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A review by nooralshanti
The Truth Circle by Cameron Ayers
2.0
The Truth Circle is the story of six very different people who go on a nature retreat in the deep woods with a Native American guide. They each have their own reasons, whether to escape from some problem or to find some kind of enlightenment or whatever. The set up sounded interesting, kind of reminiscent of the show LOST, and I was looking forward to reading this survival story with an otherworldly twist. The writing style was good and I enjoyed the little visual tricks the author uses with changing the word size, for example, or making the words in a paragraph spiral around each other as a character is spiraling into sleep. Unfortunately, I had a few issues with the representation in the novel and the characterizations that prevented me from enjoying it. My reviews and ratings are based on my personal enjoyment, I'm not going to pretend I'm completely objective, but hopefully this review will be detailed enough that you'll be able to decide if the book is for you regardless of my own personal qualms.
First of all, when the characters arrive in the campsite that they are going to spend a week in and they get a tour of the place they see labels on the bathrooms that offended me so much I couldn't get past it for the first third of the book. One of the bathrooms says "braves" on it and the other one says"Squaws" - which is a very offensive word for First Nations/Native American people. It seemed to be vaguely suggested that the group who had been at the campsite before them had torn the place apart so I thought maybe it was graffiti, but even if that was the case there was absolutely no reason for this offensive word to be used and not to be called out by a single character or by the narrative. Look, I'm not Native American, but if even I reacted so negatively to it then how would someone feel who may have been on the receiving end of racism, hearing that word used against them in real life, when they came across it in the book? And why would those readers have to be assaulted by this word constantly? There was absolutely no reason for it in the plot or anything. It was just casual racism thrown in there for no reason.
One of the characters also displayed a constant stream of generally hurtful remarks towards the other characters. Obviously, this was shown to be a negative thing and the others, as well as the narrative itself, didn't just let it go all the time, they always commented on how it was hurtful and negative. And it was obvious to me even from the beginning that changing this character was supposed to be part of the "point" as they all were supposed to transform or change for the better as a result of their experiences. But these transformations weren't really focused on properly, and there was only one character that had an actual character arc and changed through the novel. It felt as though the author spent more time coming up with those rude comments than actually developing the characters and their transformations in a realistic way! And it's a shame, because while the book was supposed to be focused on their inner problems and having them all kind of change as a result of their experience they all seemed to be very cartoonish characters.
Another issue I had is that these characters were a lot worse than just nasty. One of them was amurderer who had killed his wife and was only on the nature retreat to escape justice! while another one, a character who actually seemed all peace-loving and reasonable and loyal turned out to be a pedophile. This was disappointing in and of itself, but it was made more disappointing when the ending seemed to just suggest that they had magically been "cured" of their problems and there was no resolution beyond the seven day nature retreat. We didn't get to see them go back to their lives and face the consequences of what they had done. It seemed as if they were being let off the hook for these terrible actions in their past, as if they were short-cutting to an unearned forgiveness by the narrative, which I did not appreciate.
In terms of writing style, though, the writing flows really well, the descriptions were good and I could imagine the scenes well. As I said above, I also enjoyed the little visual tricks the author used throughout the book, for example when one character trailed off, his voice getting lower, the actual font size got smaller and smaller. I liked it. I also think the otherworldly threat they faced was well-written and described. If you're able to look past some of the issues I had above you might really enjoy it. The parts of it where the characters were in deep trouble and had to figure things out and come to an agreement - or confront each other - worked well.
First of all, when the characters arrive in the campsite that they are going to spend a week in and they get a tour of the place they see labels on the bathrooms that offended me so much I couldn't get past it for the first third of the book. One of the bathrooms says "braves" on it and the other one says
One of the characters also displayed a constant stream of generally hurtful remarks towards the other characters. Obviously, this was shown to be a negative thing and the others, as well as the narrative itself, didn't just let it go all the time, they always commented on how it was hurtful and negative. And it was obvious to me even from the beginning that changing this character was supposed to be part of the "point" as they all were supposed to transform or change for the better as a result of their experiences. But these transformations weren't really focused on properly, and there was only one character that had an actual character arc and changed through the novel. It felt as though the author spent more time coming up with those rude comments than actually developing the characters and their transformations in a realistic way! And it's a shame, because while the book was supposed to be focused on their inner problems and having them all kind of change as a result of their experience they all seemed to be very cartoonish characters.
Another issue I had is that these characters were a lot worse than just nasty. One of them was a
In terms of writing style, though, the writing flows really well, the descriptions were good and I could imagine the scenes well. As I said above, I also enjoyed the little visual tricks the author used throughout the book, for example when one character trailed off, his voice getting lower, the actual font size got smaller and smaller. I liked it. I also think the otherworldly threat they faced was well-written and described. If you're able to look past some of the issues I had above you might really enjoy it. The parts of it where the characters were in deep trouble and had to figure things out and come to an agreement - or confront each other - worked well.