The story of Earl, a 17-year-old boy who goes to prison for a crime he didn't commit. Michael Parker tells the story of one decision that irrevocably changes the course of a young man's life.
Clever new novel ... An improbable premise...but in Parker’s telling, it feels plausible, and real ... Parker’s skillfully rendered story rolls like a restless, unpredictable west Texas river — calm depths here, turbulent shallows there ... But what makes All I Have in this World memorable is this: While any number of disasters can (and do) take place along the way, and while some are heartbreaking, the watershed moments happen not with sadness or blood or pain, but with cascades of laughter. It’s through moments of unabashed humor...that [Parker's] characters finally, and completely, connect.
Combining literary, domestic, and suspenseful elements, Parker...is a writer of poetic, synesthetic description, artfully cerebral dialogue, and a wholly channeled protagonist.
Frank if uneven outing ... While the author aptly conveys Earl’s quotidian challenges post-incarceration, the book is marred by thinly developed characters ... It’s not bad, but other authors have done much more with stories of false convictions.
