A review by bibliophage
The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson

challenging emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

 “The country had just elected Obama president, giving their dreams wings. But that was then. Now, the clarity of a new day trimmed their feathers as it always had, making it damn near impossible to take flight.” 

 

“But Ruth refused to accept that label, knowing now that a lifetime of lies never added up to anything good. A lifetime of doing the wrong things for the right reasons. A lifetime of lies that started small, like a nick in the windshield, then eventually shattered the glass.” 

📚📖📚 

The story here follows Ruth, a highly successful Black engineer and a poor white boy, named Midnight, who lives in the town where Ruth grew-up. Xavier, Ruth's husband is anxious to start a family, but Ruth is apprehensive about this decision, due to some events in her adolescent past that she has hidden from Xavier. When Ruth returns to her hometown in Indiana, she encounters Midnight, and all the racism and poverty that has overtaken her town. The novel is mostly slow, following Ruth as she confronts and probes her past, and the odd boy Midnight that she befriends along the way. The ending sped up and felt a bit abrupt. I liked this book, I enjoyed the writing, and I liked the real-ness of the characters––sometimes they showed depth and complexity, and other times (maybe even most of the time?) they were totally flat and selfish. Despite the frustrating nature of some of the characters, the story was interesting and the setting and themes timely.