Wednesday 21 January 2015

Book Review: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu


The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu
Published on June 1st 2014 by Hardie Grant Egmont
I received this book courtesy of the publisher
199 pages
5 Stars

There are a lot of rumours about Alice Franklin, and it's stopped mattering whether any of them are true.

It all started at a party, when Alice was supposedly with two guys in one night.
Soon everyone at Healy High has picked a side in this game of he said/she said. Do they believe Brandon Fitzsimmons, the most popular guy at school and the football hero of Healy? Or do they believe Alice, the girl who wears too-tight T-shirts and was caught kissing Brandon in a closet a couple years before?
When Brandon dies in a car crash, there are serious allegations that his death was Alice's fault. As the rumour mill spins into overdrive, Alice's small town becomes suffocating. And when the truth becomes a matter of opinion, something's got to give.

The way to the truth is to usually start at the beginning and work your way back from so this is the way I’m going to tell you about The Truth About Alice. Alice Franklin goes to a party one night and supposedly sleeps with 2 guys and this makes her the biggest slut in all to the town. Things get worse when a few weeks later one of them, the star quarterback and town golden boy ends up dead and its all her fault. In aftermath we get a glimpse of how Alice deals with the rumours and her dealing with becoming the outcast of a town in which everyone has something bad to say about her. One word to describe this book is raw, everything about it is honest from the characters thoughts and actions to how they live their lives nothing is hidden behind the usual novel glow.

One of my favourite things about this multi-points of view style book, is how each character really had their own voice and completely different writing style to the next. At no point was I left wondering whose point of view I was reading from or where they should with in the Alice drama. Lets not kid ourselves here the characters like us stood firm on whether they believed Alice guilty of her so called crimes. One of my favourite quotes of this book that I think sums up the whole situation in a few short sentences is about how everyone is to afraid to stand up for an injustice no matter how huge or small which is one of the sad hard hitting facts that this novels bring to light so well. And yes in my belief slut-shaming is an injustice.

“It’s like when we read The Diary of Anne Frank in seventh grade, and I had the sneaking suspicion that I would have been a Nazi back then because I wouldn’t have had the guts to be anything else. Because I would have been too scared to not go along with the majority. Like, I would have been a passive sort of Nazi, but I still would have been a Nazi.”

The ending of this book was just prefect on so many levels. My heart really broke for Alice and the ending just really topped it off in the most perfect heart felt way. I can’t say anything to in depth obviously without ruining it but to say that this book has such an amazing ending for everything that goes on is an understatement. Alice learns something so important and special, I just get so many feels when I think of it.

To conclude one of my most incoherent reviews ever I just want to say read this book, it’s not a long one and I found it extremely spectacular and realistic in every sense. If your looking for a book that encourages thought and how we have different standards for males and females pick this up. 

11 comments:

  1. Glad to hear you liked this book Katie, I think the multiple point of views were done really well, although I found the characters a little cliche. Great review!

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    1. Thanks for commenting Jeann, I really loved this book and I found that I really didn’t care about the cliché characters because I was just to wrapped up in the story.

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  2. This one sounds interesting :) I don't think I've come across it before but it's definitely going on my TBR list because your review has made me totally curious!

    - Wattle @ Whimsical Nature

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    1. It is a really good book Wattle definitely worth a read! It’s a nice short book too, perfect for if you ever get into a slump.

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  3. I felt exactly the same way Katie, I was so engaged and angry reading it as well. What they put Alice through was just deplorable and I feared for her mental health. It was so powerful seeing everyone elses point of view but hers and had such an impact on me too. Amazing review, so glad you loved this as much as I did <3

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    1. I’m glad you loved this too Kelly, I just want everyone to love it like me and care as much for Alice as I did. I had so many inside hugs I wanted to give her.

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  4. WHY HAVE I NOT READ THIS BOOK ALREADY?! I've wanted to read it for a while now, though I must admit I forgot about it for a while there...easy to do when there's so many other books, I suppose. You've reignited my interest in this book - thanks for the fantastic review, Katie. :)

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    1. Why have you not read this yet Ebony! Its amazing and definitely worth reading. There really are so many books to read, I often get over whelmed and just think wow. I’m glad to have ignited your interest and hopefully you love it.

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  5. I'm glad you liked this one, Katie! I agree with you that all the different POVs were very distinct and detailed. I hate nothing more than POVs that cannot be distinguished from one another! I think Mathieu did a really good job with THE TRUTH ABOUT ALICE.

    The ending gave me all kinds of feels, too! I just loved it, and it was definitely my favourite part of the book. ^.^

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    1. The ending also gave me all the feels I was just so happy and tingly. I feel you so much on hating points of review that are all the same kind of voice it just gets way to confusing. Thanks for commenting Chiara!

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  6. I actually love this book as well - I did like reading the different POV's but sometimes they would sound all the same. Great review!

    Benish | Feminist Reflections

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