A review by thereaderfriend
True Story by Kate Reed Petty

challenging dark reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

If you're coming to this book expecting a book that's marketed towards the main focus on the victim herself, you're going to be rudely mistaken. This book focused on  bystander Nick to the events of his friends. It mainly focused on his alcoholism but didn't have a plot to resolve his past issues. The author also used Nick as a questionable plot device
; He was brought to be a figment of Alice, the victims, imagination
. I'm assuming to make her seem unreliable and questionable but it definitely left a bad taste in my mouth. Yes she was passed out when this event happened but using Nick and Q to question her sanity and credibility was wrong to me. Especially because everyone made it seem that she was raped
- even Richard seemed to admit that he raped her by acting suspicious through changing his name, created a company that helps erase incidents from one's pasts, had those long interviews for his book without her knowing it was him, etc
. They all went along with it, including Alice. "She was drunk, how are we to know she was raped?" "It was a misunderstanding", etc. -- these stupid rape defenses were what shouted out to me when I read that the boys seemed to rape Alice and Alice trusting the rumor and going along with it-- this can be incredibly harmful to those that were actually raped and not believed. And Q, he was ridiculous. He could've been used to talk about how sexual abuse victims tend to go into unhealthy relationships after trauma but no he was aimed to be this humorous supervillain. Lastly, Richard. Ugh, he was so suspicious. Who does all what he did if what was said to be a rumor was only a rumor? Those that are guilty. This book felt like a joke to sexual abuse victims. Do not recommend. 
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