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dapiedimonte 's review for:
True Story
by Kate Reed Petty
True Story is told in quite possibly the most unique format I’ve read, and also probably the most frustrating.
The book switches from different characters POVs throughout. Fine, totally normal! However, there are 3 separate parts told from the perspective of one character, Nick. We start with Nick as written in first person, then later switch to third person & finish it up in second person. (Which will always seems more Tumblr post esque than anything else but I digress.) I could *maybe* understand switching POVs in that way to differentiate between characters, but what is done here feels like truly psychotic behavior.
Beyond that, this book is a hodgepodge of storytelling - you’ve got scripts, *edited* college admissions essays, letters, and an interview transcript thrown in. These sections all feel so distinctly different that the book doesn’t feel cohesive at all. It’d be like creating an outline in which you switch from numerical order to a variety of mix matched bullet points to Roman numerals, all with different fonts mixed in! It seemed so discombobulated and it left me with a feeling of whiplash. I think this was a very original idea, but could have been executed so much better than it was. Maybe Petty’s goal was to make me an uncomfortable reader? If so, she succeeded!
Other problems: I never connected to any of the characters. They felt completely under developed. Another strong review I read mentions an important point; this story is packed full of themes that warrant TWs and these topics are not flushed out or handled sensitively, but used in a gimmicky way.
On the plus side, the first 66 pages really held my attention enough to keep me reading to find out what happened.
1.5 stars
The book switches from different characters POVs throughout. Fine, totally normal! However, there are 3 separate parts told from the perspective of one character, Nick. We start with Nick as written in first person, then later switch to third person & finish it up in second person. (Which will always seems more Tumblr post esque than anything else but I digress.) I could *maybe* understand switching POVs in that way to differentiate between characters, but what is done here feels like truly psychotic behavior.
Beyond that, this book is a hodgepodge of storytelling - you’ve got scripts, *edited* college admissions essays, letters, and an interview transcript thrown in. These sections all feel so distinctly different that the book doesn’t feel cohesive at all. It’d be like creating an outline in which you switch from numerical order to a variety of mix matched bullet points to Roman numerals, all with different fonts mixed in! It seemed so discombobulated and it left me with a feeling of whiplash. I think this was a very original idea, but could have been executed so much better than it was. Maybe Petty’s goal was to make me an uncomfortable reader? If so, she succeeded!
Other problems: I never connected to any of the characters. They felt completely under developed. Another strong review I read mentions an important point; this story is packed full of themes that warrant TWs and these topics are not flushed out or handled sensitively, but used in a gimmicky way.
On the plus side, the first 66 pages really held my attention enough to keep me reading to find out what happened.
1.5 stars