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michelle0688's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
jmdeal's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
erinploe's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
2.0
Odd story - not sure why it got so many good reviews. I finished it but didn’t have a lot of desire to do so. I love the authors other work but this did not live up to expectations.
njschultz2010's review against another edition
2.0
I could not get into this book ( plot or characters).
reviewsmayvary's review against another edition
5.0
The fact that she pulled the trigger earned this a whole extra star. That's not really a spoiler, calm thy tits.
This is the book of two women who are hanged for questions to their loyalty/honesty, 100 years apart, and the teen relatives who are determined to find their truths. It's also 1970 something Kentucky so there's lots of race stuff and gender stuff and a shot gun.
This is the book of two women who are hanged for questions to their loyalty/honesty, 100 years apart, and the teen relatives who are determined to find their truths. It's also 1970 something Kentucky so there's lots of race stuff and gender stuff and a shot gun.
jaironside's review against another edition
3.0
This is a good book but falls shy of being a great one because the strands of the story get tangled and confused at several points. This is a shame as those different strands at texture and a multi-layered effect to the book. With a bit more clarity it would have been unputdownable. Liar's Bench covers many themes - the problems of family, the necessity of keeping secrets and how toxic they can become, the issues of race and persecution, as well as the issues around sexism at the time. All of these themes are worthy of exploration and in a lot of instances, it was interesting looking at the parity between events. For instance, the symmetry between the two hanged women, a hundred years apart, and the secrets surrounding both deaths.
I liked the pitch perfect voice for the time and place. I found the budding romance between Bobby and Mudas to be sweet and realistic - in many ways symbolic of healing the hundred year old breach. I liked it when Mudas finally kicked into gear and fought back. However the novel as a whole felt unbalanced. Bobby gets mentioned but not introduced until a third of the way in. As he turns out to be instrumental, this doesn't work for me. I think most people are aware that the Klan are still alive and well (if less active) today and that they were certainly practising without much opposition in the 70's, however they don't even get a glancing mention until we're up against them. Add to that Mudas' family strife and it is a fairly long stream of unremitting misery without there necessarily being a real point to it. I'm afraid I didn't warm to Mudas. She was secretive, self-involved and more or less frightened all the time. There were genuine dangers but she more or less capitulated at every turn. She said she wanted to find out the truth but lacked agency on her own, requiring other characters to force her to act or react. I know it was a different time and perhaps even thinking differently to the established mode was really something but the fact that she didn't ever make a choice to swallow her fear, irritated me.
There are some genuinely great characters in this book - some of whom probably deserved a larger part. Her step father was a card board cut out - a sort of bogey man figure who gets disposed of the minute he is no more use. Ella's character was just confused. Perhaps because we were seeing it through Mudas' highly selective gaze. I can see why Mudas wanted to know what had happened to her mother, I can see that she still loved her after everything her mother had done (so much worse than anything her actual father did, yet he got all the blame!) but at the same time it was infuriating watching her lavish affection on a woman who wouldn't even let her daughter live in the same house; who didn't protect her and had no regard for herself. Perhaps this just makes it realistic? We're hardly rational about these things as teens and I suppose it's easier to attack the parent who lives rather than blame the parent who dies.
Overall a good read. It didn't entirely work for me but I could see what it was trying to do and I applaud that. I would still recommend it to others. Some one else will love it.
I liked the pitch perfect voice for the time and place. I found the budding romance between Bobby and Mudas to be sweet and realistic - in many ways symbolic of healing the hundred year old breach. I liked it when Mudas finally kicked into gear and fought back. However the novel as a whole felt unbalanced. Bobby gets mentioned but not introduced until a third of the way in. As he turns out to be instrumental, this doesn't work for me. I think most people are aware that the Klan are still alive and well (if less active) today and that they were certainly practising without much opposition in the 70's, however they don't even get a glancing mention until we're up against them. Add to that Mudas' family strife and it is a fairly long stream of unremitting misery without there necessarily being a real point to it. I'm afraid I didn't warm to Mudas. She was secretive, self-involved and more or less frightened all the time. There were genuine dangers but she more or less capitulated at every turn. She said she wanted to find out the truth but lacked agency on her own, requiring other characters to force her to act or react. I know it was a different time and perhaps even thinking differently to the established mode was really something but the fact that she didn't ever make a choice to swallow her fear, irritated me.
There are some genuinely great characters in this book - some of whom probably deserved a larger part. Her step father was a card board cut out - a sort of bogey man figure who gets disposed of the minute he is no more use. Ella's character was just confused. Perhaps because we were seeing it through Mudas' highly selective gaze. I can see why Mudas wanted to know what had happened to her mother, I can see that she still loved her after everything her mother had done (so much worse than anything her actual father did, yet he got all the blame!) but at the same time it was infuriating watching her lavish affection on a woman who wouldn't even let her daughter live in the same house; who didn't protect her and had no regard for herself. Perhaps this just makes it realistic? We're hardly rational about these things as teens and I suppose it's easier to attack the parent who lives rather than blame the parent who dies.
Overall a good read. It didn't entirely work for me but I could see what it was trying to do and I applaud that. I would still recommend it to others. Some one else will love it.
reviewsmayvary's review against another edition
5.0
The fact that she pulled the trigger earned this a whole extra star. That's not really a spoiler, calm thy tits.
This is the book of two women who are hanged for questions to their loyalty/honesty, 100 years apart, and the teen relatives who are determined to find their truths. It's also 1970 something Kentucky so there's lots of race stuff and gender stuff and a shot gun.
This is the book of two women who are hanged for questions to their loyalty/honesty, 100 years apart, and the teen relatives who are determined to find their truths. It's also 1970 something Kentucky so there's lots of race stuff and gender stuff and a shot gun.
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