There's No Place Like Here

I just finished this book and it was fantastic. Take a trip into fantasy. Don't skip ahead...the ending is worth the wait and very rewarding. The writing flips from past to present and parallel story lines, but it is easy to adjust. A touching, underlining relationship of Dorothy & the Wizard of Oz.

This is the third book I have read by Cecilia Ahern and I am in awe that such depth, creativity, and mature insight can come from someone so young. It appears to me that several of the previous reviewers have missed much of the point of this book. This book was not just a fantasy about a magical land where lost things and people reside. It is about the very deep and complex emotions of grief, love and guilt. It is about choosing either to survive or fade away in despair. It is about following your heart when the rest of the world says you're wrong, a fool, or just plain crazy. It is about murder, betrayal and healing. Just like in P.S. I Love You, this book deals with the grief of losing a loved one but it goes deeper. It's not just the loss that causes the characters to suffer, it's the not-knowing what happened or where they are. Previous reviewers seem to have missed the whole story lines about Donal, Bobby, and Jenny-May and the effects their disappearances had on their loved ones. The never-ending grief of those who could not move on with their lives without knowing if their loved ones were dead or alive; of being afraid to move from a house, take a vacation, or even turn off a porch light for fear they would miss their return. It was about the feelings of isolation and abandonment those grieving people feel when they see the rest of their families picking up the pieces, giving up the search, and going on with their lives while they are left to suffer alone. It was about how such tragic events can sometimes bring a family closer together and other times totally rip it apart, no matter how loving and supportive everyone tries to be. That someone as young as Ahern could recognize, analyze and describe those deep dark emotions and make them come alive in an uplifting story is amazing to me. Ahern made it work in P.S. I Love You and she made it work here. For the emotion of love, Ahern shows how suffering through such a tragedy can destroy even the most stable and loving relationship. In regard to Jack's personal life, he loves Gloria, doesn't he? They've dreamed of a house and children. Gloria's been supportive and understanding through it all, made no demands, never questioned his actions, never rushed him. Why doesn't Jack feel anything toward her anymore? Is he trying to drive her away? Jack doesn't know himself . . . but apparently Ahern does, and again, for someone so young, I find that amazing. The story also shows the adverse effects a hostile environment and the emotion of guilt can have on a developing child because, after all, this is the life story of Sandy Shortt. Sandy had psychological problems (obsessive/compulsive and insomnia) and had been seeing a counselor from the time she was 14 years old. Her problems started when she was 10 years old and her classmate, Jenny-May Butler (who did everything she could to make Sandy's life miserable) disappeared just a few hours after Sandy had wished for just t

When Sandy Shortt, a finder of lost persons and obsessed with lost items, goes missing herself, the reader doesn't know if one is reading a fantasy book or a dream of the lost Sandy. This is the first book that I have read by this author and I felt like I happened upon a jewel. The weaving of the psychology of people who are consumed with anything that is lost and the stories of people who are lost and want to be found but make a good life for themselves in the land of the lost is fascinating. The moral that real relationships are more valuable than keeping all in order rings true. Many characters are well developed and come alive during the telling of the story. Highly recommended.

This book is very unusual. I felt the plot was pretty unique, considering all the chick lit out there. Very imaginative. At first I really couldn't stand the main character. I just couldn't identify with her and thought she was annoying. I really liked Jack's character. I thought he was very well-developed. The ending was great. It's just an all-around good book!

This was simply a fun book; something completely original and different from what's current in fiction. People who are giving it one star reviews either have no imagination or refuse to think out of the box. It was a FANTASY. The author was very detailed and brought the character of Sandy Shortt alive with all her quirks and personality traits. I felt that she was a very believable character because she wasn't perfect and didn't try to be. After a childhood friend goes missing, Sandy is consumed with finding lost things and people; to the extent that she opens a missing persons agency. One day Sandy wanders down a jogging trail and winds up in a place called Here, where missing things and people go. She meets several people she had been searching for and finds that thousands of lost people have made a life for themselves in Here. The plot is interesting, original and so different that I couldn't stop reading. I highly recommend this book to anyone who can just unwind enough and open their minds to something new.