Official Review: One true story by Nicholas Guy
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Official Review: One true story by Nicholas Guy
[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "One true story" by Nicholas Guy.]
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Vee has landed in Paradise, a forest where she, and other chosen ones, can live without worries – except for her best friend, Nat. However, if Vee decides to leave Paradise and choose her best friend instead, the monster she’d known her whole life may very well kill her.
One True Story by Nicholas Guy is a novella depicting the story of various characters with the use of first-person narration. The theme of this book revolves around child abuse, sexual and otherwise, and glimpses of a happy ending some people might get despite their dark beginning. Of course, some of them do get their happily ever after – even if it makes no sense at all.
Vee has been a victim of abuse ever since she was a child, and so were the others. They somehow they landed in Paradise, where they can escape their torturers and harsh reality. However, Vee’s best friend, Nat, was not chosen for Paradise, no matter how much Vee wants her to be. Nonetheless, Vee wasn’t about to give Nat up without a fight.
I would like to elaborate on the plot and characters, but One True Story is often more confusing than not. For one, the story focuses on too many characters – Vee, Nel, Adam, Nat, Dr, Led, Nick, and others whom I’ve missed – for a novella. With the exception of Vee, I couldn’t know who the other main characters were. While there’s quite a bit of background for each character, there was hardly room for development, let alone any justification for their change in attitudes or world views. As it was, there was no building of the setting before I was thrown into Paradise without knowing the how, when and why – there was no explanation; I had to scavenge pieces of information throughout the book and fit the pieces together myself.
It was also very hard to feel any attachment to the characters. They had no last names, and their first names just sound like the author couldn’t be bothered to name them properly. The author is also partial to short sentences, which resulted in the lack of variation in respect of the length of sentences. For example: “One blade of grass. Two blades. Three blades. Four. I started counting the blades of the grass the second Nel left me. To take my mind off what was going to happen. To get through the waiting. The waiting. It was worse than the thing itself.”
It went on with little to no change in the structure. It made reading the story very frustrating. I also found it difficult to comprehend the characters. One True Story was a whirlwind of running, confrontation, love and confusion – mostly just confusion. While the happy ending might be a redeeming point of this book, the journey to reach there did not make it worthwhile.
Therefore, I rate One True Story 1 out of 4 stars and would not recommend it. The story was really confusing, and was, at best, disturbing. I also advise the author to give a little warning about the abuse, especially since most of it was of a sexual nature. I understand that the author might not want to give any spoilers at all, but One True Story might end up a trigger for unsuspecting readers.
***
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One True Story by Nicholas Guy is a novella depicting the story of various characters with the use of first-person narration. The theme of this book revolves around child abuse, sexual and otherwise, and glimpses of a happy ending some people might get despite their dark beginning. Of course, some of them do get their happily ever after – even if it makes no sense at all.
Vee has been a victim of abuse ever since she was a child, and so were the others. They somehow they landed in Paradise, where they can escape their torturers and harsh reality. However, Vee’s best friend, Nat, was not chosen for Paradise, no matter how much Vee wants her to be. Nonetheless, Vee wasn’t about to give Nat up without a fight.
I would like to elaborate on the plot and characters, but One True Story is often more confusing than not. For one, the story focuses on too many characters – Vee, Nel, Adam, Nat, Dr, Led, Nick, and others whom I’ve missed – for a novella. With the exception of Vee, I couldn’t know who the other main characters were. While there’s quite a bit of background for each character, there was hardly room for development, let alone any justification for their change in attitudes or world views. As it was, there was no building of the setting before I was thrown into Paradise without knowing the how, when and why – there was no explanation; I had to scavenge pieces of information throughout the book and fit the pieces together myself.
It was also very hard to feel any attachment to the characters. They had no last names, and their first names just sound like the author couldn’t be bothered to name them properly. The author is also partial to short sentences, which resulted in the lack of variation in respect of the length of sentences. For example: “One blade of grass. Two blades. Three blades. Four. I started counting the blades of the grass the second Nel left me. To take my mind off what was going to happen. To get through the waiting. The waiting. It was worse than the thing itself.”
It went on with little to no change in the structure. It made reading the story very frustrating. I also found it difficult to comprehend the characters. One True Story was a whirlwind of running, confrontation, love and confusion – mostly just confusion. While the happy ending might be a redeeming point of this book, the journey to reach there did not make it worthwhile.
Therefore, I rate One True Story 1 out of 4 stars and would not recommend it. The story was really confusing, and was, at best, disturbing. I also advise the author to give a little warning about the abuse, especially since most of it was of a sexual nature. I understand that the author might not want to give any spoilers at all, but One True Story might end up a trigger for unsuspecting readers.
***
Buy "One true story" on Amazon
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Latest Review: "Torn Between" by Karen A Miles
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Nicholasguy
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Thanks for taking the time to review my novella. Your criticism was very constructive and I appreciate it.
