The End of Everything: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)Lizzie was the last person to see her best friend, Evie Verver. For thirteen years the two had been inseparable, but now Evie was gone. The only clue was the maroon car Lizzie had seen right before she left Evie to go shopping with her mom. When the police were not able to locate her, Lizzie began her own search to find out where Evie may have been taken. However, as Lizzie dug deeper, she began to realize the friend she thought she knew was someone quite different. In a dark and rather disturbing novel, The End of Everything is brilliantly written, but difficult to read.
Had I realized what this book was going to be about and how it was written, I would not have picked it up. It's a good book, but right now I just want to read something light and fluffy to wipe away the images that were left behind by this story. It's sad, disturbing, and not at all what I was expecting. Instead of a novel that revolves around solving a crime, it's told by thirteen year old Lizzie and is very much a loss of innocence book. I was not prepared to dive into a world of romanticized pedophilia or teenage sexuality. It's not that these issues were glorified, but they're there none the less and not something I was expecting or prepared to read.
This is an exceptionally well written book. Abbott has a great ability to create vivid images and evoke strong emotions. She does a nice job of setting the atmosphere and capturing the mind of a child who knows much, but really doesn't know anything. However, it's her writing talents that are also a detriment. It's hard to read a story where the thirteen year old narrator was seeing the kidnapper as possessing a great love for the child he's taken. Nor was it comfortable to read many of Lizzie's recollections with Evie, as many of them had sexual overtones. There was a strong realistic element to this story, but it wasn't something I wanted to read.
Even though I would have liked for Abbott to have left some innocence in the story, I am glad that she allowed the reader to be disgusted by the characters and their warped relationships. It would have been easy to tell the reader what they should think, but instead she lets them take the events and feel the sickness of these characters for themselves. I don't need a happily ever after ending, but there is a part of me that wishes there was a glimmer of hope in this story.
I feel much the same way about The End Of Everything as I do Lord Of The Flies. There is a terrible sadness for children when they lose their innocence; when the world and life they know is suddenly shattered and they realize things will never return to where they were before. While I think this is a brilliantly written book, I wish I hadn't read it. This is not a book for everyone.
Review title provided courtesy of Little, Brown, & Company.

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