Publisher: Katherine Tegen
330 pages
Hardcover
I’m not going to lie, when I first picked up The Beginning of Everything by Robyn
Schneider, the retrospective first person point of view threw me in its
unusualness. But, after a few chapters, once I was more acclimated, the wit and
heart of the lyrical writing truly pulled me in, and I felt silly for not
seeing it right away.
Ezra Faulkner is forced into the kind of self-discovery we
all hope to have, but that many of us are too afraid to really attempt. After a
car accident leaves the once top tennis player permanently benched with a
seriously damaged knee, he no longer fits in with his athlete friends. Yet, something
many would see as totally negative, for Ezra is ultimately more bittersweet.
For the first time, Ezra is able to see how superficial and unsupportive the
people he called his friends really were. Open to forging new friendships, Ezra
meets new girl Cassidy Thorpe and reunites with his childhood best friend, whose
unusual tragedy years early cemented him on the unpopular list, ultimately
separating him from Ezra. Surrounded by people who actually care about and
challenge him for the first time, Ezra is finally asked what he wants, who he
is, and most importantly who he wants to be. Discovering the answers to these
questions propels Ezra in a completely different direction than he was headed
before, this time, on his own terms.
