The Center of Everything

Wow -- I couldn't put this down. Which is a funny thing to say, because it wasn't a pageturner in the classic sense; not plot-driven or particularly suspenseful. I just found the heroine and her story very engaging. I also liked the way many of the characters managed to be both jerky and sympathetic......more

Wonderful read! As one goodreads reviewer said, it's a book you find yourself reflecting on even when you aren't reading it. I often found myself thinking about Evelyn while at work, driving in the car, or cooking dinner. Because it is a coming-of-age story set in the 1980's I was able to relate to......more

The Center of Everything, by Laura Moriarty, is one of those rare books that readers devour, then are sorry when the last word appears. Moriarty, transplanted to Kansas as an adult after a lifetime of living in various places in the United States, illuminates the Kansas character and the Kansas land......more

The Center of Everything is one of those rare coming of age novels full of emotional pathos and personal growth that somehow touches a deep nerve within, especially if you were about the same age in the Reagan era 80's as protagonist Evelyn Bucknow. It is a novel about a smart girl living in a small......more

This is a perfect example of a book that really doesn't go anywhere, nothing extraordinary really happens, but you'll follow along with enthusiasm because the author knows how to turn a phrase. It's also fascinating if you came from this midwestern lifestyle and knew people just like the characters......more