Review: The Truth About Alice – Jennifer Mathieu

Posted June 19, 2014 by Andi in Books, Review / 0 Comments

truthabout

Title: The Truth About Alice [Amazon]
Author: Jennifer Mathieu [website]
Publisher: Roaring Book Press
Genre: Contemporary
Source/Type: Netgalley/eARC
Stars: 2.5 of 5

Publisher Description:
Everyone has a lot to say about Alice Franklin, and it’s stopped mattering whether it’s true. The rumors started at a party when Alice supposedly had sex with two guys in one night. When school starts everyone almost forgets about Alice until one of those guys, super-popular Brandon, dies in a car wreck that was allegedly all Alice’s fault. Now the only friend she has is a boy who may be the only other person who knows the truth, but is too afraid to admit it. Told from the perspectives of popular girl Elaine, football star Josh, former outcast Kelsie, and shy genius Kurt, we see how everyone has a motive to bring – and keep – Alice down.

My Thoughts:
When I heard about The Truth About Alice I knew I really wanted to read it. It sounded like a great idea for a story about rumors in high school. I was looking forward to it a lot. Sadly after reading it I must admit it didn’t measure to my expectations. Parts of it just rubbed me the wrong way and something was just off for me and I’m not sure what that was. Basically it bummed me out that I felt the way I did when all was said and done.

The Truth About Alice is the story of Alice, a high school junior that had sex with two boys in the same night. At least that’s what the story is. Through the eyes of 4 different people we learn what really happened that night, what happened leading up to that night and how easy it is for rumors to spread. People that were once Alice’s friends end up being her enemies and people that were once invisible are the ones that stand by her.

I guess one of my first problems with this book was that it was told from all different perspectives and I’m not sure that worked for me for this kind of story. Each POV did mention Alice in some way but their chapters seems to be more about them and what they were going through and not about Alice. I mean 3 out of the 4 voices played a direct role in Alice’s shunning and I didn’t get a feel that they felt all that bad or even paid for being bullies to her. There were no consequences to their actions

Actually that was my biggest problem with the story. The bullying was never dealt with at all. Not by the school, not by Alice, not be Alice’s mom. It was pretty bad and it was used like a nonissue, background plot point. The things that were said about Alice and even done in regards to her on school property should have been dealt with and they weren’t and that message in the book really bothered me.

Honestly when all is said and done, I just didn’t get the point of the book. I didn’t feel anything was learned or accomplished or even finished. Everything just felt left open and I’m not a fan of that. I did like a couple of aspects of the story but all in all it was sadly a bust for me.

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