Sunday 18 September 2011

THE END OF EVERYTHING by Megan Abbott


My reading, just lately, seems to have developed a theme. First there was assisted suicide (Ruth Dugdall's 'The Sacrificial Man'); next came child abuse ('The Kid' by Kevin Lewis) and now something different that has a connection.
On the face of it Lizzie and Evie are two 13 year old girls who not only are the best of friends but live next door to each other. They share everything and know each other very well.
Megan Abbott's 'The End Of Everything' is a lot deeper than it first appears.
Told in the first person by Lizzie the reader learns that there are more to certain relationships than meet the eye. Some of it is innocent, though even that depends on how it is interpreted.
Evie disappears.
Has she been abducted?
Lizzie has clues and theories to offer - some presented as a lie yet are true in meaning.
The novel, set in the 1980s, is complex which makes it difficult to review.
What I really loved was a prose that could have come from Jack Kerouac (notably 'Visions Of Cody') and a story that evoked the atmosphere of Erskine Caldwell.
Highly recommended.

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