Novel Ink: ARC Book Review | The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

ARC Book Review | The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

Posted on Monday, June 9, 2014 4:30 AM

Format: e-ARC
Source: Publisher via Netgalley
Publisher: Roaring Book Press
Publication Date: June 3, 2014
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Everyone has a lot to say about Alice Franklin, and it’s stopped mattering whether it’s true. The rumors started at a party when Alice supposedly had sex with two guys in one night. When school starts everyone almost forgets about Alice until one of those guys, super-popular Brandon, dies in a car wreck that was allegedly all Alice’s fault. Now the only friend she has is a boy who may be the only other person who knows the truth, but is too afraid to admit it. Told from the perspectives of popular girl Elaine, football star Josh, former outcast Kelsie, and shy genius Kurt, we see how everyone has a motive to bring – and keep – Alice down.

My Thoughts:

It seems that everyone and their mother know about what happened the night of the ever popular Elaine O'Dea's party that Alice Franklin slept with not one, but two guys that night. Fast forward a few weeks later and one of the guys that she supposedly slept with dies and it's all her fault. At least that's one everyone is saying.

This book is also really unique in the sense that it uses other people to tell Alice's story and not Alice's herself which I thought was quite odd at the beginning but as I became more engrossed in this book, I could see how strong it made the story.

I've not had much luck with books told in multiple POVs in the past because a lot of the time it seems like the characters have the same voice and that ends up confusing me. However, in The Truth About Alice all of the characters voices are very distinct and not once did I get confused on which character POV I was reading.

I felt so sorry for Alice, everyone was acting like she was the whore of Babylon when really, they don't know the whole truth about That Night and they don't care enough to figure it out because they are just looking for someone to blame and unfortunately, after the rumor spreads about the accident that took Brandon's life being Alice's fault, she becomes an easy target.

Overall, The Truth About Alice is a realistic look at bullying and how what seems like a simple lie can affect someone's life so drastically.

-----Christy

Comments (4)

Logging you in...

Dashboard | Edit profile | Logout

Logged in as

+1 Vote up Vote down

caitdrews 124p · 562 weeks ago

Everyone is reviewing this tonight...hehe. ;) But that's cool! I'm loving seeing the intense reviews, gosh, this sounds like a real good one. Although, I've kind of had a bad run with contemporaries lately, sooo...I'm hesitant! Still! Epic cover, and I think the fact that it's NOT narrated by Alice is really unique.
My recent post The Year of the Rat by Clare Furniss (gross sobbing)

0 Vote up Vote down

Pam@YA Escape · 562 weeks ago

I really enjoyed this one and I had the same thoughts you did. At first I really wanted to hear from Alice, but I realized how brilliant the author was by not including her POV (until the last chapter). It was such a realistic depiction of high school life (especially in a small town) and I agree, the POVs were so distinct I never had a question about whose chapter I was reading. I was surprised by how much I liked this one. Great review! ~Pam
My recent post Book Review: Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan

+1 Vote up Vote down

kirstymstudio 102p · 562 weeks ago

I try and stay away from ones to do with bullying since it kind of depresses me and makes me angry, haha. The only reason I wanted to read Tease by Amanda Maciel was because it was told in the perspective other than the one being bullied, and that's the reason why I want to read this too. it's a great way to show how people get misconceptions about someone because of rumours and what they hear instead of know. And how they see what they're doing is not bullying, it's an opener and these are the books kids and teenagers should be reading. Glad you enjoyed it! :)
My recent post Review: (Don't You) Forget About Me