A review by nordstina
The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson

medium-paced

• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.75

I am not going to spend a lot of time on this review, because I actively disliked this book through most of it, and in many ways, wish I just did not finish it. The overarching plot is Ruth, a woman living in Chicago with her husband at the time of excitement of Obama's first election, has a secret she has not told him. As he does not understand her hesitancy to have a child with him, she divulges she had a child as a teenager that was given up for adoption. Somehow this disclosure to her husband (who really is not fleshed out as a character), leads her to immediately go back to her small hometown to find out what happened to the son she gave birth to. Ruth has a one track mind, and is incredibly selfish towards others, and I did not understand the impulse to all of a sudden NEED to know. She uses others, and does not take their feelings into consideration. There are subplots that are unnecessary. It's unclear why she befriends a young boy, who feels an instant connection to her (WHY?). I just was so frustrated with her as a character, I could not get into this one. Would not recommend.