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Jan 08, 2012

karen rated it:

a moment alone, i would steal a peek in dusty's room, clogged with the cotton smell of baby powder and lip gloss and hands wet with hair spray. her bed was a big pink cake with faintly soiled flounces and her floor dappled with the tops of nail polish bottles, with plastic-backed brushes heavy with hair, with daisy-dappled underwear curled up like pipe cleaner, jeans inside out, the powdery socks still in them, folded-up notes from all her rabid boyfriends, shiny tampon wrappers caught in the ed More...

16 comments like (46 people liked it)

Sep 12, 2011

Lisa rated it:

Woahhhh.

I just finished this and honestly don't know how to process it. It was one of the most powerful, quietly disturbing books I've ever read. There is so much there and it leaves you wondering, with so many questions.

I didn't know if I wanted to read this or "Across the universe", so I thought I'd read a chapter of each and then read the more interesting book. I started reading this and forgot "Across the universe" was even an option.

So More...

2 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jul 12, 2011

Rod rated it:

What a sublime & mystical trip this was.It was as if you are searching for a truth in a fog shrouded field. It's told through the voice of a 13 yr. old girl whose best friend has disapeared. This is an event set in the 1980's,and a change of pace for Megan who owns the 1920-1940's. The story is told in a calm matter of fact and reflective manner, and the pacing in the begining is a little slow. However, the reader is rewarded for their patience over the last half of the book. You will not want t More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2012

Emily rated it:

A beautifully written book by Megan Abbott. The End of Everything is told through the eyes of little Lizzie, whose best friend Evie disappears one day. Lizzie has a brilliant imagination and helps drop bread-crumbs, speculative and true, for the police and Evie's father to follow in the pursuit of her missing friend. At first it appears that their neighbour, Mr Shaw, has taken Evie to have his wicked way with her, but the plot thickens on Evie's return and through her observant older sister, Du More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 07, 2011

Amy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 19, 2012

Nigel rated it:

“Everything looks funny now. But I don’t think it’s really changed. I just never saw it before. The pieces just got switched around.”

Transformations in life happen gradually most of the time. We don’t always see them until the process is over.

Such changes are accelerated by sudden events. Traumas and delights both. In ‘The End OfEverything’ we are taken through a series of events where everyone is affected by the gravity of what More...

0 comments like

Jan 08, 2012

Colleen rated it:

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott is a cross between a coming of age story and a crime thriller - the result is a quietly disturbing but powerful book. Thirteen year-olds Evie and Lizzie live across the street from each other in an average suburban neighborhood and are best friends. When Evie suddenly goes missing, Lizzie begins to realize her friend didn't share absolutely everything with her. Despite not knowing everything about her best friend, she also may be key in trying to locate her More...

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Dec 19, 2011

Barbara rated it:

I picked up this book for 2 reasons, it took place in the 80's Midwest, and it reminded me a bit of something that happened to my best friend. We grew up in a quiet Mid-western neighborhood in the 70's. Her neighbor was a seemingly nice older guy, who in fact molested many girls. Her parents never believed her and she was lucky to get away before something really awful happened.

This book was so well written from the 13yr old's point of view. It brought back so many memories of how un More...

0 comments like

Nov 28, 2011

Kathie rated it:

Everything about this book looked promising and I picked this book up fully intending to become engrossed in it. I was disappointed to say the least. The choppy writing bothered me from the start; Abbott was trying to say too much by saying too little and it simply didn't work.

It was really Abbott's portrayal of Lizzie that ultimately put me off completely. What 13 y/o would deal with the alleged abduction of her lifelong best friend so casually? Lizzie should be upset. She shou More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 29, 2011

Eva rated it:

Told from the point of view of 13-year-old Lizzie, this is about the apparent abduction of her friend Evie.

The story takes place in the 1980s, and though the 13-year-old narrator tells of events in the present tense, there is no feeling that this is a 13-year-old voice. Lizzie's choice of words, her sentence structure, and her preoccupations all give the feeling is of an adult looking back at a very intense and life-changing time.

One of the main themes running through thi More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 23, 2011

Venuskitten rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Oct 11, 2011

Leah rated it:

Megan Abbott is a renowned crime fiction writer. THE END OF EVERYTHING is a departure for the author, a hazy-eyed coming-of-age novel chronicling the tumultuous summer of 13-year-old Lizzie and her best friend, Evie. When Evie doesn’t come home from school one day, her family and Lizzie are left to solve the mystery of her disappearance before it’s too late. As Lizzie’s mother says, “With children, every minute matters. Everything can be ruined in a half hour. You have no idea.” Lizzie doesn’t k More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 07, 2011

James rated it:

This book represents a significant departure for Megan Abbott and is really more a literary novel than it is a crime novel. Two thirteen-year-old girls, Lizzie Hood and Evie Verver, are next-door neigbors and best friends in the suburban world of the 1980s. They share everything, including their deepest secrets. Lizzie's father has recently abandoned the family, and Lizzie idolizes the Verver family. She is especially drawn to Evie's father whom she believes is virtually perfect.

The More...

3 comments like (7 people liked it)

Oct 04, 2011

Kevintipple rated it:

Before it happened it seemed to 13 year old Lizzie Hood that the Verner family next door was perfect in every way. Lizzie had been friends with Evie for what seemed like forever and spent almost every waking moment in her company. Evie’s mom is bland and unassuming. Evie’s sister, Dusty, rules home and school where nearly every guy wants her and yet none can have her. Unlike lizzie’s own father who has left the house and moved on with his life thanks to the divorce, Evie’s father, Mr. Verner, is More...

0 comments like

Sep 22, 2011

Hallie rated it:

In Megan Abbott's new standalone, "The End of Everything," Evie Verver and Lizzie Hood are best friends--stuck in the prickly place between girlhood and womanhood--who share a cosmic bond particular to adolescent girls. One hot May afternoon, they're on their way home from playing field hockey. Evie's mother drives by and picks her up, and when Evie turns back to offer Lizzie a ride, Lizzie has vanished.

Soon Evie is in the spotlight, the only one who saw the maroon sedan More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 21, 2011

Kathleen added it

The End of Everything, by Megan Abbott, a-minus, narrated by Emily Bauer, produced by Blackstone Audio, downloaded from audible.com.

Lizzie Hood and her next-door neighbor Evie Verver are inseparable, best friends who swap clothes, bathing suits, and field-hockey sticks and between whom - presumably - there are no secrets. Both are 13 years old finishing eighth grade. Evie has a sister, Dusty, who seems incredibly close to her father. Then one afternoon, Evie disappears, and as pani More...

0 comments like

Sep 09, 2011

Christine rated it:

Lizzie and Evie are thirteen years old, next door neighbours, inseparable friends for life who share everything from bathing suits to deep dark secrets. One day after school Evie disappears and Lizzie begins to realize that there is one secret that they did not share. As the, so far, unsuccessful search for Evie continues Lizzie begins to realize that she could have some of the clues to help bring her back. As the story progresses the reader is taken further into the lives of these young girl More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 20, 2011

Jodie rated it:

I feel ripped apart after reading this novel. Ripped apart and turned upside down. I only feel that after reading something great and moving. Holy cow this novel took me to places so uncomfortable I was actually squirming in my chair. Like my fellow goodreader's this is such a strange book to say that you loved, it feels inappropriate, which is perfect given the subject of this perfectly balanced novel. I could not put this book down, and then at the end I couldn't finish it, I had to go away an More...

3 comments like (9 people liked it)

Aug 20, 2011

Lucille rated it:

Others have done a wonderful job descibing this story and Abott's writing. Very rarely does a book grab me and haunt me so much that I HAVE to read it. Abbott's story and characters pull you in so that you feel right in the middle of the conflict.

Rather than talk about the story, I want to focus on the characters. I read this book through the lens of a Licensed Professional Counselor and I saw a lot of pathology.

The book left me wondering what happened to Evie's mom? Wh More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 24, 2011

Jmm rated it:

There's Evie, and there's Lizzie. And there's Lizzie-and-Evie, almost inseparable best friends since before either one can remember, who constantly come and go in each other's houses and who know each other's secrets. Then one day after school, Lizzie looks back and Evie is gone; she does not return home. And everyone assumes the worst—except Lizzie. Lizzie is certain she would know if Evie were no longer alive.

The story opens in May as the girls are looking forward to eighth-grade More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 19, 2011

Chris rated it:

With her previous four novels, Megan Abbott established herself as one of my favorite writers. Not just crime/noir writers, but "anything" writers. Her ability to set a mood that sucks the reader in, establish a setting, create memorable characters, and just craft excellent sentences is top shelf. I love her work.

Many of those same powers are on display here as well. The writing is excellent, the building tension, all of it. I admire that while she went out on a limb in chang More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 13, 2011

Katherine rated it:

Megan Abbott’s new book, The End of Everything, is a strong story about family secrets and misunderstandings and a girl who doesn’t really know what’s going on. Abbott underplays a lot of things and the most haunting; the most visceral moments in the book are very low-key.

When her best friend Evie is kidnapped, 13-year-old Lizzie Hood launches her own investigation into the crime, uncovering a series of lies that change everything she thought she knew about herself and her friendshi More...

0 comments like

Jul 11, 2011

Natasha rated it:

The End of Everything is one of those reads that you never truly forget. I had never heard of author Megan Abbott prior to reading this novel but I can now observe, she writes with such astounding detail and fluidity that she is easily a rival to author Jodi Picoult.

The End of Everything is beautifully layered in its complexity. It is the story of two young girls, Evie and Lizzie, and what happens to them as they unknowingly cross the threshhold to young adulthood. They are best fri More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 05, 2011

Sarah rated it:

I literally just, just finished reading this and I'm going to try to write a review now to see if I end up writing more than I do when I normally wait a few days.

Evie and Lizzie are thirteen. They are best friends, about to graduate eighth grade, inseparable. Then one day after school, Evie turns down a ride home from Lizzie's mom. She never comes home that night. As the days go by, Lizzie tries desperately to find her own answers to her best friend's disappearance.

This is th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 03, 2011

Linda rated it:

THE END OF EVERYTHING by Megan Abbott
ReaganArthur, 07/2011

Book Review by Linda S. Brown
(7/1/11)

Abbott starts her latest novel, THE END OF EVERYTHING, with the freshness of shiny swimsuits on little bodies turning cartwheels in the summer grass, two best friends for ever and ever.

She finishes with the darkness of the aftermath of a young girl’s abduction and events that bring a series of surprising revelations.

The opening scene is luminous an More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 29, 2011

McGuffy Ann rated it:

Lizzie and Evie have been friends their entire lives. They share everything, from clothes to sports to thoughts and secrets. They have carved out places in sports, equaling the boys on that playing field.

Now, at 13, everything is changing. They watch Evie’s 16 year old sister as she blossoms into a beautiful and feminine being, and her effect on the males in the neighborhood. The boys, other kids, adults, families, or perhaps it is their perception, their awareness that is changing. More...

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May 02, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Megan Abbott knows how to write a hell of a gut-punching book. I've been a fan of hers for some time now, and "The End of Everything" only increases my respect for her writing ability.

In TEOE, Abbott takes a common tween/teen experience, the crush on the older man, and mercilessly exploits that teenage fantasy to show the true horror of possibility. That friend of your father's, or friend of your school companion, the one you secretly hoped would fall in love with you even be More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 21, 2011

Jeff rated it:

This one took me by surprise - a nearly perfect coming-of-age novel about the complexities of desire, sexual knowingness, female adolescence, loss, love, fatherhood, family. Thirteen-year-old Evie has gone missing, and her best friend Lizzie sets out to piece together the knotty clues in order to solve the mystery of her friend's disappearance. Lizzie combs through the memories of that day as well as recollected fragments of late-night conversations, and as the hours and then days wear away and More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 22, 2011

Kimberly Faith rated it:

I liked it as there were some nice layers to the story, fine plotting, and a brave conclusion. I felt that there were some gaping character holes particularly the mother of the missing girl, Evie Verver. This mother character is so far removed it opens the door for possibilities that are never expressed or explored which drove me nuts. This also holds for the protagonist, Lizzie Hood's, family. I felt tugged out while reading as there were so many uncertainties and the prose itself was often ove More...

2 comments like

Jul 19, 2011

Deb rated it:

Huh? If you like a book where you have to read between the lines, try to figure out the innuendos, and keep re-reading passages to see if indeed you did miss something, then this is the book for you.
The only reason I finished it was because it was a super fast read.
The premise of the book is intriguing, which is what made me pick it up at the library when I stumbled upon it. I think it could have been a good creepy story, despite the subject matter and what the author was trying to m More...

1 comment like (5 people liked it)

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