The Center of Everything

I can't even remember the last time I was able to read an entire novel in one sitting. But I just did it. I sat down this evening with The Center of Everything, by Laura Moriarty, and didn't budge from my spot on the couch until just now, after finishing the very last page.

I have to say this is quite possibly the best debut novel I have ever read. In fact, it's likely way up there at the tippy-top of my ever-read reading list. (It is 1 o'clock in the morning and I know I tend to be overly enthused about such things at this hour.)

Anyway, I picked up this book because Moriarty is a KU graduate, and she was there approximately the same time I was. I'm a sucker for all things Kansas, or even formally Kansan (she lives in Maine now). What I did not expect to find was a story that felt SO close to home in SO many ways. There were passages that could have been taken from my very own teenaged diaries, filled with every bit of angst I so often wish I could just wash away. When I wasn't recognizing myself, I was seeing lots of people I knew. Perhaps the 80s setting would make it a familiar story for anyone my age, but she brought me to tears more than once and had me laughing a few times too.

Now I wonder why I should ever bother writing a story of growing up in Kansas. Moriarty has already done it so well.