End Over End by Kate Kennedy

by Kate Kennedy

"Ivory is fourteen. She's in love with Blake Parady, whom she's forbidden to see. Still, she meets him, and other guys, too, at the gravel pit where there's drinking every warm summer night. Ivory's parents are worried. At home she's moody and secretive; they fear she's growing up too wild, too fast. But in their rural pocket of New England, life's hard all around. They tell themselves it's just a phase she'll soon pass through safely." "One Friday night in July, after lying about her weekend plans, Ivory is walking down a rain-slicked road, headed for Blake's, when a motorbike shoots out of the dark. It's Tommy, Blake's friend, who's happy to give her a ride." "Sunday night, Ivory doesn't come home. She's vanished, it seems. None of the kids who've seen her that weekend will talk to parents or police. Somebody knows what happened, but no one will tell. Could she have run away? Her girlfriends don't believe it; neither do her parents." "Months later, the police think they have the answer. But can the truth ever be known?"--BOOK JACKET.

Paperback

First published March 1, 2001

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is written by a woman whose life's work as a high school teacher and teacher of writing is inspirational. I feel lucky to know her personally and feed from the positive energy she exudes into the world. End Over End, her first novel, introduces a multitude of vivid characters whose lives are affected by the murder of a small-town teenager. The tangle of voices, though at times hard to follow, paints a picture of the confusion, lies, bravado, insecurity, and sadness that colors the intentional killing of a girl so young. One criticism of the book is that I couldn't reconcile the juxtaposition of Kennedy's richly coiled imagery within the expanse of a slang-ridden, grammatically-questionable, parochial language.

[Shannon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this one a bunch of times. It's amazing. Also depressing, but not without purpose. I was impressed at the author's skill in characterizing "troubled" (i.e. poverty stricken with limited opportunities) teens.

[Samantha Sutherland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I never do this. Never ever. But i’m about 100 pages in and I just cant keep going. This book is entirely way too much all over the place. Its hard to figure out what shes even talking about have the time and i have zero desire to finish it🤷🏼‍♀️

[Sandra Malone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointing and unsatisfying on so many levels.

Written in a compelling style but never really hits the mark. If I had known there would be no real ending with so many questions up in the air, I never would have started this book. I'm not a fan of fill in the blanks endings.

[Camille · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was good overall, I guess, but the plot line moves extremely slow. There are only two major parts to it, and it takes to long to explain what's happening because there are so many characters, it's really confusing.

[Katelyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed in the end of the book. The story was very interesting though.