All the Missing Girls

Corinne is very much the nucleus of the friend group. Pick three characters and describe how their relationships with her differed based on the weaknesses Corinne saw in each.

Cooley Ridge’s atmosphere is made mysterious and darkly magical because of its history (for example, the caverns or Corinne’s disappearance). Pick a scene in which Nic wanders the landscape. Describe how the language and setting of the scene play into the larger unreality of the town. 

The downfall of Nic and Everett’s relationship begins when she returns to Cooley Ridge and realizes that she doesn’t “want to drag Everett into this” (85). She believes that because he was not around to witness the events that made her who she is, that she is unable to have a relationship with him. Argue both sides of this point. Using examples from the book, show why returning to Tyler both stifles and promotes the quality of her life.

One thing that Nic notices about Annaleise’s generation is that these kids “could just shrug it off, give their condolences, wait for the beer to arrive” and that they “expect everything to be handed to them” (163). She notices that they seem to lack the deepness of feeling that Nic and her friends felt when Corinne disappeared. Talk about how being an outsider helps Nic solve the mystery of Corinne and, by extension, Annaleise.  

Various characters in the novel support Nic, whether it is apparent or not. Bailey’s brother’s presence at Grand Pines clues her in to the fact that Nic’s father is being investigated. Daniel provides safety when she is running from a stranger in the woods. Think of one major character and one minor character. How does Nic depend on these people, explicitly or otherwise, to find the missing girls?

At one point in the novel, Nic ruminates on her mother’s death by asking, “How many people out there are responsible for some tragedy and don’t even know it?” (300). Despite the intentional, calculated methods she uses to investigate her history, unexplainable behaviors and actions are the driving force behind everything that happens. Describe some of the arbitrary intersections in character’s lives that wind up playing significant roles in the book.

Although Nic doesn’t mention it often, gender, and specifically heteronormative gender, is one of the defining structures of Cooley Ridge. She mentions how “it’s typically men who commit murder in the heat of passion” (248). There is something she sees in women, something words can’t describe, that she says roots them very deeply in one’s heart. This is what fuels her love for someone like Corinne. Explore how do gender dynamics function in the book.

Russian nesting dolls are a physical representation of all the versions of people that can exist at once. What particular characteristics of major characters in the book define them? Does one great act of cruelty overshadow many small acts of kindness, and vice versa?