The Beginning of Everything

Sarah Mlynowski definitely knew what she was talking about when she called Robyn Schneider's The Beginning of Everything "heartbreaking and hilarious," and said that "girls everywhere are going to fall madly, deeply, hopelessly in love with Ezra Faulkner." As a teenage girl, I can tell you first hand that that is absolutely true.

 

The novel, which in the UK is known by the title Severed Heads, Broken Hearts, follows Ezra through the aftermath of his tragedy- a car accident that smashed not only his knee, but his social life and the future he had planned. A car accident that threw his life upside down and right into the middle of Cassidy Thorpe's. Of course, they fall in love. She, in all her mysterious bohemian glory, shows him the world as he hadn't considered it before, teaches him not to care what people think, how to let himself be different. Of course, something goes terribly wrong.

 

The ending was so unexpected and unbelievable (yet totally convincing) that it's taking all of me not to spoil the entire book, but I won't. The great thing about The Beginning was that it was unpredictable, contrary to the norm as far as teen novels go, and I'd hate to ruin that. But this book was different in other ways, too. It alluded to classic novels, quoted poetry and actually meant something- it said something. Maybe I'm a little unconventional myself, but a call to action is so important to me in a good book. One hundred points to Schneider.

 

Another thing I really appreciated as I read this novel was that Schneider gives you a reason to give a crap. About the characters, that is, about what happens to them. I read a book recently where a girl gets kidnapped, but she was so annoying and bland that I just thought, "Kill her already! Hold her for ransom! She's not good for much else." Reading The Beginning of Everything, though, I did fall in love with Ezra Faulkner. I fell in love with Toby, and Phoebe, and Cooper. I hated Charlotte and Evan and Jimmy and Luke and sometimes Cassidy, but at the same time understood her and half-wanted to be her. I felt personally invested in Ezra's destiny. I cared. I had a reason to keep reading.

 

I could go on and on, but instead I'd better acknowledge, albeit reluctantly, the book's flaws. The thing that bothered me the most was Schneider's use of ridiculous replacements for the word "said" and, when she did use it, long adverbs after it. "Enthused," "deadpanned," "said sheepishly..." I found that sort of annoying. Also, she used a lot of phrases a bit too frequently throughout the book. Maybe those things don't irritate anyone else, but there they are, acknowledged, just in case.

 

Also, please take note of the fact that this book is full of passionate kissing, curse words, explicit references and other scenes and dialogues of that kind. Of course, that's exactly what high school is full of, so that makes the novel realistic, but if those things bother you, avoid this book.

 

Ultimately, I loved The Beginning of Everything. I encourage anyone mildly interested to indulge themselves in the fantastic reading experience it provides. A