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A review by wingedcreature
The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu
2.0
I thought The Truth About Alice was just okay. I was intrigued by it, since I've seen it floating around, and decided to give it a read. I do like that it's a different take on slut-shaming and bullying, and that you see how other people see Alice. And I really like how Mathieu plays with the stereotypes- the popular girl hosting the party (Elaine), the former best friend (Kelsie), the best friend of the guy who died in a car accident because of Alice (Brandon), and the nerd who has a crush on Alice and is the only person willing to talk to her (Kurt). These are the people who tell Alice's story before we finally hear from Alice herself at the end of the book. I found myself hating pretty much all of the characters (except for Kurt who is pretty awesome, and Elaine, the popular girl because at least she owned it). I feel like we don't really get to know who Alice really is, because we pretty much see her through the eyes of other people. It makes me wish we got more than one chapter at the end of the book from her perspective.
I kind of don't blame her for not speaking up (at least that we see) because I'd probably do the same thing in her position. It is sort of frustrating, but her classmates also seem like the sort of people who wouldn't care what really happened, if they're anything like Elaine, Kelsie and Brandon. While the idea of multiple narrators was interesting, especially given that we don't really see Alice's side, something about it didn't completely work for me.
Rating: 2 stars. It was just okay, and it was an interesting way to tell a story that also didn't work as well as it could have.
Merged review:
I thought The Truth About Alice was just okay. I was intrigued by it, since I've seen it floating around, and decided to give it a read. I do like that it's a different take on slut-shaming and bullying, and that you see how other people see Alice. And I really like how Mathieu plays with the stereotypes- the popular girl hosting the party (Elaine), the former best friend (Kelsie), the best friend of the guy who died in a car accident because of Alice (Brandon), and the nerd who has a crush on Alice and is the only person willing to talk to her (Kurt). These are the people who tell Alice's story before we finally hear from Alice herself at the end of the book. I found myself hating pretty much all of the characters (except for Kurt who is pretty awesome, and Elaine, the popular girl because at least she owned it). I feel like we don't really get to know who Alice really is, because we pretty much see her through the eyes of other people. It makes me wish we got more than one chapter at the end of the book from her perspective.
I kind of don't blame her for not speaking up (at least that we see) because I'd probably do the same thing in her position. It is sort of frustrating, but her classmates also seem like the sort of people who wouldn't care what really happened, if they're anything like Elaine, Kelsie and Brandon. While the idea of multiple narrators was interesting, especially given that we don't really see Alice's side, something about it didn't completely work for me.
Rating: 2 stars. It was just okay, and it was an interesting way to tell a story that also didn't work as well as it could have.
I kind of don't blame her for not speaking up (at least that we see) because I'd probably do the same thing in her position. It is sort of frustrating, but her classmates also seem like the sort of people who wouldn't care what really happened, if they're anything like Elaine, Kelsie and Brandon. While the idea of multiple narrators was interesting, especially given that we don't really see Alice's side, something about it didn't completely work for me.
Rating: 2 stars. It was just okay, and it was an interesting way to tell a story that also didn't work as well as it could have.
Merged review:
I thought The Truth About Alice was just okay. I was intrigued by it, since I've seen it floating around, and decided to give it a read. I do like that it's a different take on slut-shaming and bullying, and that you see how other people see Alice. And I really like how Mathieu plays with the stereotypes- the popular girl hosting the party (Elaine), the former best friend (Kelsie), the best friend of the guy who died in a car accident because of Alice (Brandon), and the nerd who has a crush on Alice and is the only person willing to talk to her (Kurt). These are the people who tell Alice's story before we finally hear from Alice herself at the end of the book. I found myself hating pretty much all of the characters (except for Kurt who is pretty awesome, and Elaine, the popular girl because at least she owned it). I feel like we don't really get to know who Alice really is, because we pretty much see her through the eyes of other people. It makes me wish we got more than one chapter at the end of the book from her perspective.
I kind of don't blame her for not speaking up (at least that we see) because I'd probably do the same thing in her position. It is sort of frustrating, but her classmates also seem like the sort of people who wouldn't care what really happened, if they're anything like Elaine, Kelsie and Brandon. While the idea of multiple narrators was interesting, especially given that we don't really see Alice's side, something about it didn't completely work for me.
Rating: 2 stars. It was just okay, and it was an interesting way to tell a story that also didn't work as well as it could have.