The Center of Everything by Laura Moriarty

Maggie left this novel here after she had read it, so I picked it up one day and found it one more well-written story of coming of age in America today.

It is the story of Evelyn (told in her voice), her mother Tina, her grandmother Eileen and Evelyn's schoolmates. Tina had a baby (Evelyn) out of wedlock and so is labeled a whore by her father and is estranged from him. Tina's mother is a good lady and after a fashion supports Tina and Evelyn but also is loyal to her husband and is also very much an evangelical, so Tina keeps her at a remove when Eileen pushes religion as a solution. That is one dynamic in this story.

Evelyn grows up in this novel, from a young elementary school age kid to a young woman who graduates from high-school. She watches her Mother make choices that keep them in poverty. But Evelyn is smart; she does well in school and several teachers help her. However, she is not a popular girl, mostly because she and her Mother live in poverty. They are eventually rescued somewhat when Tina reluctantly accepts welfare after she loses her job and has no money to fix her car. They live in a small Kansas town in an apartment complex. And then her mother gets pregnant. Along the way, Evelyn does make few friends and, while the cliches of high-school happen, they are cliches because these things DO happen, and the author is wonderful with dialogue and description and captures the yearning Evelyn feels, but also the turmoil and confusion she experiences as she matures.

Evelyn's story is realistic and rich with the poignancy of the lives of ordinary people trying to get by.

Paging through the book, I could find so many passages to illustrate why I liked this novel. Here is one just chosen randomly: "She's got a job now, working the desk of a motel in town. I see her walking to it in the evenings, coming home in the morning. She puts the flat of her hand over her eyes like a visor, and looks right into the rising sun. "

This is a vignette of their neighbor Mrs. Rowley whose husband up and left one day saying that if he stayed one more day with Mrs. Rowley he would start drinking again. Mrs. Rowley has a little dog she carries around. The dog's name is Jackie O.