Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town: 1

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Everyone Dies Famous In a Small Town is a short but powerful and important read and I think adults and older children would both really enjoy it. This book left me feeling like I’d received an all encompassing, warm hug which I never want to be released from.

Poppy has a make-believe friend, Elizabeth the mermaid, and they both appear again in the seventh story ‘ Alaska was wasted on Us,’ at Camp Wildwood, a summer camp in Alaska. I loved seeing the way the characters’ lives intersect and have impacts big and small on other characters’ lives, even when there’s no obvious connection. In fact, these characters for the most part will never know the threads that connect them, even though we as readers are treated to the bigger picture and have the pleasure of seeing where all theses lives overlap. That being said, I think that the reason this book is rather dull is because of the sheer amount of stories that were being presented. Each of the characters were individual and almost completely different from the others, living in different circumstances and experiencing different things. As a result, not one of the stories or characters was extremely developed, making the book and its individual characters rather forgettable. It also made the book feel like it was dragging on, despite how short it is.The author’s first novel, The Smell of Other People’s Houses, is one of my favorite books, and is a must-read. In Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town, we’re once again treated to her simple yet affecting approach to language, the realistic-feeling dialogue, and the tour of the inner workings of teen minds and hearts.

I didn’t want each story to end yet I appreciated the brisk pace which made me wonder how the stories would be resolved. In fact, I finished the book feeling invigorated by the characters and amazed at how the author managed to weave such a story. I really do think that this book was well-written. It managed to connect the characters who mostly had nothing to do with one another in really creative ways, while also weaving in various social issues in a way that never felt blatantly intrusive. Like any good young adult book it is written to gain and hold the attention of a typically difficult audience (teenagers), so I knew it would be engaging at the very least.

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So, yes it's an anthology, but it's a connected anthology, so all the stories have at least one tie to one of the other stories. Which is kind of brilliant. Also, we get introduced to so many different people in so many small towns in America. And some of these stories are straight up heartbreaking, no question. A lot of them are attempts to rebuild after said heartbreak. It's definitely an emotive book, but also really charming and thoughtful, so you won't be drowning in misery. Yes, there are dark situations, but there is also tons of light. Set in the mid-1990s, the stories are set in Alaska and in small towns scattered across the American west. We meet hitchhikers, kids with reputations, girls who grew up wild and free, siblings who’ve suffered loss. Some common threads are apparent across multiple stories — the early warnings of a wildfire in one story turn into an out-of-control inferno in another; the aftermath of certain events are sprinkled throughout several characters’ lives, but we only get the full picture in a seemingly unrelated story later on. Famous in a Small Town" debuted at number 54 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart for the week of April 7, 2007. After 33 weeks on the chart, it peaked at number 14 on November 17, 2007. Admittedly I don’t usually read short stories, but with this title, Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town, I just had to give it a try and I was not disappointed.

Oh my goodness! Traveling between Alaskan woods to isolated, beautiful Pacific beaches and being introduced to vivid, original, quirky characters, diving into interesting, varied topics including wildfires, a mermaid, basketball bears gave me quality time . This was one of the reading experiences I’ve ever had! This is the line, towards the end of ‘ The Stranger in the Woods‘, the penultimate story of this brilliant collection, that finally convinced me I was reading something very special indeed. It’s brilliant, unique, mind numbing! All those stories are missing pieces of the puzzle. You can read and enjoy them separately but as you realize the connections of them by catching the small details, you feel more satisfied and you adore the witty writing style of the author!Meet the teenagers who live in the small towns across these states, separated by distance, but whose stories are woven together in the most unexpected of ways. Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town' is a series of short stories about how different small towns are connected in ways that you would never imagine, told through the perspectives of different characters, each dealing with their own issues and lives, and unknowingly affecting many others'. What I found was a surprising series of interconnected story strands based around moments of American small-town living, from young adult perspectives.

The novel, much like her first, is written from a multi narrative perspective and maintains a strong sense of mystery throughout.I'm going to be honest here and say that as well-written as this was, it was quite boring. Yes, I went into this book knowing that there wouldn't be a set plot and that I shouldn't anticipate much action because it's largely character-based. But at the same time, I didn't realize just how boring it actually would be, especially because the synposis I read seemed to hype this book up a lot more than I think it needed to. The scattered sea – shaken houses on the cliffs overlooking the ocean had been built long ago, but they mirrored the people who came and went: reclusive and solitary, wind-beaten and up for grabs”.