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A review by ishmael
Give Me Some Truth by Eric Gansworth
3.0
A book about music and social justice set in the 80's on a reservation.
The decision to set it in the 80's and have the Beatles play a major thematic role I assume means a lot to the author, but felt weirdly niche to me. As somebody who kinda remembers the 80's and gives very few fucks about the Beatles, I had to gloss over a lot. The many, many song callouts meant nothing to me.
That aside, I did enjoy the book as a realistic portrait of the messy lives of teens and life on a rez. The protagonist is a bit of a selfish ass but in a way that felt very fitting for a teen boy, and never so much he was insufferable.
But what I want to get into is the portrayal of 2 sisters, both who are in relationships with much older men.
One sister is secretive but it's revealed that while certain things are dodgy, she and her older boyfriend at least made efforts to keep things non-creepy and are very aware of the situation.
Whereas guy trying to get with Maggi is very clearly bad news to the reader, but the PoV also makes it clear WHY she'd be interested in such a guy. I liked the empathy in understanding her motives but at the same time, I feel like it never quite tips over the edge of Maggi fully realizing that he's serious bad news. She knows the situation isn't great, she realizes he might be kinda fucked up, and she backs off in the end, but it never felt like she fully got to the "this is a gross-ass 30 year old manipulating me from a position of power to get into my pants" realization.
The decision to set it in the 80's and have the Beatles play a major thematic role I assume means a lot to the author, but felt weirdly niche to me. As somebody who kinda remembers the 80's and gives very few fucks about the Beatles, I had to gloss over a lot. The many, many song callouts meant nothing to me.
That aside, I did enjoy the book as a realistic portrait of the messy lives of teens and life on a rez. The protagonist is a bit of a selfish ass but in a way that felt very fitting for a teen boy, and never so much he was insufferable.
But what I want to get into is the portrayal of 2 sisters, both who are in relationships with much older men.
One sister is secretive but it's revealed that while certain things are dodgy, she and her older boyfriend at least made efforts to keep things non-creepy and are very aware of the situation.
Whereas guy trying to get with Maggi is very clearly bad news to the reader, but the PoV also makes it clear WHY she'd be interested in such a guy. I liked the empathy in understanding her motives but at the same time, I feel like it never quite tips over the edge of Maggi fully realizing that he's serious bad news. She knows the situation isn't great, she realizes he might be kinda fucked up, and she backs off in the end, but it never felt like she fully got to the "this is a gross-ass 30 year old manipulating me from a position of power to get into my pants" realization.