Slow to start-I almost gave up after 25 pages but it gets really good and remains that way for the rest of the book :)

I enjoyed reading The Disappeared and was intrigued and thought the author's use of language and description brought me right into the novel.

This book was amazing i finished in a day. The characters felt so real like you've been in there spot and you could feel the hurt and pain and all the love and loss. definetly read it!

The Disappeared was suggested to me by a friend. What a beautiful story. I disappeared into the words of this book. Did not want to put it down.

This was a beautiful story of the power of love, the grief and indecency of loss, and the strength and potency of the human spirit to keep going amid dangerous and perilous conditions.

Anne Greves is a sixteen-year-old living in Montreal, Canada when she meets Serey, a Cambodian who is 5 years older than she is and a musician. Immediately they begin a passionate, sexual relationship. One day Serey decides to return to Cambodia to find his family whom he hasn't heard from in over a year. A daring decision on Serey's part as Cambodia was suffering in the aftermath of Pol Pot's savage revolution.

Ten years pass by and Anne has never heard from Serey and decides to go to Cambodia herself to find him. Unbelievably, Anne finds him and their reunion is as passionate as it was ten years ago.

Anne stays in Cambodia with Serey, becomes pregnant with his child and is excited and anxious waiting for the birth of their child. One day Anne is overcome with fever and rashes and is admitted to a local hospital. The doctor examines her and finds out she has dengue fever. What about their baby?

Suddenly Serey disappears and Anne hires a taxi driver she has come to know, Mau, to drive her to another city named Ang Tasom where she suspects Serey to be. What does Anne discover?

A haunting novel that will stay with you long after the last page has been turned.

I was expecting a much darker, detailed description of the horrors of the Cambodian genocide but instead I found this book to be a perfect example of how a good author can tell a truly tragic story without the need spell out all of the gory, terrible details.

This was a well written novel, with a likeable main character who is introduced to a new world by a Cambodian student turned refugee who she falls in love with. I definitely recommend this book - I had trouble putting it down!

What a wonderfully written book. This story of a woman's undying love hurt my heart and touched my soul.

Kim Echlin has written a powerful story of all the dimensions of love (passionate love, love of family, love of country) against a setting that is both tragic and haunting. Ann Greves, a Canadian teenager living in Montreal, meets and falls in love with a Cambodian man who is attending university in Canada. His family sent him abroad when the Pol Pot regime made clear their intent for the Cambodian people.Ann and Serey are forced to part when the borders of Cambodia open up once again and Serey feels compelled to return to his homeland to find his family or what happened to them. Years go by with no communication and eventually Ann travels to Phnom Penh to try to find him. Against all odds, they are reunited. In many ways, this is the true beginning of their journey together as Ann discovers a changed man, a people who have suffered unbearably, and a need to make a life out of the ashes of so much tragedy. Echlin is to be congratulated for tackling a story that needs to be told (or perhaps more appropriately "felt") and doing so in a fast-paced, often poetic, and gloriously rich novel.

What a gripping story of life, love, and loss. This is a wonderful book. I was actually upset to see it end. It is not a true story but very well could be. I cannot say enough, the book is enchanting and thought provoking

This book is written in the "first person" and I felt it was hard to read. It has a great story to tell - but difficult to follow.

Kim Echlin has written a love story in the past tense that takes place between Montreal and Cambodia. The book is packed with feeling and thoughts about not only what is happening to Anne but her perceptions of Cambodian life.
I believe it could be a very realistic love story.Seeing the evil of war as Anne did in addition to the loss of a child would cause anyone to never really get over it.
A quick afternoon read that makes you think long after you put the book down.

This book was excellent, Captured my attention in the first chapter, then I couldn't put it down. The author truly captures the emotion of first love, and the tragedy the characters endure for it.

Disappeared - Disappointment
By Silvana Meliambro

July 10, 2009 - 8:06 am
I usually enjoy most of Heather's picks but this particular one was such a disappointment. It was described to be an incredible love story - which in my opinion was not. The book concentrates mostly on the war in cambodia and how it affected the people of its country. If you are interested in historical based loved stories then perhaps you will like it. I just found that all the historical details obscured the love story between the two characters. I only actually was interested in the first couple of chapters then dragged myself through to the end which maybe became interesting again in the last few chapters.
Definitely not a great summer read - very boring!!

I was very excited to start this book, but found it a little slow at the beginning. By about page 50, I found it to be a little more interesting. I think the main thing that held my interest was the Cambodia/Vietnam story line. I have always been interested in Cambodia and Vietnam and the wars they have experienced there. This book was written very differently from what I am used to reading. I guess what I am trying to say, is that I enjoyed this book somewhat, but I am not really sure why. The characters were not really that exciting, what was most interesting was the historical parts about Cambodia. I would recommend people read this book, only because it is very different, but would not put it in my top 10.

I enjoy historical fiction and therefore was drawn into that reality in this story. The "love" story is a bit of a stretch for me, however, anyone who has loved CAN imagine themselves doing similar things.

This is a sad, serious story that occurs against the backdrop of Cambodia's genocide. The style of writing is interesting and creative- (I believe it's technically "second-person"). The style of writing is very interesting because it presents all of the facts without giving weight or importance to any particular pieces- but it also seems to keep you from really knowing or loving any of the characters.

The love story ends up being powerful and tragic with beautiful moments. The story is naked, stark, and awful, as exepected from a novel about the genocide.

The novel breaks your heart but leaves you appreciating Kim Echlin and her vision. It was a novel that I could not fall in love with, and the dark subject matter kept me perpetually saddened as I read with the beautiful moments scattered throughout the novel not enough to distract me from the darkness that is written about so matter-of-factly. But then, that is the entire point.

I am also grateful for a novel that leaves you feeling better educated on an important historical event. Definitely skip this one of you prefer lighter reading material. It says on the back cover that she draws her characters with unsentimentalized strokes- I could not agree with this more. A facinating experiment in creativity.