The narrator of Missing May is Summer, a girl who has had a difficult life.

She does not remember her parents, although she believes her mother must have loved her, "otherwise, how could I even recognize love when I saw it that night between Ob and May?" She was passed around from relative to relative, never receiving much care or love, until she was about six years old; then May and Ob took her in. She is understandably very insecure, and for much of Missing May, she is afraid that she will once again be unloved and a burden to her relatives. This fear creates much of the tension of the book; it is well motivated, with Ob's self-destructive behavior giving it urgency.

On the other hand, Summer is not given to self-pity; her narrative never whines, instead maintaining a matterof-fact tone that helps...