Everyday People

Summary: Selected by Granta as one of America's Best Young Novelists, Stewart O'Nan has created award-winning fiction that's been hailed by critics for its evocative lyricism and finely wrought characters. In his new novel, Everyday People, O'Nan brings together the stories of the residents of one Pittsburgh neighborhood to create a lush, dramatic portrait that vividly captures the experience of the day-to-day struggle that i...s life in urban America.Set in the African-American community of East Liberty during one fateful week in the early fall of 1998, the novel centers around Chris "Crest" Tolbert -- an eighteen-year-old left paralyzed and haunted by the loss of his best friend after a recent accident -- and weaves together the lives of friends and family, lovers and strangers, and their emotions, memories, and dreams. There is Vanessa, Crest's estranged girlfriend and the mother of his son, who finds her life at a crossroads as she comes to terms with her former boyfriend's injuries, while her viewof the world is being transformed by a night class on African-American culture. There is Crest's brother Eugene, nicknamed "U", an ex-con turned [read more]