Format: e-ARCSource: 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.
