This is my 100th book review posted to this blog!The Truth About Alice
By: Jennifer Mathieu
YA Contemporary
Published: June 2014
The book begins with the assertion that Alice Franklin is a slut. The story is told from four different points of view, people who know Alice Franklin, but not Alice herself until the very last chapter. A cool concept that reminded me of Siobhan Vivian's The List.
What the book does brilliantly is shows how quickly rumors spread, and how toxic our culture can be to young women. A credit to the author, each character point of view has value and nuance, even the "bad" people, because we are shown through their voice why they say and do the things they are doing. Alice is shown at times as a victim, a bully, a mystery, a cool girl, a loner. We see the history of her current friendships and the aftermath of the party that changes everything. And there are a few twists. This reads almost like a mystery, with the mystery being what truly happened to Alice Franklin.
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It sounds as though the author has gone out of her way to craft complex characters, which is reflective of real life. Cardboard and one-dimensional characters always drive me nuts, so it's nice to know this isn't the case with this book. Also love the fact that there's a bit of a mystery here as well. (I love a good mystery!) I haven't heard a lot about this one, so thank you for the review and recommendation!
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