Book Review: The End of Everything by Megan Abbott (2011)

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Megan Abbott really hit this one out of the park.

Blurb: A close-knit street, the clink of glass on glass, summer heat. Two girls on the brink of adolescence, throwing cartwheels on the grass. Two girls who tell each other everything. Until one shimmering afternoon, one of them disappears. Lizzie is left with her dread and her loss, and with a fear that won’t let her be. Had Evie tried to give her a hint of what was coming, a clue that she failed to follow?

Caught between her imaginary guilt, her sense of betrayal, her own powerful need, and the needs of the adults around her, Lizzie’s voice is as unforgettable as her story is arresting.

Thoughts: Everyone's favourite noir pixie takes a step out of her comfort zone with this fantastic contemporary novel. As an award winning afficionado of classic noir tropes, utilised to great effect in period pieces Die a Little, Queenpin and others, Megan Abbott demonstrated her writing style to great effect but with The End of Everything she has taken further leaps towards greatness.

No longer confined by her research in to 50s Americana The End of Everything is a modern tale of lust, revenge, guilt, and my favourite four words; secrets, lies, passions and repressions, that takes it cues from the "social problem" greats of noir history such as Mildred Pierce. Evie, a thirteen year old girl goes missing and everything in the world of her best friend, Lizzie, is changed forever.

Told from the point of view of Lizzie this is not a straightforward read, it is dark and disturbing, it might make you feel icky and dirty, you'll be filled with an unnerving sense of dread because you are not a thirteen year old girl and everything in your bones tells you that this girl is hopelessly wrong and nothing good can ever come of any of her actions.

"...for most 13-year-old girls, life is “noir.” It’s all sex and terror and longing and confusion. Everything feels big and frightening and thrilling. The stakes feel dramatically high and everything feels precarious — it’s a time of heightened everything." - Megan Abbott

This book has drawn comparisons to The Lovely Bones all over the place but I warn you Megan Abbott is not in this game to provide catharsis, she wants to twist your insides in to knots and steal your breath away, this is no easy ride and if you're not questioning yourself and your reaction to the words, the phrases, the tone, the rhythm then you're doing it wrong and I suggest something a little more surface, a little less feeling for your reading from this point on, a little more conventional perhaps.

Abbott wants you to be in Lizzie's world, her usual prose style is heightened to encourage this, from the opening pages you get a real sense of it thanks to wonderful descriptions of sights, sounds, sensations, memories;

"...voices pitchy, giddy, raving, we are all chanting that deathly chant that twists, knifelike, in the ear of the appointed victim." - p1

"...he's the one always vibrating in my chest, under my fingernails, in all kinds of places. There's much to say of him and my mouth can't manage it, even now. He hums there still. p4"

and once you're there Abbott takes you for all she can, you're vulnerable to suggestion now, weak, your defences down and she pulls no punches to the very last; just when you think you've taken all the hits you can another one buries itself deep in your gut as you marvel at the power of the author to make you feel this way without resorting to tired old genre cliche, the literary equivalent of soaring emotive music or removing all forms of doubt and hitting you with a sledgehammer or emotive phrases.

Even now, a day later, my heart is pounding at the thoughts of what I've just read, just experienced and I'm not sure if there's a single book out there that can follow this. After this I may have to retire from reading.

OK in the end I didn't but even so nothing has surpassed this book since the day I wrote this review, and only the pleasure of reading True Grit came close to recapturing the feelings evoked by Ms Abbott.

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Top 10: Novels Read (2012)

December means time to take a look back on the previous 12 months. Being a multimedia blog these days I have more than film to consider. First up I take a look at my literary experiences, which will be followed by the end of year mixtape (technical issues not withstanding) and then some movie lists before we start logging new things again in January.

2012 was a crazy year of reading for me. After logging only 46 novels in 2011 I started by challenging myself to read 100 books this year but that quickly changed to 200, a target which I managed to reach in September and 250 became my new aim. Incredibly very few of these books were awful, I guess I just pick safely the majority of the time. From those 250 here's my ten picks for most enjoyable read of the year and for the rest of the week there will be a full review of some titles not yet reviewed here on blahblahblahgay.

10. The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin (1946)

That such a quirky self referrential novel was written in 1946 astounds me. It reads like a modern day farce that Jasper Fforde or even Stephen Fry would be proud of, the quality of writing and humour is that high. There aren't many laugh out loud moments but the entire book is filled with joy that will keep a smile on your face.

9. The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by Charlie Huston (2008)

The character of Web is so real, his voice addictive and funny and his adventure in to the world of crime scene cleanup is a highly entertaining surface for the emotional journey he takes.  

Full Blahblahblahgay review

8. Grifter's Game by Lawrence Block (1961)

A brilliant piece of noir fiction with an ending that makes Nightmare Alley feel like a unicorn ride through a flowery meadow to the end of the rainbow where the dame of your dreams is frolicking in the gold as she awaits your arrival.

7. Suddenly, A Knock On The Door by Etgar Keret (2010)

Keret is completely unlike anything else I've read. His stories are often strange and slightly fantastical, funny, dark, impressive and affecting. This is a serious work that apparently exhibits all of Keret's usual trademarks in it's study of the human condition.

6. Player One by Douglas Coupland (2010)

So oil is expensive, people go crazy, strangers lock themselves in to an airport hotel cocktail bar to survive the fallout, Douglas Coupland documents this scenario in 'real time' and helps you take a long hard look at yourself and what it is that you are doing, what we as a species are doing.

Full Blahblahblahgay review

5. Savages by Don Winslow (2010)

This is an American novel that analyses post 9/11, post Obama America in such a way as to bathe it in bright flourescent light, all it's failings and weaknesses shown as plain as day. It is a bold move for an American to write this stuff, almost constantly bashing every little detail of the 21st century American dream gone wrong.

Full Blahblahblahgay review

 4. Snuff by Terry Pratchett (2011)

This is the best and most enjoyable Discworld book in quite some time, I think perhaps you have to go back to Thud! before you come across anything quite like it in terms of completeness of vision, storytelling and literary heart, I don't think it's a coincidence that it too was a Sam Vimes book.

3. True Grit by Charles Portis (1968)
 
Mattie Ross is a compelling narrator, with a strong, unique voice. Her travelling companions are equally compelling and conflicted characters, two very different men who Mattie doubts over the course of the novel but all three of them demonstrate the meaning of the title of the novel in spades by the climax. The adventure is occasionally tense, quite violent at times, graphically depicted and wonderfully told. The denouement is one of the most excitingly written pieces of fiction I remember reading.
 
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2. He Died With His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond (1984)

A remarkable work from a very talented man, it makes you care for somebody whose name you never hear mentioned, his clear affection towards the drunken mess of a man at the centre of the mystery is evident and if you don't care for Charlie Staniland or his life you will at least care that there is somebody out there desperate to bring his killers to justice.

Full Blahblahblahgay review

1. The End of Everything by Megan Abbott (2011)

Megan Abbott is not in this game to provide catharsis, she wants to twist your insides in to knots and steal your breath away.

Full Blahblahblahgay review

All ten picks get the full 5 star rating from me as first time reads and if you're looking for interesting stories written by talented authors then I can't recommend any of them highly enough. What were your favourite novels this year? Got any recommendations for me? Has anyone read any of these already? Leave all that and more in the comments below.

Movie Diary #5: November 2012

Before I run through my month of movie watching I have another guest post that I want to plug. Last week I told you about the first part of a History of Hard-Boiled and Noir Fiction essay written for Literary Exploration and for those who paid attention here's the link for the second part. Tomorrow marks the moment when I start to assess the past year; for those of you who really don't care about my literary adventures I'd suggest returning next week when the fiction lists are done with and we can move on to movies.

November saw me make up for lost time, thanks largely to TCM I feel I've seen a lot more films this month than in any month from the rest of the year. 51 films watched in November, nowhere near Chip's 108 in October but for me it's massive. And only 4 of them I'd seen previously.

Unhappily quite a few of them were completely forgettable but at least I'm racking up the big numbers right?

There were a few disappointments from trips to the cinema (The Master, Looper, Lawless,) but mainly because I had high enough expectations to leave the house, some truly awful experiences on the sofa (Total Recall and many more) and the balance of decent films (13) to great films (3) was weighted in entirely the wrong direction for my liking. I think I'd prefer quality over quantity in future.

Why Did They Even Bother?

Total Recall (2012) Do you remember my live blogging experiment on November 1st?  

This movie has nothing going for it at all. Nothing. It wasn't necessary to remake this film. It certainly wasn't necessary to remake it so badly.

The Watch (2012) compounded my awful start to the month.

I just hoped its potential would blossom out of the mediocre soil but instead I got a laugh every 15 minutes.

Blame (2010)

For an amateur movie this might have been pretty decent. The script was the worst part and some of the acting didn't help. I was hoping for something semi-decent from a local film for once but it just revisits the same old tired cliches of the genre and on top of that tries to get Australians to talk like they're not from here.

Savages (2012) got the full review treatment here.

For a film the length of Traffic this has 1/10th the substance. It took me less time to read the book than it did to watch the movie too.

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (1956)

Dull and silly script with quite astonishingly boring direction from somebody of Lang's calibre. The same premise was told in a more interesting fashion in The Life of David Gale.

Paranorman (2012)

So the animation was decent but the story was ordinary and told in such a way as to put me to sleep. I can see why people are excited over all the horror references but that's not enough to rate a movie highly. If you want great classic horror references watch a Rob Zombie movie.

The Three Musketeers (2011)

Paul W S Anderson is a worse film maker than Uwe Boll.

Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (2012)

Interesting premise, wonderful beginnings, dreadful endings. I think Melancholia might have had more laughs than this "romcom." I think Antichrist might have too.
It's a big horrible mess that tries to hard to be cute and sweet and quirky but suffers from too many ideas and overuse of cliche plus a distinct lack of pacing because this was interminable. Perhaps the end of the world might have been preferable to watching this?

Deadfall (2012)

I'm not sure how this film got made. A truly awful script that spawned some quite awful accents. An Austrian director that clearly couldn't tell the difference between an Eric Bana American accent and that of a real American. Combined this is one great big disaster.

The Campaign (2012)

Dear Zach Galifianakis I've seen your standup comedy, it is funny. Please try to resist appearing in movies that are this bad in future. Thank you. Write back soon.

It Passes The Time

The Human Factor (1979) is an unjustly forgotten Cold War classic.

Some names involved with this project, names that alone should be enough to have kept this film alive in the minds of cinephiles: John Gielgud, Derek Jacobi, Richard Attenborough, Tom Stoppard, Graham Greene, Otto Preminger, together they made an honest and realistic film about the human casualty of cold war espionage whilst thumbing their noses at the absurdity of somebody like James Bond existing in the British Secret Service.

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

I actually expected this to be so much worse than it is, but there's so little cheese and gratuitous gore with a focus on human weaknesses and a realistic, tense, atmosphere that I was impressed despite the lack of interest in the plot.

Damsels in Distress (2012) the new Whit Stillman was reviewed in full here including some great screencaps.

A charming, witty and wonderful surprise, not least because Greta Gerwig can act. A little bizarre, not for everybody for sure but I had a wonderful time with Whit Stillman's flowers.

Bachelorette (2012) has been so unfairly criticised that I felt moved to review it here.

I heard a lot of talk about Bridesmaids last year but thought it was terribly derivitive with obvious humour and no subtlety, Bachelorette on the other hand really does play like a female centred Hangover but funny and with superb performances, most notably from Ms Dunst.

Shoot The Piano Player (1960) continued our noir-a-thon, taking us from Hollywood to Europe as the style evolves.

A pretty good adaptation of the David Goodis novel but much less dark and carrying much less weight. Truffaut instead crafted his own vision of the source material and in doing so created the first real new-wave noir.

The Lady Vanishes (1938) didn't live up to its hype.

Hitchcock's direction is technically very impressive, especially for 1938 and it's a jolly good adventure with some great natural performances but it's also a bit of a mess plotwise. It's slow to get going, with some really strange sequences in the hotel but once you're on the train things improve dramatically.

End of Watch (2012) featured some great performances and inspired yet another review from me this month.

Powerful and enjoyable movie making that is hamstrung by not following its own rules.

Butter (2011) brought Alicia Silverstone back to my screen! Can this be the signs of a comeback?

This was surprisingly funny with really good performances from all but it lacks a certain something that makes the great movies stand out and therefore is another example of what is wrong with The Weinstein Company in recent years.

The Master (2012)

Technically brilliant with superb performances but in the end it provided an unsatisfying cinematic experience.

Bande a Part (1964) was the second Godard from the noir-a-thon after Bout de Souffle.

I remember this with a lot more fondness than the pleasure I garnered from rewatching it. At times it's a fun caper but towards the end things start to drag and no amount of 3 minute dance sequences and 1 minutes silence can make up for it.

For A Good Time, Call... (2012) is the latest in the new supply of interesting, funny and intelligent female centred comedies we've seen recently.

The best bit, it's not about men. It's not about women finding men, fighting over men, winning back men, it's about self discovery and friendship.

Comes A Bright Day (2012) is an interesting and enjoyable low budget romantic movie set during a jewel heist.

Fine performances all round and some very nice cinematography are let down slightly by a script that could have used a little tightening and some really quite strange moments that defy explanation for their presence in the movie other than to appear quirky.

 Rogue Cop (1954)

I started out giving it the benefit of the doubt based on the source material but scene after scene rolls on by without any semblance of action or legitimate drama that aren't just plot devices.

Sometimes They Make Something Great

Metropolis (1927) was supposed to be screened at the delightful John Waters themed Rooftop Cinema here in Perth but due to a rare rainstorm got cancelled, instead we drank our mulled wine on the sofa and screened the remastered Blu.

A masterpiece in the true sense of the word, this is essential viewing for any lover of cinema.

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

One of the finest courtroom dramas ever made. Stewart and Gazzara are superb and Preminger provides solid direction as the loopholes in the legal system of America comes under scrutiny with more than its fair share of laughs. In my opinion, not as good as Wilder's Witness For The Prosecution.

Pale Flower (1964) was recommended to me by yet another in a series of great reviews from Bonjour Tristesse over a year ago and didn't disappoint when I finally saw it.

Mesmerising visuals combined with equally effective audio to create one of the finest pieces of noir nihilism ever captured on celluloid and certainly one of if not the best yakuza films ever made.

And that's November folks. Feel free to discuss absolutely anything in the comments. How did my 51 films stack up against your monthly viewing figure? Have you ever come close to watching 108 movies in one month? This weekend I saw 8 movies, do you think that level of viewing is sustainable? Does anybody agree with me on that Steve Carrell movie? Who has been lucky enough to see Metropolis outside with an orchestra without getting rained off?