All the secrets of the world : a novel

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Title:

All the secrets of the world : a novel

Author:

Almond, Steve, author.

ISBN:

9781638930020

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

403 pages ; 24 cm.

Subject Term:

Mexican American teenagers -- Fiction.

Teenage girls -- Fiction.

Teenage girls -- California -- Fiction.

Female friendship -- Fiction.

Social classes -- Fiction.

Nineteen eighties -- Fiction.

Genre:

Suspense fiction.

Historical fiction.

Summary:

"It's 1981 in Sacramento, and thirteen-year-old Lorena Saenz has just been paired with Jenny Stallworth for the science fair by a teacher hoping to unite two girls from starkly different worlds. Lorena begins to spend time at the Stallworth residence and finds herself seduced, not just by Jenny but her parents: Rosemary, her glamorous, needy mother, and Marcus, a scorpiologist who recognizes Lorena's passion for learning and her confused desires. When Lorena's troubled older brother, Tony, picks her up at the Stallworth mansion late one night, he and Marcus exchange tense words--an encounter that draws the Saenz family into the dark heart of America's criminal justice system. To uncover the truth, Lorena must embark on an unforgiving odyssey into the desert and through the gates of a religious cult in Mexico. As she stalks a fate guided by forces beyond her reckoning, shocking secrets explode into view." --

Holds:

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove)	FICTION ALM	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	FICTION ALM	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	FICTION ALM	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"A breathtaking success . . . dazzling." -- San Francisco Chronicle

"[A] rollicking, wide-ranging, unpredictable novel--part crime story, part coming-of-age, part satire, part deadly serious." --Rebecca Makkai, Pulitzer finalist for The Great Believers

Who pays for the secrets we keep? For the lies we tell ourselves?

Lorena Saenz has just been paired with Jenny Stallworth for a school project by a teacher hoping to unite two girls from starkly different backgrounds. Jenny is pretty and popular, and Lorena is quickly drawn into the family's picture-perfect suburban lifestyle. Jenny's mother, Rosemary, is glamorous, but needy--she treats Lorena like a friend, if only to break up the monotony of lonely afternoons. Jenny's father, Marcus, spends his days teaching and his nights wandering the desert, absorbed in his research on the scorpions of Death Valley. Outwardly, they are the perfect family, poised for success in 1981 Sacramento at the dawn of a glorious American decade. Lorena finds her access intoxicating and alluring, a far cry from her life in the small apartment she shares with her single mother.

But the veneer is shattered when Marcus disappears. The prime suspect: Lorena's troubled older brother, Tony.

To uncover the truth, Lorena must embark on an unforgiving odyssey into the desert, into the secrets and lies of the Stallworth family, and the dark heart of America's criminal justice system. A shape-shifting social novel, All the Secrets of the World is a propulsive tour de force from a writer at the height of his powers.

Author Notes

Steve Almond is the author of eleven books of fiction and nonfiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Candyfreak and Against Football . His essays and reviews have been published in venues ranging from the New York Times Magazine to Ploughshares to Poets & Writers , and his short fiction has appeared in Best American Short Stories , The Pushcart Prize , Best American Mysteries , and Best American Erotica . Almond is the recipient of grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. He cohosted the Dear Sugars podcast with his pal Cheryl Strayed for four years, and teaches Creative Writing at the Neiman Fellowship at Harvard and Wesleyan. He lives in Arlington, Massachusetts, with his family and his anxiety.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Fiction writer and essayist Almond (Bad Stories: What Just Happened to Our Country) stuffs his debut novel with a lurid if convoluted story of teen friendship and crime in the Reagan era. In 1981, 13-year-old Lorena Saenz, a Sacramento eighth grader with a passion for learning, is partnered by her teacher with Jenny Stallworth for a science fair project. Lorena, who is being raised by a single mother from Honduras with modest means, becomes friendly with Jenny's wealthy parents, who include her in family meals and take her camping. Then, Jenny's father, Marcus, falsely accuses Lorena of trying to hit on him before inappropriately embracing her, an encounter witnessed by Lorena's older brother, Tony. His hostile response makes him the prime suspect after Marcus vanishes and is believed to have been murdered. Because Jenny's mom knows Nancy Reagan slightly, she improbably manages to get the first lady, still traumatized by the attempted assassination of her husband, to try to prioritize the investigation ("The ghostly currents of political power run through the grid of law enforcement," Almond writes). The truth about Marcus is a yawner, and whatever deeper message Almond tried to imbue is lost in the outlandish plotting. The author's fans will have fun with this Day-Glo rendering of the early '80s, but in the end it falls short. Agent: Jenni Ferrari-Adler, Union Literary. (Apr.)

Kirkus Review

A disappearance brings together a host of disparate lives in early-1980s California. This novel, Almond's first, follows a number of acclaimed story collections and works of nonfiction. He's opted to use the biggest possible canvas, incorporating a diverse cast of characters and a host of weighty themes. The resulting novel is incredibly ambitious while also featuring some unexpected touches--scorpion biology and Nancy Reagan both play significant roles. The bulk of the novel is set in California in 1981. Lorena Saenz, age 13, is partnered with classmate Jenny Stallworth for a science fair project. Lorena is the daughter of an undocumented mother and comes from a working-class background; Jenny's family, by contrast, is wealthy. More ominously, Jenny's father, Marcus--a scientist and academic with an interest in scorpions--develops an attraction to Lorena. Almond summons plenty of tension from the question of whether or not Marcus will do something awful--right up until the point when he vanishes under mysterious circumstances and Lorena's older brother, Tony, becomes a suspect in his disappearance. It's at this point that Pedro Guerrero, one of the police officers investigating the case, enters the narrative, expanding its scope beyond the two families of the early chapters. Almond is grappling with a lot of weighty themes: Class disparities, sexual abuse, corrupt policing, immigration, and the modern Republican Party (including a couple of references to the Romney family) all play significant parts here. But while the large-scale tragedy that plays out is thought-provoking, the novel's stranger digressions--like glowing scorpions--are what endure. Almond's first novel is ambitious and empathic but sometimes unwieldy. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

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Bound With These Titles

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Summary

Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

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