I want you to know that I was absolutely forced to read this by [a:Mary Laura Philpott|8139177|Mary Laura Philpott|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]. I felt like she was threatening me with her glee and enthusiasm through the internet and that I'd probably die a horrible death if I didn't get on this ASAP.
I've got the others she recommends on my to-read list, as well.
You're so bossy and demanding, M.L.

I think this story is a bit of a letter to mothers, an ode to tight communities, and maybe a gentle ribbing to all who read contemporary thrillers and the like. Two of those three apply to me and I enjoyed this book. However, I didn't love it. I suspect it was the reader that caused me distress.
You'll note there are multiple narrators listed. In truth, though, there's only one main reader: [a:Cassandra Campbell|428160|Cassandra Campbell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1334530494p2/428160.jpg].
Campbell has narrated a lot of books. If you're an audiobook listener, there's a good chance you've heard her. She narrates a wide variety of genres but is probably suited for women's fiction, especially magical realism. She always seems to have a dreamy, distracted voice, like someone who just woke up from a long, deep sleep or who is really stoned; all hesitant and breathy, soft, almost with a bit of a whine at times. It works well for many stories but it did not work well at all for this one.

Quick summary:
Told via two timelines, the story follows the last year of Jess Winters' life in Sycamore, AZ, as well as the lives of the townsfolk Jess left behind. Jess' story, told at the beginning of the 1990's, concerns a teenager's move from Phoenix to a small town after her parents' divorce. She makes and loses friends, then makes more friends but she's always restless, always looking for something, walking around town late at night. The other half of the story examines the town's citizens after a newcomer finds human bones in a dry wash which prompt the townsfolk to recount their versions of Jess Winters, 17-year-old who went missing 18 years before. Some think she ran off to make a different life for herself. Others believe she's dead. But no one knows for sure until the two stories come together and all is unfolded.

So, of course, here I am, reader of thrillers and mysteries - I automatically assumed Jess had been murdered because isn't that how these stories always go? And there are characters who had reason to want Jess dead so it's completely plausible that she was killed in a fit of passion and her body dumped only to be exhumed by nature nearly two decades later.
But that's not really the point of this story, despite my having listed this on my Mystery shelf. Instead, this tale follows a group of people who put themselves on pause, whether intentionally or inadvertently, after Jess Winters went missing. There's the English teacher, the best friend and her family, Jess' mother, Jess' first best friend and that friend's friends, all in a holding pattern, waiting for...they're not sure. Jess' mother, of course, is waiting for her daughter to come home. Jess' former teacher stopped teaching and opened a bakery and is waiting for her life to eventually finish. Jess' best friend is waiting for the confrontation she never got to have and, as a result, let everything else slip by. Jess' former best friend is waiting to be the person she's always wanted to be, the person she started to be before Jess went missing. That friend's friend is waiting to express his love for someone he just realized it's ok be be in love with. Everyone is quietly living their not-best lives, knowing there's more but not knowing what to do about it. And then a new professor moves to town and finds bones and suddenly, the pause button is unpaused as the residents begin to wait on forensic reports to confirm or deny Jess' death. They all wake from their static lives as they remember the end of 1991, remember the odd, lonely, beloved, hated, desired young woman who suddenly left town so long ago, as they reflect on their relationships with her and what they could have done differently since that night.

It's a solid story, though sad and somewhat slow. I would have liked it more from the voicebox of a different reader.

Well, aside from the fact that the book was set in AZ, which meant that I could "see" all of it, this was a great read. I didn't think I would like the fact that the reveal happened so early. But, as it turns out, that method of introducing all of the people who come in and out of Jess' life was amazingly effective. I love the way that telling her story leads to learning all of their stories, too. And I was genuinely surprised, which I didn't think could be possible, by the way things played out.

It's a very cool read and I will buy it for the Library so that others can be surprised by it, too.

A beautiful story of communal passion, loss, and grief, Sycamore is full of deeply actualized characters, each with their own compelling voice and connection to Jess's disappearance - even if that connection isn't immediately clear. Though the heart of the novel is the question surrounding Jess's disappearance and the discovery of bones 18 years later, it would be a mistake to label this book merely a mystery. It's less about "what happened" or "whodunit" than it is about how small, seemingly disconnected moments can lead to one life-changing event and how that event has echoes far beyond what would be expected. When you do find out what happened, it's just as heartrending and needless as all that preceded it would suggest.

Sycamore is the portrait of a town before Jess Winters disappeared without a trace right before Christmas in 1991, and the portrait of the same town, several years later, when bones are found in a dried up lakebed.

This book is beautifully written, showcases several POVs with ease, and is similar to Everything I Never Told You in the sense that yes, there's a dead person that's central to the story, but that's not really the point.

I'm mostly just sad that this book wasn't super popular. I definitely think it should have been.

I was pleasantly surprised at how good this book was! Great writing, interesting setting, even more interesting characters, and a good plot.

3.5 rounded down due to the audiobook inclusion of the unlistenable Xe Sands.

A new resident finds human remains in a creek bed and the whole town is waiting to hear if the body of a missing teenager and if so, was foul play involved.

Beautifully written from multiple perspectives of inhabitants of a small town in Arizona. It is set up as a mystery of what happened to a young woman who disappeared but touches on love, grief, and life in a small town.

Sycamore jumps back and forth between 1991 and the present day, following a young girl who disappeared during a particularly bad storm in northern Arizona. The characters are really well fleshed out and detailed and I loved following their development. I found myself wondering what happened to this poor girl, the victim of unfortunate circumstances. I also met the author, Bryn Chancellor, who was very kind and excited to talk about her book!