Attention

The central theme of the novel is attention which is explored through Evie’s growing sense during her adolescence that she would rather be noticed and paid attention to for negative and harmful reasons than be completely ignored.

At the start of the novel, Evie’s world is defined by the extent to which everyone around her ignores her or pays her less attention than she would like them to. Her father has moved away to live with his new girlfriend after divorcing her mother, and her mother has become so focused on building a new life for herself that she pays very little attention to Evie. Evie’s feelings of being unseen are heightened by her unrequited love for Connie’s brother Peter, who never fully reciprocates her feelings for him. Evie’s feeling that no one pays attention to her makes her especially happy...