Family crisis dominates ‘Precious’

  The Pennsylvania town setting of Sandra Novack’s “Precious” is filled with Gladys Kravitz types.
  And during the summer of 1978, the neighbors have a lot to talk about.
  Ten-year-old Vicki Anderson goes missing while riding her bike at the local park. Her disappearance at first alarms the town and residents come together to search for the child. As time passes, that alarm fades, but Vicki still haunts the neighborhood as people fear the worst and worry over her mother’s capability to survive her loss.
  Vicki’s mother is not the only one to suffer a loss in this town. While the girl’s disappearance plays a role in “Precious,” it’s just the backdrop to another family drama involving a missing person.
  The Kisch family lives down the street. When mom Natalia runs off with a doctor, her husband and two daughters are left feeling angry and abandoned.
  Eva, 17, tries to escape her pain by throwing herself full-tilt into a relationship with a married teacher. Eva’s 9-year-old sister, Sissy, is a bit obsessed with Vicki’s disappearance. She spends much of her time alone and comforts herself with an imaginary world where she is a famous ghost detective.
  The family’s abandonment quickly ends with the return of Natalia. Instead of welcome-back hugs though, Natalia is faced with tension and a quiet fury, especially from her husband and teenage daughter.
  “Precious” is an interesting look at a family in crisis. It's well-written. The characters are well-drawn and interesting, but ultimately I was left kinda shrugging my shoulders.
  The book is a bit of a tear-jerker, but one that had me looking for the moral to the story. I looked ... but I guess it, too, disappeared.