Missing the Piano vs What I Was: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Boarding schools, Boys, Coming-of-age, Schools, Children's fiction, Fiction
Missing the Piano
When Mike's mother and sister go on tour with "Les Miserables," Mike's father and his new wife enroll Mike in St. Matthew's Military Academy where, facing brutality and ignorance, he learns to survive.
vs
What I Was
In the 1960s, off the coast of East Anglia, a disgruntled boarding school student develops an obsessive friendship with a boy living by himself at the edge of the sea.
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- What I Was has the widest readership — 4705 ratings behind its score.
Scores by source
| Missing the Piano | What I Was | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.4 (57) | 3.5 (4705) |
| Hardcover | — | 3.5 (8) |
| Google Books | — | 4.0 (3) |
| Apple Books | — | 4.0 (8) |
Reception
| Missing the Piano | What I Was | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 57 | 4705 |
| Editions | 7 | 16 |
| Film adaptations | — | 1 |
| Want to read | — | 3826 |
| Reading it now | — | 68 |
| Written reviews | — | 573 |
| Wikipedia attention | — | 112 |
| Pages | 208 | 224 |