The Center of Everything

Evelyn is a normal young girl, living with her free-spirited young mom, working on a first crush and deciding which teachers she likes best, when something as simple as a car breaking down alters the course of her life. Evelyn’s mom has no way to get to work, so she can’t earn money to fix the car. When she ends up pregnant and alone, that truly begins their downward spiral. Never have I read something which so clearly describes how easy it is to fall into poverty.

Both the characters and dialogue are done very well and you understand why the characters do the things they do. The relationships are the real stars of the story – mother and daughter, girlfriends and boyfriends. As each person gets older, their relationships change and they have to either adapt or let go. The dialogue isn’t snappy, but it feels real.

The writing is lyrical and descriptive. It’s full of lines like these:

'Her voice makes me think of water running through a faucet, a whistling sound, happy and light. “You must be Evelyn’s mother!”

~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Goldman talks, one arm moving back and forth between them, like a bridge for his words to fall onto and bounce more easily into Travis’s ears.'

I really came to care about the people in the story. I wanted to help them. I wanted to pay their bills and buy them a new car and get them back on their feet. To me, that’s a sign of a good book, when you actually care about what is going on. If I’m reading passively, that’s okay, too, but I like being drawn into the story.

I know that sometimes when you are really worried about something, it ends up not being nearly as bad as you think it will be, and you get to be relieved that you were just being silly, worrying so much over nothing. But sometimes it is just the opposite. It can happen that whatever you are worried about will be even worse than you could have possibly imagined, and you find out that you were right to be worried, and even that, maybe, you weren’t worried enough.

There is sadness, but there is also lightness as Evelyn grows older and shapes her dreams. There are just a few times where I felt like Evelyn still has the voice of a younger child, even though she is supposed to be older. Maybe that is deliberate of Moriarty, though, to indicate Evelyn’s emotional age.

I am a little let down by the ending, simply because there is no ending. There is no big reveal or climax, the story simply fades away. It leaves it open and I can understand that, but personally, I enjoy an actual end to the story, a feeling of finality.

The Sum Up: A serious, heartfelt story that will make you think. You’ll empathize with Evelyn and her family and friends, but you’ll also smile.

Reader reviewed by dykehalo

Evelyn Bucknow is a 10 year old lving in the center of the united states, everything in the story is centered around her. It's a coming of age novel where Evelyn has to the face many difficulties including being poor, having a brother with mental dissabilities and soo much more. We see Evelyn get bashed to the ground and then rise to the equation.
I had to read this in grade 9 and felt that is was way below my reading level and felt like me and most of my friends would have read it in like grade 6.
It's a good novel for younger kids.