The truth about Alice by Jennifer Mathieu
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CarmenALibrarian
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The truth about Alice by Jennifer Mathieu
Loved this book. It's a young adult book geared more towards high school students. However, that being said I have had many junior high (7th and 8th) students read it and enjoy it as well.
With the hot topic of bullying in many schools this book address the issue with bullying in the essence of rumors. The high school students are not the only ones participating in the bullying as adult members of this small town are also voicing opinions as well.
I found myself not only irritated with the rumor participants but with Alice as well. Any one of these characters could have set the record straight......no one will to take a chance and take an independent stand. Wonderful teaching moment, but when you get wrapped up in a book emotions always take sides.
With the hot topic of bullying in many schools this book address the issue with bullying in the essence of rumors. The high school students are not the only ones participating in the bullying as adult members of this small town are also voicing opinions as well.
I found myself not only irritated with the rumor participants but with Alice as well. Any one of these characters could have set the record straight......no one will to take a chance and take an independent stand. Wonderful teaching moment, but when you get wrapped up in a book emotions always take sides.
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rls1226
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- Reviewer Page: onlinebookclub.org/reviews/by-rls1226.html
It seems I’ve been blessed with quick, easy reads lately. The Truth About Alice is filled with clichés and stereotypes, yet somehow it works beautifully. Jennifer Mathieu packed just the right amount of story into the low page count and seemingly, incredibly, made every single word count. And it’s completely intoxicating.
Told in the alternating points of view of four characters (Elaine, Josh, Kelsie, and Kurt), each one tells just enough of the story, of how the rumors morphed, to keep you interested. As they carefully reveal this information, they each begin to air their own dirty laundry, which ultimately leads to their own roles in the rumor mill. Up until the last chapter, Alice is only seen in the eyes of these four characters and doesn’t get her own chapter until the very end. We all know how rumors spread rapid like fire and take on a life of their own. They may begin with a shred of truth at times but that truth becomes distorted, exaggerated, and completely untrue once it reaches its height. And yet we all, or most of us anyway (especially when we're young), buy into it. We drink up the Kool-Aid because it tastes good at first, being in on the juicy gossip. But when, IF, you stop to truly think about that gossip and realize how much it’s affecting the person on the other end, it becomes bitter tasting and just plain wrong. That’s what this novel is about. That and the fear of not being popular. The fear of being kicked to the curb. The fear of being associated with someone who’s not popular. The fear of someone finding out your dirty laundry so you stick it to someone else first. Fear.
It’s like when we read The Diary of Anne Frank in seventh grade, and I had the sneaking suspicion that I would have been a Nazi back then because I wouldn’t have had the guts to be anything else. Because I would have been too scared to not go along with the majority.
As one lie leads to another lie to another and so on, the “truth” about Alice becomes a way for others to hide and lie about their own issues. And so many people do just that, particularly the four main voices. Each has their own role in the rumor, adding to its mass as it rolls into a huge jumble of chaos, and the one person who gets the brunt of it all is Alice (that doesn’t mean that none of the others feel bad because they do but they don’t bear the ridicule of an entire school). The novel shows how she loses friends (Kelsie was one of her best friends but faded away once her newfound popularity began to fall into jeopardy), becomes an outcast, and loses trust in people in general. And it’s really, amazingly well done. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this nearly as much as I did. I was completely consumed by the story and the characters. With four POV’s, this could’ve seriously been lacking in characterization but it’s not. At all. Not one little bit. There was so much emotion, personality, and information provided for each character that, as I said above, it all mattered and it never once felt overwhelming.
There’s quite an enormous difference between a person like me, who enjoys eating alone, and a person like Alice Franklin, who has had isolation placed upon her as a mark of shame.
It begins with the death of Brandon, basically the most popular guy in the school; the football star, the hot guy, etc. etc. etc. Prior to his death, he starts by telling people that Alice slept with both him and another guy at a party on the same night, in the same hour. And thus, the snowball begins. When Brandon dies in a car accident a short while later and Josh, who was also in the car, tells everyone that he died because Alice was distracting him with harassing text messages, his death suddenly becomes all her fault. It’s insane but also a completely plausible storyline. As sad as it is to admit, I could totally see this happening in a high school setting.
I miss her and I know it’s a totally hypocritical, pathetic thing to say. Given everything I’ve done to her and everything I’ll probably still do. And all just to sit at the good table in the cafeteria.
I honestly and truly don’t think that I have a single thing to complain about, which is rare. While the ending wasn’t really wrapped up, I was completely fine with it. This is a case of an ending where I don’t mind a lot of loose strings left untied because it feels like a true story. And life certainly isn’t tied up nice and neat after something like this occurs.
I do want to say that there is one thing I’ve learned about people: they don’t get that mean and nasty overnight. It’s not human nature. If you give people enough time, eventually they’ll do the most heartbreaking stuff in the world.
I very highly recommend this novel. Mathieu poured the hearts of many characters into these pages and they, as well as this storyline, deserve as much attention as possible.
Received a digital ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, via Netgalley.
Told in the alternating points of view of four characters (Elaine, Josh, Kelsie, and Kurt), each one tells just enough of the story, of how the rumors morphed, to keep you interested. As they carefully reveal this information, they each begin to air their own dirty laundry, which ultimately leads to their own roles in the rumor mill. Up until the last chapter, Alice is only seen in the eyes of these four characters and doesn’t get her own chapter until the very end. We all know how rumors spread rapid like fire and take on a life of their own. They may begin with a shred of truth at times but that truth becomes distorted, exaggerated, and completely untrue once it reaches its height. And yet we all, or most of us anyway (especially when we're young), buy into it. We drink up the Kool-Aid because it tastes good at first, being in on the juicy gossip. But when, IF, you stop to truly think about that gossip and realize how much it’s affecting the person on the other end, it becomes bitter tasting and just plain wrong. That’s what this novel is about. That and the fear of not being popular. The fear of being kicked to the curb. The fear of being associated with someone who’s not popular. The fear of someone finding out your dirty laundry so you stick it to someone else first. Fear.
It’s like when we read The Diary of Anne Frank in seventh grade, and I had the sneaking suspicion that I would have been a Nazi back then because I wouldn’t have had the guts to be anything else. Because I would have been too scared to not go along with the majority.
As one lie leads to another lie to another and so on, the “truth” about Alice becomes a way for others to hide and lie about their own issues. And so many people do just that, particularly the four main voices. Each has their own role in the rumor, adding to its mass as it rolls into a huge jumble of chaos, and the one person who gets the brunt of it all is Alice (that doesn’t mean that none of the others feel bad because they do but they don’t bear the ridicule of an entire school). The novel shows how she loses friends (Kelsie was one of her best friends but faded away once her newfound popularity began to fall into jeopardy), becomes an outcast, and loses trust in people in general. And it’s really, amazingly well done. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this nearly as much as I did. I was completely consumed by the story and the characters. With four POV’s, this could’ve seriously been lacking in characterization but it’s not. At all. Not one little bit. There was so much emotion, personality, and information provided for each character that, as I said above, it all mattered and it never once felt overwhelming.
There’s quite an enormous difference between a person like me, who enjoys eating alone, and a person like Alice Franklin, who has had isolation placed upon her as a mark of shame.
It begins with the death of Brandon, basically the most popular guy in the school; the football star, the hot guy, etc. etc. etc. Prior to his death, he starts by telling people that Alice slept with both him and another guy at a party on the same night, in the same hour. And thus, the snowball begins. When Brandon dies in a car accident a short while later and Josh, who was also in the car, tells everyone that he died because Alice was distracting him with harassing text messages, his death suddenly becomes all her fault. It’s insane but also a completely plausible storyline. As sad as it is to admit, I could totally see this happening in a high school setting.
I miss her and I know it’s a totally hypocritical, pathetic thing to say. Given everything I’ve done to her and everything I’ll probably still do. And all just to sit at the good table in the cafeteria.
I honestly and truly don’t think that I have a single thing to complain about, which is rare. While the ending wasn’t really wrapped up, I was completely fine with it. This is a case of an ending where I don’t mind a lot of loose strings left untied because it feels like a true story. And life certainly isn’t tied up nice and neat after something like this occurs.
I do want to say that there is one thing I’ve learned about people: they don’t get that mean and nasty overnight. It’s not human nature. If you give people enough time, eventually they’ll do the most heartbreaking stuff in the world.
I very highly recommend this novel. Mathieu poured the hearts of many characters into these pages and they, as well as this storyline, deserve as much attention as possible.
Received a digital ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, via Netgalley.
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jenn17
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The Truth about Alice was a very interesting book. Reading it in high school I could definitely relate to gossip and rumors. My favorite part of this book was the shifting points of view. It was different to have a few changing points of view and then the truth revealed by Alice herself at the end. I feel that this book targeted the high school audience and really conveyed messages well.
