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A review by actuallyjusthanne
None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I have heard about this book before but never was interested in picking it up until I saw it was quickly available on Libby, and I picked it up. I finished it over the course of a weekend and it was a really fun book!
This book covers a lot of hard subjects, starting with grooming and child molestation, alcoholism, physical and emotional abuse and ending with murder. It is one of the darkest suspense books I've read and I would be wary of someone going into this book blind.
The most notable part of this book was the narration: it splits between Josie and Alix, two women born on the same day in the same hospital, but whose lives are deeply different. After they meet at a restaurant on their birthday, they start meeting so that Alix, a podcaster, can interview Josie about her life and how their lives differ.
At the start, everything is aboveboard and nothing seems awry, but soon both the events and the storytelling take a darker turn. It is so well done and I cannot really explain how it was done but the build up of the dread and suspense was so subtle and yet so clear. I also really like the interspersed podcast interviews/netflix documentary screenplay sections that add information and suspense: I love any addition of that sort to books and the way these added to the story was so good!
I was very impressed by how the groundwork to this book was laid and how the little crumbs of detail were woven throughout the telling of the story. There is a slight slice of life vibe as this story is told, which I did find a little repetitive while reading, but the changes in detail really paid off in my opinion.
The suspense was really very much a slowburn, and I didn't know where the story was going to go the whole time. I am not the biggest fan of how this book ended, but for the sake of how the rest of this book was paced and set up, I thought this book was really good!
I didn't feel very connected to any of the characters; none of them were particularly sympathetic characters.The pedophile glamorization/justification really rubbed me the wrong way, and the ending of "oh yeah he totally married that teenager but AT LEAST he wasn't raping his teenage daughter!!!1!1! what a good dad!!1! was very odd.
I read this book on kindle, and read it too fast to listen to the audiobook, but I kind of wish I had: people say the audiobook is a full cast and that sounds so good to listen to!
All in all, I think it was a well written book but ultimately one that is not particularly unique. I do want to pick up more of Lisa Jewell's books in the future though!
This book covers a lot of hard subjects, starting with grooming and child molestation, alcoholism, physical and emotional abuse and ending with murder. It is one of the darkest suspense books I've read and I would be wary of someone going into this book blind.
The most notable part of this book was the narration: it splits between Josie and Alix, two women born on the same day in the same hospital, but whose lives are deeply different. After they meet at a restaurant on their birthday, they start meeting so that Alix, a podcaster, can interview Josie about her life and how their lives differ.
At the start, everything is aboveboard and nothing seems awry, but soon both the events and the storytelling take a darker turn. It is so well done and I cannot really explain how it was done but the build up of the dread and suspense was so subtle and yet so clear. I also really like the interspersed podcast interviews/netflix documentary screenplay sections that add information and suspense: I love any addition of that sort to books and the way these added to the story was so good!
I was very impressed by how the groundwork to this book was laid and how the little crumbs of detail were woven throughout the telling of the story. There is a slight slice of life vibe as this story is told, which I did find a little repetitive while reading, but the changes in detail really paid off in my opinion.
The suspense was really very much a slowburn, and I didn't know where the story was going to go the whole time. I am not the biggest fan of how this book ended, but for the sake of how the rest of this book was paced and set up, I thought this book was really good!
I didn't feel very connected to any of the characters; none of them were particularly sympathetic characters.
I read this book on kindle, and read it too fast to listen to the audiobook, but I kind of wish I had: people say the audiobook is a full cast and that sounds so good to listen to!
All in all, I think it was a well written book but ultimately one that is not particularly unique. I do want to pick up more of Lisa Jewell's books in the future though!