I think I’ve begged everyone I know to read this book so I can talk about it with someone. It has the kind of ending that I just need to say something about, but obviously I can’t just go around talking about endings because I need to. This is just the kind of book you have to talk about. It’s the kind of book that makes you want to talk, to savor the things you take for granted, and to exercise the write to use your voice. All The Truth That’s In Me just completely affected me.
First of all – the cover is totally misleading. I went in fully expecting a contemporary story, but this is definitely a historical book. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when or where this story was set, but Judith is a part of a Puritanical society, which provides the perfect tension in her narrative. When the book opens, all we know is that Judith and her best friend disappeared years ago and then her friend shows up dead and Judith comes back with part of her tongue cut out. It really takes most of the book to discover what really happened in those two years, because Judith is so closed up she won’t even let us in until the truth seems to be drawn out of her.
It’s really the narrative that makes this book so incredible. It’s written as though Judith is telling her story to the boy she loves. She is able to only give away small pieces at the time, because even in her head, she’s protecting Lucas from certain things and keeping pieces for herself. This might be the most skilled and beautiful second person narrative I’ve ever read, because it doesn’t feel like second person – it feels like the reader is treated as a confidant. Even just the way she reveals pieces of her story is just perfect. It’s as if the more she gives up pieces of her reality, the more real and in the world she becomes.
Judith addresses her story to Lucas and I think it’s so wonderful how their stories wind around one another, in both ways we can easily see and ways that have to be revealed. They are really entwined and I love that. He’s the boy she grew up playing with and the boy she fell in love with before she disappeared. And there’s a sharp pain hearing her talk like she’ll always love him even if she can’t ever have him. This girl has been living a hard life, but there’s something so devastating about the fact that she just can’t be with the one person she loves more than anyone else.
As a heroine, Judith is pretty incredible. She grows so much in these pages. And really her big accomplishment is gaining her own power back. She manages to rebuild relationships and begin to communicate again, which is all great – but it’s the way she begins to see herself as worthy and strong that’s really the wonder in her character. And she’s written in this brilliant way that almost forces you into her shoes and therefore leaves you with the urgency of using your own voice or doing something as simple as letting someone know what you need because we have that power and we don’t always use it.
I can’t speak highly enough about this book. It’s something special and totally refreshing. I was highlighting passages left and right because the words are just so beautiful. I just want the world to read this book (I even gave away a signed copy to a friend so she’d read it). I just have the feeling Judith and her story will stay with me for a long time. This is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year.
