Rating: 
Summary: Great book
Review: This book was perfect from the very first page to the last. The author has an incredible voice - the teenage girl was so beleivable and relatable. I felt like I was going through things with her. The author has a real gift for showing how a teenager feels about adults. Evelyn's observations about her teachers were hilarious. I can't wait to see more from this author.
Rating: 
Summary: You can smell the lilacs...
Review: This book was wonderful. I could feel the humid air and smell the lilacs with drops of water leftover, after a rainfall. I love the way Evelyn's thoughts are so black and white. It is or it isn't. I can't wait for another great story from Moriarty.
Rating:
Summary: What a wonderful book!
Review: This is not a book I would ordinarly pick up...I only read it after a friend strongly recommended it. I loved it! The main character, Evelyn, has a wonderful wry sense of humor. Nice, wonderful, warm read. I look forward to Laura Moriarity's next book.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book!
Review: This was a great book. I enjoyed the development of Evelyn as she grows from a child to a young adult, and her mother Tina's transformation after the birth of her son. The book captivated me further because Evelyn and I grew up in the same decade, and when she made references to friendship pins, Reagan and legwarmers amongst other things, I remember all those things as part of my own childhood. I found myself identifying with her, even though I didn't share her same upbringing. I had a hard time putting this book down once I started reading it.
Rating:
Summary: I Loved it!
Review: What a great read! It brought back memories of going to school since I was in about the same grade as Evelyn during the same year. Also, I think it speaks about the universal feelings of love and longing and yearning to fit in. Now that I'm a mother it was touching to see that Evelyn's mother is one that gives all her love to her children. I highly recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: Promising debut novel by a promising author
Review: Whereas Dorothy wanted to get out of Kansas and landed up in Oz, Evelyn Bucknow thinks Kansas is at the center of everything. At age 10, the only problem in her otherwise perfect world is her mother's ineptitude and inability to hold her own life together, much less that of her impressionable daughter. This lovely story follows Evelyn on the teetery see-saw path between childhood and young adulthood with warmth, sincerity, and hope, deftly offering a cameo look at middle-class life smack dab in the middle of America.
Rating:
Summary: A great book club choice and an impressive debut
Review: While I'm not typically a big devotee of "women's fiction" or "Oprah books," I very much enjoyed Laura Moriarty's debut. I was drawn in by the cover blurb calling this an updated TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, and while--as is generally the case--this is something of an overstatement, this is nevertheless an absorbing and moving story. Evelyn, the narrator, is ten in 1980, when the novel begins. Moriarty's particular strengths lie in her ability to simultanously convincingly capture the feel of the era and Evelyn's reactions to it, precocious yet still those of a child. We see Evelyn viewing Reagan's first campaign on television (and later his defensive stance during the Iran-Contra scandal), envy her wealthier classmates during her school's craze for OP sweatshirts, and watch with amazement as the town's first McDonald's is constructed across the street from her middle-of-nowhere apartment complex. Period details continually re-ground the reader in the world of the novel without ever feeling dropped in or intrusive. In general I felt that the earlier sections of the novel--Evelyn at a younger age--were more fluid and compelling than the later sections, depicting Evelyn's high-school years. Nevertheless, this remained an emotionally-gripping story throughout, and one I read with a great deal of interest. Perhaps most importantly, the characters have stuck with me, days after I finished the book. There's a lot here for book clubs, I think, as well as anyone else looking for stories of domestic drama that don't lapse into made-for-TV movie territory.
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