Lizzie takes up her own furtive pursuit of the truth, spending her days with a shell-shocked Mr. Was Evie unhappy, troubled, upset? Had she mentioned being followed? Would she have gotten into the car of a stranger? Would she have gotten into a car with a man? As a rabid, giddy panic spreads through the quiet community, Lizzie finds herself in the spotlight, surrounded by those who want answers. The only clue - a dark car Lizzie spotted driving past the two girls earlier in the day. To Lizzie, the Verver household, presided over by Evie's bighearted father, is the world's most perfect place.Īnd then, one afternoon, Evie disappears. They live in the shadow of Evie's glamorous older sister, Dusty, who, at seventeen, gives them a glimpse of the exotic, intoxicating life that might lie ahead. In a placid 1980s suburb in the Midwest, thirteen-year-old Lizzie Hood and her next-door neighbor Evie Verver are inseparable - best friends who swap bathing suits and field hockey sticks and between whom there are, presumably, no secrets. Megan Abbott has delivered a book that is both haunting and provocative.

The End of Everything exposes dark secrets and shines a light on family connections as Lizzie learns about the flaws in Evie’s family, the family she has always wished was her own.

I was discomforted by the story but also could not stop reading on to find out what was going to happen. First and foremost, that intimate relationship with one’s best friend is well captured as well as the confusing feeling of everything suddenly changing and relationships shifting. I found this to be a gripping and disturbing story as the author delves into adolescent sexuality, family jealousies and parental ignorance. The story is wrapped around a mystery as Evie suddenly goes missing and Lizzie comes to realize that even though the two girls were inseparable for most of their lives, she didn’t really know the inner Evie at all.

Her main characters are thirteen year old friends, Lizzie and Evie, and she perfectly captures the discomfort and awkwardness that the first year of becoming a teen brings. The End of Everything is an extremely well done coming-of-age story by Megan Abbott.

The end of everything abbott