Laura Moriarty's debut novel is a simple story, but effectively told. Ten-year-old Evelyn Bucknow lives with her not very responsible young mother, Tina, on the outskirts of a small Kansas town. The Center of Everything follows a clean arc: How Evelyn, a gifted but poor student, negotiates the pitfalls of her background to become a college student. The book shows the scary tenuousness of poverty. When Tina's car breaks down, their life falls apart like a flimsy cardboard edifice. Evelyn can't get to school, Tina can't get to work, and unseemly relationships with men who own cars develop. The novel's other theme is the importance of teaching; when one of her teachers tells her she's gifted, Evelyn's life is changed. "She takes off her glasses, still looking at me. I take off my glasses too, because for a moment I think she is going to place them on my eyes, the way you place a crown on someone's head when they become queen. Welcome to being smart." As she heads into adolescence, Evelyn sees her best friend fall in love and become pregnant, just as Tina did when she was a teenager. Evelyn resists these traps, not without some lovelorn, lonely moments. The Center of Everything careens dangerously near fingerwagging at times, but the book's salvation comes from unexpected quarters: Evelyn's mom Tina. At the outset, she seems beleaguered and lost, but as the book progresses she develops a wry resiliency. We get to watch Evelyn and Tina grow up together, and it's a rare sight. --Claire Dederer


From Publishers Weekly
For 10-year-old Evelyn Bucknow, there really is no place like home. On all the world maps she's ever seen, the United States has been smack dab in the middle, with Kansas in the middle of that. "I feel so lucky to live here, right in the center," she proclaims, in Moriarty's wonderfully down-to-earth debut. Dazzled by visions of Ronald Reagan on the television, the twinkle in his eye and his contention that "God put America between two oceans on purpose," Evelyn's youthful optimism is shaken by her young single mother Tina's inability to take control of her life. As Tina falls for her married boss, who gives her a car (his contribution to the trickle-down theory) but leaves her pregnant and shattered, Evelyn grows closer to her neighbor, a curly-haired scamp named Travis (who has eyes only for Evelyn's stunning friend, Deena) and her Bible-thumping grandmother, a regular listener to Jerry Falwell's radio show. As a teenager, she is influenced by a couple of liberal-minded teachers, one an emigre from New York and the other an introverted biology instructor intent on teaching evolution, but she never cuts her family ties. With renewed faith in her scatterbrained but endearing mother and with college on the horizon, she begins to find her place in the social and political spectrum and to appreciate the vastness of a world that just might extend beyond the Sunflower State. Moriarty deftly treads the line between adolescence and adulthood, and insecurity and self-assurance, offering a moving portrait of life in blue-collar middle America.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Evelyn Bucknow, 10 years old at the start of this novel, lives with her single mother. Struggling to make ends meet, Tina is a loving, if sometimes absentminded, parent. Won over by the seemingly kind attention of her married boss, she has an affair that leaves her pregnant and in dire financial straits when she is fired from her job. Evelyn narrates the story, and readers witness her growing maturity in the face of circumstances that are beyond her control. With dawning awareness and increasing resentment, she sees that her mother's poor choices are creating havoc in their lives. Evelyn is determined to avoid the same mistakes and use her intelligence to get out of the cycle of poverty that is so much a part of her youth. YAs will enjoy this engrossing novel and connect to the authentic and changing voice Moriarity gives Evelyn as she grows into adulthood. Her thoughts and feelings ring true to the angst and insecurity that are often associated with adolescence. Readers, along with the protagonist, feel sympathy and understanding for human failings.Julie Dasso, Fairfax County Public Library, VA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist
Moriarty's debut novel is the story of Evelyn Bucknow, who comes of age in a small Kansas town. Evelyn is 10 when the novel opens, an observer of the silent struggle between Tina, her wayward young mother, and Eileen, her quiet, religious grandmother. Proud Tina cannot bear to humble herself to ask for help--not from her stern father, her married lover, or even the welfare office, after she finds herself pregnant again. After the baby is born severely retarded, Evelyn and her mother grow further and further apart. Evelyn is falling in love with her neighbor Travis, a troublemaker a year older than she is, who has become her friend. When he in turn falls for beautiful Deena, Evelyn is crushed. Though Evelyn appears to be a mere observer of the tumultuous lives of her friends and family, it is she who will achieve her dreams with quiet determination. Evelyn is an intriguing, thoughtful narrator, and this novel is a truly exceptional coming-of-age story, perfect for readers of all ages. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Anna Quindlen
"Authentic and intelligent . . . One of those novels that makes you sad when it's over."


Robin Vidimos, Denver Post & Rocky Mountain News
". . . reminds the reader of the full spectrum of youthful experience in all its beauty, anger, and pain . . . lively and endearing."


Janet Maslin, New York Times
"A warm, beguiling book full of hard-won wisdom."


John Marshall, Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"Magic was spun . . . by Alice Sebold in The Lovely Bones and it is spun again by Moriarty."


USA Today
"Engaging . . . Her voice sounds oddly familiar . . . like Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird, only older, savvier, and less fortunate."


Allyssa Lee, Entertainment Weekly
"A winning first novel."


Elle
"Intelligent and charming debut novel."


Library Journal
"So infectious that one never wants to put it down."


Elle
"Make room on that shelf . . . for The Center of Everything."


Janet Maslin, The New York Times
". . .a warm, beguiling book full of hard-won wisdom"


Book Description
Now in paperback, Laura Moriarty's breakthrough novel of growing up and growing wise. Critics and readers everywhere stood up and took notice when Laura Moriarty's captivating debut novel hit the stores in June '03. Janet Maslin of the New York Times praised The Center of Everything as "warm" and "beguiling." USA Today compared the scrappy yet tenderhearted Evelyn Bucknow to Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. It garnered extensive national attention; from Entertainment Weekly to the Boston Globe and the San Francisco Chronicle, the press raved about the wisdom and poignancy of Moriarty's writing. The Book-of-the-Month Club snatched it up as a Main Selection, as did the Literary Guild. It was a USA Today Summer Reading Pick, a BookSense Top 10 Pick, and a BN.com book club feature title. And still, months after The Center of Everything's original publication date, reviews and features of the book continue to run nationwide. With a reading group guide bound into the book and a stellar hardcover publication behind it, the paperback edition of The Center of Everything is poised to explode onto the scene again, and Evelyn Bucknow is ready to steal more hearts than ever.


About the Author
Laura Moriarty received her master's degree from the University of Kansas and was awarded the George Bennett Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy. She lives in Maine and is at work on her second novel.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

A dazzling debut in the tradition of Jane Hamilton and Mona Simpson.

In Laura Moriarty's extraordinary first novel, a young girl tries to make sense of an unruly world spinning around her. Growing up with a single mother who is chronically out of work and dating a married man, 10-year old Evelyn Bucknow learns early how to fend for herself.

Offering an affecting portrayal of a troubled mother/daughter relationship, one in which the daughter is very often expected to play the role of the adult, the novel also gives readers a searing rendering of the claustrophobia of small town midwestern life, as seen through the eyes of a teenage girl. Evelyn must come to terms with the heartbreaking lesson of first love -- that not all loves are meant to be -- and determine who she is and who she wants to be. Stuck in the middle of Kansas, between best friends, and in the midst of her mother's love, Evelyn finds herself . . . in The Center of Everything.

About the Author:Since earning her M.A. from the University of Kansas, Laura Moriarty won the George Bennet Fellowship for Creative Writing at Phillips Exeter Academy. This is her first novel. She's at work on her next novel and lives in Portland, Maine.

FROM THE CRITICS

Chicago Tribune

Graceful and poignant.

Time Out New York

Moriarty creates empathetic, engaging characters and situations.

San Diego Union Tribune

Teriffic￯﾿ﾽ. Moriarty has steady confidence￯﾿ﾽexpertly wringing poignancy from￯﾿ﾽyoung lives￯﾿ﾽ. A deeply satisfying novel.

Denver Post & Rocky Mountain Ne

Lively and endearing￯﾿ﾽ complete tour of￯﾿ﾽconflicts between mother and daughter, as well as between the narrator's hopes and dreams.

Elle Magazine