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A review by powerpuffgoat
None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
reflective
tense
fast-paced
3.75
It was a fast read, great for someone in a reading slump. Would have been a full four stars from me, but the ending kind of throws a wrench in the works and creates a plot hole (in my opinion).
The style
I enjoy the modern setting of narratives from our characters' point of view, along with transcripts of a podcast within a documentary script.
It allowed for a good balance of third person narration and first-person accounts. It's a clever way to include the unreliable narrator trope without taking the reader for a fool.
I also really appreciated that Jewell made the main POV characters different enough so that the narration isn't confusing, but also similar enough so that it's easy to believe these women live a short walk away from each other.
The characters
I must give the author credit for creating complex characters that weren't just good or evil. I also feel like this allows for the events to unfold the way they did without making the characters look stupid.
Certainly, many of us ignore red flags or put up with unusual or downright awful behaviour because life is complicated. In the context of the British setting, overt politeness in the face of someone pushing boundaries is also very common.
The plot
The plot was okay. Ive read one other book by Lisa Jewell and I am left with a similar feeling. I dont think it was particularly twisted, the author pretty much laid the foundation for us readers before Alis gets to experience the actual twist.
As I mentioned at the start, I was disappointed by the ending. It left a bad taste in my mouth and prompted questions about something unambiguously stated earlier in the novel.
I am talking about Josie's account at the very end of the book where she implies that it was Roxy who killed Brooke and that the events of the fateful Friday night when Walter dies went very differently compared to Erin's account.
On its own, the first twist would have been interesting and fitting the tone of the novel. But why, then, did Josie have trophies of Brooke's and some unknown phone case?
As for the second point, even if Walter had a heart attack, Josie still had a hand in his death and also Erin's attempted murder.
The themes
I think for me, this book's main themes could be boiled down to this:
1. Two things can be true at the same time.
2. Just because someone was mistreated, it doesn't justify their shitty actions.
I saw many people arguing about the way the book supposedly excused and redeemed Walter from the fact he groomed Josie when she was a minor. I don't think that's the case. He remains the person who cheated on his wife, got together with his affair partner's 15-year-old daughter, and (potentially) covered up a murder. Just because his wife ended up being bonkers, doesn't mean he wasn't culpable. Just because he spent time with Erin, doesn't mean he wasn't culpable. Just because he dies, doesn't mean he is absolved.
The charater that pushes the notion of Josie "seducing" Walter was her mother, who is clearly a narcissist who felt resentful of her child's very existence.
And in her podcast conclusion, Alix doesn't excuse Walter either. She just reaffirms that Josie was a horrible person.
Nathan was another great example of those two themes. Yes, he loved his wife. Yes, his alcoholism was threatening his marriage. No, someone else's bad actions towards him don't excuse his actions towards his family.
Like I said, I enjoyed the complexity of the characters and the grey morality of it all. I just wish the ending wasn't so tacked on.
The style
I enjoy the modern setting of narratives from our characters' point of view, along with transcripts of a podcast within a documentary script.
It allowed for a good balance of third person narration and first-person accounts. It's a clever way to include the unreliable narrator trope without taking the reader for a fool.
I also really appreciated that Jewell made the main POV characters different enough so that the narration isn't confusing, but also similar enough so that it's easy to believe these women live a short walk away from each other.
The characters
I must give the author credit for creating complex characters that weren't just good or evil. I also feel like this allows for the events to unfold the way they did without making the characters look stupid.
Certainly, many of us ignore red flags or put up with unusual or downright awful behaviour because life is complicated. In the context of the British setting, overt politeness in the face of someone pushing boundaries is also very common.
The plot
The plot was okay. Ive read one other book by Lisa Jewell and I am left with a similar feeling. I dont think it was particularly twisted, the author pretty much laid the foundation for us readers before Alis gets to experience the actual twist.
As I mentioned at the start, I was disappointed by the ending. It left a bad taste in my mouth and prompted questions about something unambiguously stated earlier in the novel.
On its own, the first twist would have been interesting and fitting the tone of the novel. But why, then, did Josie have trophies of Brooke's and some unknown phone case?
As for the second point, even if Walter had a heart attack, Josie still had a hand in his death and also Erin's attempted murder.
The themes
I think for me, this book's main themes could be boiled down to this:
1. Two things can be true at the same time.
2. Just because someone was mistreated, it doesn't justify their shitty actions.
I saw many people arguing about the way the book supposedly excused and redeemed Walter from the fact he groomed Josie when she was a minor. I don't think that's the case. He remains the person who cheated on his wife, got together with his affair partner's 15-year-old daughter, and (potentially) covered up a murder. Just because his wife ended up being bonkers, doesn't mean he wasn't culpable. Just because he spent time with Erin, doesn't mean he wasn't culpable. Just because he dies, doesn't mean he is absolved.
The charater that pushes the notion of Josie "seducing" Walter was her mother, who is clearly a narcissist who felt resentful of her child's very existence.
And in her podcast conclusion, Alix doesn't excuse Walter either. She just reaffirms that Josie was a horrible person.
Nathan was another great example of those two themes. Yes, he loved his wife. Yes, his alcoholism was threatening his marriage. No, someone else's bad actions towards him don't excuse his actions towards his family.
Like I said, I enjoyed the complexity of the characters and the grey morality of it all. I just wish the ending wasn't so tacked on.