A Place Called Here
by Cecelia Ahern
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Sometimes it takes losing everything to truly find yourself...Since Sandy Shortt's childhood classmate disappeared twenty years ago, Sandy has been obsessed with missing things. Finding what is lost becomes her single-minded goal—from the lone sock that vanishes in the washing machine to the car keys she misplaced. It's no surprise, then, that Sandy's life's work becomes finding people who have vanished from their loved ones. Sandy's family is baffled and concerned by her increasing show more preoccupation. Her parents can't understand her compulsion, and she pushes them away further by losing herself in the work of tracking down these missing people. She gives up her life in order to offer a flicker of hope to devastated families...and escape the disappointments of her own.
Jack Ruttle is one of those devastated people. It's been a year since his brother Donal vanished into thin air, and he has enlisted Sandy Shortt to find him. But before she is able to offer Jack the information he so desperately needs, Sandy goes missing too...and Jack now finds himself searching for his brother and the one woman who understood his pain.
One minute Sandy is jogging through the park, the next, she can't figure out where she is. The path is obscured. Nothing is familiar. A clearing up ahead reveals a camp site, and it's there that Sandy discovers the impossible: she has inadvertently stumbled upon the place — and people — she's been looking for all her life, a land where all the missing people go. A world away from her loved ones and the home she ran from for so long, Sandy soon resorts to her old habit again, searching. Though this time, she is desperately trying to find her way home . . . show less
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I regret to say that I received this book two years ago and just now managed to actually read it. It was my first ARC and I put it aside and it sat at the very bottom of my TBR pile for the longest time. Until this time of year, when I've been trying desperately to get everything out of that box and I finally decided to give this seemingly thick, impossible-to-get-through book a shot. Boy, do I hate myself for waiting so long to read such a literary work of genius. Remember in your school days, when teachers always told you to "show, not tell"? Cecelia Ahern does this, and does it flawlessly, with writing that is not at all awkward like much "good" writing seems to be, nor is it childish. Everything flows. All the words fit together as show more if they were each handpicked to play the part they are assigned. Coupled together with crazy good characterization, a plot as unique and captivating as they get, this contemporary fantasy should be a must-read for anyone considering themselves a true reader. As lengthy as it is, I got through this book in one long sitting, absolutely refusing to put it down. Cecelia Ahern is the literary genius I have been searching for.
Rating: 5/5 show less
Rating: 5/5 show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Ms. Ahern took on an ambitious project with this book: to delve into what it's like to deal with life after someone you love has gone missing. For the most part this book suceeds. It's unique, and usually engrossing. The pace is uneven, and there are some false notes along the way. On the whole, however, the story moves along with a momentum that carries the reader past the rough spots. Ahern creates an alternative world, one that would be a great solace to those with missing loved ones if it really existed. The characters, especially the two main characters Sandy and Jack, while not as developed as they could be are interesting and you care about them and what happens to them. Ultimately this book is about how we all deal with loss, show more whether it be the loss of a sock, a loved one, or even ourselves. Ahern doesn't provide a lot of answers, but she asks some good questions, and she has an intriguing view of the world. I can honestly say I have never read a book quite like this one, and I mean that in a good way. This book is worth at least a couple of days of beach reading. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.There's No Place Like Here tells the story of Sandy Shortt, a woman who runs a missing persons agency and has a tendendy to go missing herself when friends and family get too close to her.
When Sandy is 10 years old, a classmate disappears. Sandy then becomes obsessed with finding lost things, largely due to her own guilt since she "wished" her classmate away.
While searching for a missing person, Sandy finds herself in the land called "Here" where all missing people and things go. Here is a complete functioning world where everyone has a role and all items are second-hand. The novel, therefore, contains an element of fantasy and you must be able to suspend your disbelief to enjoy the story.
I found the concept of "Here" imaginative and show more intriguing. The author treats "Here" with just the right mix of seriousness and fairy tale to make the book enjoyable.
The narrative voice alters between Sandy as she struggles to find her way out of Here, and in a series of flashbacks that explain Sandy's obsessions; interspersed with the voice of Jack Ruttle, one of Sandy's clients who is looking for his own lost brother, and for Sandy. Jack's own story of learning to let go of the past is every bit as moving as the main plot.
A light read, well-written. Some funny scenes, perceptive treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders. I recommend it. show less
When Sandy is 10 years old, a classmate disappears. Sandy then becomes obsessed with finding lost things, largely due to her own guilt since she "wished" her classmate away.
While searching for a missing person, Sandy finds herself in the land called "Here" where all missing people and things go. Here is a complete functioning world where everyone has a role and all items are second-hand. The novel, therefore, contains an element of fantasy and you must be able to suspend your disbelief to enjoy the story.
I found the concept of "Here" imaginative and show more intriguing. The author treats "Here" with just the right mix of seriousness and fairy tale to make the book enjoyable.
The narrative voice alters between Sandy as she struggles to find her way out of Here, and in a series of flashbacks that explain Sandy's obsessions; interspersed with the voice of Jack Ruttle, one of Sandy's clients who is looking for his own lost brother, and for Sandy. Jack's own story of learning to let go of the past is every bit as moving as the main plot.
A light read, well-written. Some funny scenes, perceptive treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders. I recommend it. show less
This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Delightful and unexpectedly moving light novel. Slightly surreal... but enjoyable nonetheless, and surprisingly believable so long as you're prepared to suspend reality a little. Similar to 'If you could see me now' in some ways.
This book belongs to what I am beginning to think of as a genre of modern novels that intends to move us and instruct us about life and healing but which remains somewhat remote from its characters and somewhat unreal and flat. The writing is competent and the subject matter is important but it just doesn't come alive.
I can't help thinking of a truly powerful novel, also by an Irish woman writer, also about a pretty screwed up woman who almost inadvertently stumbles down a path to insight and healing--[My Dream of You] by [[Nuala O’Faolain]]. The difference is profound. O’Faolain is not attempting to lead us into any great insight, she is just telling her story, but what a contrast. I was transported by the writing, the character, show more the story, perhaps because the author in that case was writing from truth, not from plot outline or metaphor. When her character screws up, it is painful. When she does herself a favour, it is a joy. Ahern's protagonist on the other hand is almost a caricature, and although in real life I would greatly sympathize with her, in the book I am merely curious.
I do not mean to disrespect this writer or what she is trying to do. Clearly the person who wrote this book is talented and capable, creative and caring. I am just saddened that even when we are trying to write about the hard things they so often come out so easy and unreal. show less
I can't help thinking of a truly powerful novel, also by an Irish woman writer, also about a pretty screwed up woman who almost inadvertently stumbles down a path to insight and healing--[My Dream of You] by [[Nuala O’Faolain]]. The difference is profound. O’Faolain is not attempting to lead us into any great insight, she is just telling her story, but what a contrast. I was transported by the writing, the character, show more the story, perhaps because the author in that case was writing from truth, not from plot outline or metaphor. When her character screws up, it is painful. When she does herself a favour, it is a joy. Ahern's protagonist on the other hand is almost a caricature, and although in real life I would greatly sympathize with her, in the book I am merely curious.
I do not mean to disrespect this writer or what she is trying to do. Clearly the person who wrote this book is talented and capable, creative and caring. I am just saddened that even when we are trying to write about the hard things they so often come out so easy and unreal. show less
I once read a description of Cecelia Ahern's books that said her fiction was akin to modern fairy tales for grownups. (As if regular fairy tales are solely the property of youngsters.) In a Q & A on her website, how Ahern addresses this is the perfect introduction into the premise of There's No Place Like Here:
"My opinion of a fairy tale was of a story that lacked realism, in which female characters are "rescued" by men, whisked off their feet from the boredom of their mundane lives, proposed to, and brought to a castle where they would live happily ever after. This is not the case with my books. I want them to be about strong women. They are about real people with ordinary, everyday struggles who are faced with having to embark on a show more journey of self-discovery.As soon as my characters begin to grasp who they are, and how and why it is that they've reached this point in their lives, then they realize they must heal themselves. Self-healing is extremely important in my stories, and while there are strong male characters in the books, they aren't the handsome princes that have come to save the day. Their role is to help the characters help themselves. People learn about themselves through interaction and through their relationships with others; obviously nobody can do it alone, so the love interests are instrumental in helping the characters look at themselves and their own behavior but then eventually helping themselves.How a good fairy tale will make you feel after you've finished it is full of hope --- the hope that no matter what we're faced with, we can get through it. While the books don't always end on a "happily ever after" note, they do reach a point where they realize they have the strength, confidence, and ability to continue. And that is the modern twist."
There's No Place Like Here fits that description admirably well. Ahern's fourth novel is the story of Sandy Shortt, the owner of a missing-persons agency in Ireland. Sandy's had an obsession with lost things ever since a neighbor (and childhood nemesis) disappeared when they were 10. As an adult, she pours herself into her work helping families of people who have gone missing and her workaholic tendencies of disapppearing for days at a time have cost her relationships with her parents and a love interest, the school counselor who helped her as a teenager.
So when Sandy really does go missing, no one really notices or cares much - except Jack Ruttle, who has hired Sandy to find his missing brother, Donal. Convinced that she holds the keys to the answers he seeks, Jack embarks on a search for Sandy that brings him into contact with each person in Sandy's life.
Similarly, Sandy is on her own journey of discovery, stumbling upon a world (not too far off from the one that we know) that simultaneously reunites and acquaints her with the very people she's spent her life looking for.
"It was a scene I was familiar yet unfamiliar with all at the same time because everything I could see was composed of recognizable elements from home, but used in such very different ways. We hadn't stepped backward or forward, we had entered a whole new time. A great big melting pot of nations, cultures, design, and sound mixed to create a new world. Children played; market stalls decorated the road and customers swarmed around them. So much color, so many new sounds, unlike any country I'd been in. A sign beside us said HERE."
There's a mystical quality and a subtle religious element to There's No Place Like Here. For example, it's not much of a stretch to view Here as a symbolic interpretation of Heaven. (I mean, c'mon, one of the characters is a carpenter named Joseph.) Despite that, Ahern manages this aspect while avoiding becoming too heavy-handed.
"I'm very interested in the idea that we are not alone on this earth," she states on the interview posted on her website. "I write books about lives, and in our lives are men, women, children, animals, and the others we feel around us. I'm aware that many people are turned off when this subject is broached but it's as simple as when, after losing a loved one, people openly admit to feeling that their loved ones are still with them."
The novel is told in flashbacks as well as in the present, and Ahern weaves these together very nicely. There are, however, some elements within the plot that don't quite get answered at the conclusion. We see a relationship developing between Sandy and her guidance counselor at school, which doesn't come into fruition until Sandy is an adult (thankfully), but the reader is left not quite knowing what happened with Sandy and Gregory in the middle. We can guess, which is perhaps what Ahern wants us to do.
There's No Place Like Here, Ahern's fourth novel (I think), is the second one of hers that I've read and enjoyed. The first one that I read was If You Can See Me Now, which I loved. (Anyone who has been around a child with an imaginary playmate will never dismiss the notion of invisible friends again after reading that one). Both are highly recommended and make for light, entertaining reading while being thought-provoking and viewing this world in a different light. If you're looking for this type of read this summer, give Cecelia Ahern's books a try.
My rating for There's No Place Like Here: 4 out of 5 stars (simply because I would have liked to have known a little more about the relationship between Sandy and Gregory!) show less
"My opinion of a fairy tale was of a story that lacked realism, in which female characters are "rescued" by men, whisked off their feet from the boredom of their mundane lives, proposed to, and brought to a castle where they would live happily ever after. This is not the case with my books. I want them to be about strong women. They are about real people with ordinary, everyday struggles who are faced with having to embark on a show more journey of self-discovery.As soon as my characters begin to grasp who they are, and how and why it is that they've reached this point in their lives, then they realize they must heal themselves. Self-healing is extremely important in my stories, and while there are strong male characters in the books, they aren't the handsome princes that have come to save the day. Their role is to help the characters help themselves. People learn about themselves through interaction and through their relationships with others; obviously nobody can do it alone, so the love interests are instrumental in helping the characters look at themselves and their own behavior but then eventually helping themselves.How a good fairy tale will make you feel after you've finished it is full of hope --- the hope that no matter what we're faced with, we can get through it. While the books don't always end on a "happily ever after" note, they do reach a point where they realize they have the strength, confidence, and ability to continue. And that is the modern twist."
There's No Place Like Here fits that description admirably well. Ahern's fourth novel is the story of Sandy Shortt, the owner of a missing-persons agency in Ireland. Sandy's had an obsession with lost things ever since a neighbor (and childhood nemesis) disappeared when they were 10. As an adult, she pours herself into her work helping families of people who have gone missing and her workaholic tendencies of disapppearing for days at a time have cost her relationships with her parents and a love interest, the school counselor who helped her as a teenager.
So when Sandy really does go missing, no one really notices or cares much - except Jack Ruttle, who has hired Sandy to find his missing brother, Donal. Convinced that she holds the keys to the answers he seeks, Jack embarks on a search for Sandy that brings him into contact with each person in Sandy's life.
Similarly, Sandy is on her own journey of discovery, stumbling upon a world (not too far off from the one that we know) that simultaneously reunites and acquaints her with the very people she's spent her life looking for.
"It was a scene I was familiar yet unfamiliar with all at the same time because everything I could see was composed of recognizable elements from home, but used in such very different ways. We hadn't stepped backward or forward, we had entered a whole new time. A great big melting pot of nations, cultures, design, and sound mixed to create a new world. Children played; market stalls decorated the road and customers swarmed around them. So much color, so many new sounds, unlike any country I'd been in. A sign beside us said HERE."
There's a mystical quality and a subtle religious element to There's No Place Like Here. For example, it's not much of a stretch to view Here as a symbolic interpretation of Heaven. (I mean, c'mon, one of the characters is a carpenter named Joseph.) Despite that, Ahern manages this aspect while avoiding becoming too heavy-handed.
"I'm very interested in the idea that we are not alone on this earth," she states on the interview posted on her website. "I write books about lives, and in our lives are men, women, children, animals, and the others we feel around us. I'm aware that many people are turned off when this subject is broached but it's as simple as when, after losing a loved one, people openly admit to feeling that their loved ones are still with them."
The novel is told in flashbacks as well as in the present, and Ahern weaves these together very nicely. There are, however, some elements within the plot that don't quite get answered at the conclusion. We see a relationship developing between Sandy and her guidance counselor at school, which doesn't come into fruition until Sandy is an adult (thankfully), but the reader is left not quite knowing what happened with Sandy and Gregory in the middle. We can guess, which is perhaps what Ahern wants us to do.
There's No Place Like Here, Ahern's fourth novel (I think), is the second one of hers that I've read and enjoyed. The first one that I read was If You Can See Me Now, which I loved. (Anyone who has been around a child with an imaginary playmate will never dismiss the notion of invisible friends again after reading that one). Both are highly recommended and make for light, entertaining reading while being thought-provoking and viewing this world in a different light. If you're looking for this type of read this summer, give Cecelia Ahern's books a try.
My rating for There's No Place Like Here: 4 out of 5 stars (simply because I would have liked to have known a little more about the relationship between Sandy and Gregory!) show less
Ever since a childhood classmate (who bullied her, true) disappeared twenty years ago, Sandy Short has taken an obsession and made it her life's work: finding lost things and people.She pushes away family, friends and lovers to feed this compulsion, until one day when Sandy goes missing herself while looking for a client's brother. She finds herself in an unfamiliar woods while on a jog, finds a campsite, and discovers that she has found the place where missing things and people go. Many of the people she has been hired to find over the years are here. Now she resumes her search, except for the first time in her life she's trying to find her way home. This was a fascinating book, compelling and well-written, with characters one comes to show more care for. Technically a fantasy (a hidden place of lost people, with no way out?), the people and their entangled emotions ring so true it feels more like an Anne Tyler book. Interestingly, the author is only 26 and the daughter of Ireland's Prime Minister. show less
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Cecelia Ahern was born on September 30, 1981 in Dublin, Ireland. She received a degree in journalism and media communications from Griffith College Dublin. She wrote her first novel PS, I Love You at the age of 21. This novel was made into a movie starring Hilary Swank. Some of her other novels include If You Could See Me Now, A Place Called Here, show more There's No Place Like Here, and Thanks for the Memories. She won the 2005 Irish Post Award for Literature and a 2005 Corine Award for Where Rainbows End. She is also the co-creator and producer of the television show Samantha Who? (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title*
- De plek van de verloren dingen
- Original title
- A Place Called Here
- Alternate titles
- There's No Place Like Here
- Original publication date
- 2006-01
- People/Characters
- Sandy Shortt; Jack Ruttle
- Important places
- County Leitrim, Ireland
- Epigraph
- "A missing person is anyone whose whereabouts are unknown
whatever the circumstances of disappearance.
The person will be considered missing until located and his/her
well-being, or otherwise, established."
--An G... (show all)ardai Siochana - Dedication
- For you, Dad - with all my love.
Per ardua surgo. - First words
- Jenny-May Butler, the little girl who lived across the road from me, went missing when I was a child.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)But regardless, always, we are found.
- Disambiguation notice
- British title, A Place Called Here. American title, There's No Place Like Here
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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