March 2014 - The End of Everything

[Michael, Anti-Hero]

This month's book is suburban noir by Megan Abbott; The End of Everything

[Bobbi]

Read this a couple months ago. I think it's amazing how she captures the sense of early adolescence in all its dimensions.

[Nigel]

Seeing the post reminds me how much I loved the book and so I bought a copy of Dare Me (at last!).

I'll drop in for commenting when people have got a way in.

Enjoy.

[Cyndi]

Great novel! Multi-layered and intense. So much angst, so many taboo pairings, so much devastation. Will have to try more by this author.

[Samantha]

Wow, I thought this was excellent. It really drew me in, probably because so much of it was so relate-able, with how astute the author is at capturing that in-between age and growing up mentally and not just physically and the way your relationships with people change. I LOVED her way of describing being "body-close" with someone but not knowing their mind. That's such a smart and accurate way of putting it.

Each character also seemed like a real person, which I think is in such direct contrast with a lot of the older pulp novels and the detective stories that are just action action action. This had that same rapidity, but it still found time to develop the characters and make them seem like real people you knew growing up. That made it last beyond the reading. It also made me sympathize with even Mr. Shaw which made my feelings about the whole thing all the more complex.

This was clearly set in the 80s, although I like that the author didn't call attention to it directly. There were just wisps of it in the way she described Dusty's big curls and the references to her being named after Dusty Springfield. And the fact that there were no cell phones.

The ending really floored me because just when I thought I couldn't be surprised anymore, I was. The twists weren't huge revelations, which actually made them seem more shocking because they were logical and yet you didn't always want to accept that they were coming, just the way the characters didn't pick up on the clues leading up to everything.

I wonder though if anyone else was confused by the relationship between Dusty and Mr. Verner. Evie tells Dusty that she is just like Mr. Shaw with her admiration for her father. The doctor also mentions that Dusty came to him with a "stomachache" and scratches all over her arms. My first thought when he said this was pregnancy, but by whom? Are we to believe that Dusty's relationship with her father became too painful to keep her distance anymore?

[Ty]

I was a little late getting my copy of this one, but I'm very glad I got to read it. I haven't read too many books that so accurately depicts that time in your life when you transition away from childhood and toward the adult you'll eventually become. The jumbled mix of emotions is presented pretty accurately, at least as far as I can remember those years. Amazing, realistically presented character that keep the twists and turns of the story grounded in the realm of the truly possible.

Megan Abbott's writing was a wonderful surprise as I'd never even heard of her before this. She brought back to life the era that I grew up in and I thoroughly enjoyed the stroll down memory lane she provided. I will absolutely be looking for more of her work in the future.

[Bobbi]

I remember wondering about Dusty too, Samantha.