This novel tells the story of the McLaughlin family: grandmother Catherine, mother Kelly, her husband Louis, and 2 daughters Gracie and Lila. Each of the characters is going through a personal crisis but none have the tools to work through them.

Tell Me Everything This is the 5th in Elizabeth Strout’s Amgash series which is mostly about Lucy Barton. This novel revolves around the relationship between Lucy and Bob Burgess who are good friends that see each other in much deeper ways than their significant others. After they parted, Bob though again of how eh had… Continue reading Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout

Spoiler alert: Everyone Dies
Everyone

Many high school students in the 70s and 80s read this novel as part of the curriculum. Somehow I skated through without reading it. It is a great novel for a high school English class: It is short, has well defined characters, an unhappy ending, and very clear symbolism which can help young-ish readers understand what literature is capable of.

Tiffany/Blandine and three young men have aged out of the foster system and live together in a low income apartment. The trouble she had in the foster system continue when she goes back to school. The men’s penchant for drugs and animal violence lead to a climax we see coming.