. 

Changing Character

     Throughout this novel we have seen Jocelyn to be the one with a lot of answers and insight on where and how to find Jack. I feel as if over the course of the plot, she doubts herself more.  The interactions between her and Noah seem to have remained the same overall. She was a very prominent character in composing the theme. As I mentioned in the previous blog post, she contributed in changing the theme from a more mysterious to a broader theme. Something along the lines of; “everything is not what it seems”. That’s because she was in a mental state in which she tried to cope with her brother’s death at the age of 14, and create another personality in which she acted like Jack never died. The reader’s would have thought she was actually looking for Jack but it was all in their heads.

Changing Theme

The theme of this novel has been constantly changing throughout. At the beginning it seem to be a very mysterious theme because Jack, who was dead, had written a letter to Jocelyn. This theme was carried out for a majority of the plot as Noah and Jocelyn searched for Jack. As the story went on, the theme of mystery remained but seemed not as important as the overall theme that everything is not what it seems. This could also be seen as mystery but in this book I think it means to not get caught up in the details, just see the overall picture. This is because during the book I thought Jocelyn would be the one to know all the information and be on top of things. But little did I know that she herself was coping with a major issue that could have stopped her from going through all the searching.

Ending

The ending of this novel, The Vanishing Game was confusing. The hidden clues the author threw in did not really seem of any significance until I reached the ending. When Jocelyn was having flashbacks of their childhood, Kate Myers was hinting at the fact that Jack had died way before. Jocelyn was in some sort of denial state of mind. Or confused as to what had happened. I thought she was in just in shock. Then after a lot of close reading and rereading of the confusing passages did I come to an understanding that Jocelyn had a mental situation in which she “kept her brother alive”.  She takes on Jack’s personality as a part of her own. It is a sort of twisted ending. I was predicting that someone was hiding Jack but I came to know Jocelyn was pretending a part of herself was Jack to help herself cope with his death.

Here is a video to check out explaining a little bit more about the book:

Real Life Issues

The Vanishing Game has its share of dramatic sections or chapters and the more believable or realistic side of it as well. But above all the conflicts and problems that the characters have faced, to me, the most perpetual issue that stays with the characters is the foster family. When I see that the kids in the book, including kids in real life, we can tell that they have been scared by their foster family. The Seale House was a nightmare for the children because of the way they were treated. It can really affect their entire adult lives. Being mistreated every day in a place they had no other choice but to call ‘Home”.  As these kids get older, they all cope in different ways. Some may put up walls, and some may feel depressed. They can choose for the bad experiences in their lives make them stronger or tear them down.

Connection

The bond that the brother and sister share in this novel is very strong. Basically Jocelyn’s only lead to finding her brother was the letter she found on her bed. Usually just a letter cannot help determine if someone is faking death or where they have gone missing (unless the letter stated that). From just the outside postage stamp, she was able to figure out what Jack was trying to say. As if there is some sort of telepathy or mutual understanding between the two characters. Not even vocal communication is needed between the two to figure out where Jack has gone, if he is still alive, or in hiding.

Noah?

One of the characters, Noah was been absent from the story-line as of now. After he was talking t Jocelyn one night, he never really came back. Was it intentional by the author to do that? Or will not affect the story at all? Jack had disappeared much like this. Could there be a connection to both vanishings? We will just have to read to find out the rest of novel to find out how everything will play in together at the end!

New Chracter

In chapter 5 we are introduced to another character. Their identity is not given but whoever it is knows Jocelyn where or not she knows them. I had a feeling it was Jack until she saw who it was. A lot of the clues pointed to it being Jack because the text said he liked being the Cellar, he would hide there, etc. But in the end it was never Jack and it was someone else trying to get her attention. This character really thickens the plot and could develop the theme in certain ways. The peculiar thing to me is how did her know Jocelyn and she not known him? Was it one of the kids she had “forgotten” about?

Questioning... The Seale House

There is one major question I have recently thought about regarding the “Seale House”. So far the book has mainly surrounded the details and past of the children’s childhood through flashbacks in the foster home. But the curiosity is about something not even the deep meaning about the house. My burning question would be is the “Seale House” alive? It seems crazy to make such an accusation but there are a few hints throughout the text that point to this statement being true or enforcing the idea. For example on page 34 it says, “The flames would immediately go out, as if the house was extinguishing the fire”.  And on page 49 it says, “What if the Seale House let me in, but didn't want me to leave?” Both of these examples really create suspense and make the reader wonder if the Seale House was alive in some way. As a reader it excites me to think that this so-far realistic fiction novel could become fantasy, or maybe even science fiction.

Chapter 5 Theme

In chapter 5 of “The Vanishing Game”, the theme is mystery and panic. Throughout this section of the text, the author uses literary devices to get across the idea of such theme. For example on page 51 it says “A white knife of lightning sliced the sky and thunder boomed overhead”. This sentence uses a metaphor comparing a white knife and lightning. These words together make the reader sense mystery in the setting. On page 51 it also says, “Windy dust stung my eyes and my vision blurred, but I focused on the vibration of the guy’s tromping boots”. This sentence reinforces the idea of the panic Jocelyn was feeling as her pursuer was chasing her over the abandoned Seale House. As a general gist of this chapter, we know someone is chasing Jocelyn for unexplained reason.

Main Conflict

 

The main obvious conflict of the book, The Vanishing Game is that Jack has supposedly died. When Jocelyn, his sister hears this news, she is a wreck. She cannot even wrap her head around the fact that she would never see her twin brother ever again. But soon after she hears the news, she receives a letter and it’s from Jack! The letter was sent from Watertown. But how could he send a letter if he’s dead? He wasn't And she was sure of it. Now she has a lead and needs to follow it. But how will she go back to Watertown; where they had stayed in a horrible foster home for a portion of their childhood? We’ll have to read to find out!

Seale House

     Seale House

 The Seale house was the foster home of Jack and Jocelyn when they were kids. On Jocelyn's journey to find her brother, she sees things that seemed peculiar to me. In one part of the text on page 33 it says, "But who had kept it smoothly working in the years since the foster home had been closed?” (She was talking about the lock that they always kept it oiled so that they could escape through that door without Hazel Frey hearing it).  This makes me suspicious that Jack was never dead and he has been hiding in the Seale house for some reason. This creepy abandoned foster home seems like an odd place to want to be. Especially after all the harsh conditions the foster children went through. Jack and Jocelyn luckily left the house but later on the next page it says that there were kids that might have not left. Does this mean they have something to do with Jack's disappearance? Could there be someone who wanted revenge?  Another major question of mine from this chapter is how did the house become like this? The author makes it clear that the Seales were very strict when it came to the cleanliness of the home. But when Jocelyn visits the house it is in complete mess.

Bond

Jocelyn is the girl that will do anything for her brother. She makes me think of how twins grow together to make two different individual but so very similar humans. She has this passion towards finding her brother. A passion that makes me wonder if it’s just natural bond formed between twins or is it out of her true character. 

Her affection to put herself in danger to find Jack reminds of the small scene from Hunger Games, when Katniss Everdeen, the main character, volunteers to keep Primrose Everdeen, her sister from participating at the Hunger Games. Her courageous enlistment keeps her sister safe but puts herself in jeopardy. Like that situation, Jocelyn does the same but not on such a dramatic scale.

Jack

 

In, The Vanishing Game, Jack, the twin of Jocelyn is said to be dead. Jocelyn is devastated because they shared a bond like no other. They had switched through foster homes and never really had a stable childhood but they had each other. Jocelyn goes looking for Jack believing that he isn't dead. From the plot so far I can definitely tell that she will go to extreme measures to find her brother who might or might not be dead. For example in the passage it said, “I shoved away a case of bottled water and climbed in. It wasn't easy--- at nearly six feet, I was tall for a girl. I curled up on the floor and shut the door, then lay in the dark trying to catch my breath and listening to the rain pummeling the roof”(pg.6) This quote explains her hopping into a friend of Jack’s car hoping that he would lead her to her brother. By the end of this book I would assume that he will give into to help finding Jack or telling Jocelyn more information about Jack's death if that's what had happened.

 

The Vanishing Game

I chose this book because the cover was very each catching. It created a sort of suspense just looking at the book in the first place. On the back of the book, there is small excerpt that it written for the reader from a character in the book. They mention a clue, something hidden, and someone being lost. This really grabbed my attention because I enjoy books that create mystery and it seems very mysterious. You can see the book cover below.

Want to find out more about this book? Read the book description here: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11873007-the-vanishing-game