Everything Is Not Enough

by Sandy Asher

It's the summer before Michael's senior year and his life is all mapped out for winters in the suburbs, summers at the beach, the "right" major in college, and a career in his father's business. But Michael never charted this course; his father did. At 17, eager to discover the "real world" beyond his parents' protection, Michael lands a job as busboy at the Jolly Mackerel restaurant in Braden's Port, a resort town where he, his family, and his friends have long been "summer people"-well-to-do vacationers. At the restaurant, Michael meets Linda, a local "winter person" who is determined to make her way to New York and a career in fashion design. Michael admires her commitment and independence, and for the first time in his life begins to make some of his own decisions about his future. But he is also drawn into the lives of Linda's friend, Traci, and Traci's boyfriend, Pete, a former football star struggling with alcoholism and a raging frustration with his post-high-school life that he often takes out on Traci. When Michael finds himself playing an unearned role in their abusive relationship, he realizes this is the very world his father wants to protect him from, one of stunted dreams and sudden violence.

Genres: Young Adult

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Sandy Asher, a playwright and children's author, is probably best known for her young-adult novels and other prose works for young readers. Drawing many of the ideas and characters for her writings from her childhood memories, Asher has earned critical praise and numerous awards for novels such as Just like Jenny, Things Are Seldom What They Seem, and Everything Is Not Enough. In addition to fiction, Asher has also edited the story collections On Her Way: Stories and Poems about Growing up Girl and the award-winning With All My Heart, with All My Mind: Thirteen Stories about Growing up Jewish, which collect works that address many of the same adolescent concerns Asher confronts in her fiction.

Reviews

[Mansi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book over and over and over again in school. Reading it again after so long was like burrowing into the childhood blankets of my old bedroom back home.