The Center of Everything : A Novel

Locale Selector - Click for default
|

ttStore Home
Show Featured Items

Author(s):

Laura Moriarty

Binding: Paperback
Format(s): Bargain Price
List Price: $14.00

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Evelyn Bucknow lives with her single mother, Tina, in a small apartment in Kansas. Though warm and loving, Tina is young, immature, and prone to hasty decisions that create a precarious financial situation for her increasingly anxious daughter. When a failed romance with her married boss leaves Tina jobless and desperate, Evelyn turns to her grandmother to distance herself from her mother's irresponsibility.

Amazon.com Review

Laura Moriarty's debut novel is a simple story, but effectively told. Ten-year-old Evelyn Bucknow lives with her not very responsible young mother, Tina, on the outskirts of a small Kansas town. The Center of Everything follows a clean arc: How Evelyn, a gifted but poor student, negotiates the pitfalls of her background to become a college student. The book shows the scary tenuousness of poverty. When Tina's car breaks down, their life falls apart like a flimsy cardboard edifice. Evelyn can't get to school, Tina can't get to work, and unseemly relationships with men who own cars develop. The novel's other theme is the importance of teaching; when one of her teachers tells her she's gifted, Evelyn's life is changed. "She takes off her glasses, still looking at me. I take off my glasses too, because for a moment I think she is going to place them on my eyes, the way you place a crown on someone's head when they become queen. Welcome to being smart." As she heads into adolescence, Evelyn sees her best friend fall in love and become pregnant, just as Tina did when she was a teenager. Evelyn resists these traps, not without some lovelorn, lonely moments. The Center of Everything careens dangerously near fingerwagging at times, but the book's salvation comes from unexpected quarters: Evelyn's mom Tina. At the outset, she seems beleaguered and lost, but as the book progresses she develops a wry resiliency. We get to watch Evelyn and Tina grow up together, and it's a rare sight. --Claire Dederer

Customer Reviews

The Center of Everything

The book rec's was in good condition. Enjoyable....but I prefer non-fiction. Recommended to me by a friend.

I loved this book

I loved this book. The voice, the style, the writing, Evelyn as the story teller. The '80s references were fun and familiar.

Moriarty is a clever, skilled author. I laughed out loud several times, and I loved how she just let "life be life" for Evelyn. No grand stands. No over the top epiphany, just a girl growing up, living in a dysfunctional family that sees a ray of light at the end of the story.

Read this book with your thinking cap on. Don't try this as a breeze-through genre read. It's so much more.

I loved it and highly recommend this book.

Great read.

This is such a great book. I loved the raw reality of it. Painful at times, recalling the angst of youth. I've given this book to two girlfriends I thought would especially enjoy it. Well written, can't wait to read Laura's next one.

great first book.

This book is written from the point of view of a little girl, Evelyn who, at the age of 10, thinks her home in Kerrville, Kansas, is the center of the world. She lives alone with her 26 year old mother Tina, barely making ends meet. Together, the two of them grow up, Evelyn maturing faster than her mother most of the time.

The writing is light and fun, changing as Evelyn herself grows. She has many challenges to face through her teenage years, and a lot of the time, she's going at it alone. She shuffles through different relationships through high school, but generally, she faces things head on without much help. Evelyn's journey is sure to keep you hooked and turning pages, anxious to see where life is going to take her next.

Reflecting on the 80's

Slightly wordy and slow, but so full of truth. I related to these characters even though I have not lived this kind of small town, Kansas life, which includes confusing messages from God and President Reagan. The author is wonderful at depicting some of the enduring ironies that exist now and in the 1980's. Having grown up in this Era, I am reminded of the many questions that were looming right before my eyes. I found myself curious and anxious to find out this heroine, Evelyn, would mature. Who would she choose to forgive? Would she be a Christian, a biologist, or both? Would she become "life-smart" or just stay "book-smart"? Would she learn to be empathetic or judgmental? Would she become open-minded or bitter? Or, will she be able to find the perfect balance?

PLEASE KEEP IN MIND THAT SOME OF THE CONTENT THAT WE MAKE AVAILABLE TO YOU THROUGH THIS APPLICATION COMES FROM AMAZON WEB SERVICES. ALL SUCH CONTENT IS PROVIDED TO YOU "AS IS." THIS CONTENT AND YOUR USE OF IT ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AND/OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME.
Powered by PNAmazon © 2003-2007 ttgapers.com