The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu
How much did it hurt? It was like a million paper cuts on my heart.
The Truth About Alice wasn't an easy read. It tackled different sensitive social issues, such as abortion, teenage drinking and drunk driving, sexuality, slut shaming, and the effects of spreading false rumors. My initial rating was 2 stars. I know! A lot of book bloggers gave this a 4 or 5, but I had issues. I did like the multiple POVs, and even though they all talked about their perceptions of Alice, my major issue was my total disconnection towards her. When it was finally her turn to talk, I didn't even feel her pain. I even questioned myself - Am I human? Why isn't my heart going out for her? What is wrong with me?! In the story, we hear four different voices : Elaine, Kelsie, Josh, and Kurt. Among the four, my least favorite is Elaine. She sounded like a stuck-up bitch, the kind of person who starts hating on someone, and it becomes a trend.
It's weird how things can just get out of control sometimes. And it's weird how, like, when it's your job to be a popular bitch you just feel compelled to keep doing it sometimes. That sounds so lame and like a total excuse, I get it. But it is what it is. - Elaine
...but what Kelsie did was the worst. She was the best friend of Alice. If she is my best friend, I expect her to be the first one to trust and understand me, but in this story, it was the opposite. She was also one of those people who spread rumors about Alice. I understand her dilemma. She didn't want to be a wallflower anymore, however, I don't think I could ever push my best friend away just to stay popular. But there was a part of the story that made my heart go out to her. The Really Awful Stuff that happened was horrible. I can't even wrap my mind around how she was able move on and be sort of normal after that happened. It wasn't all about Alice, though. Josh was clearly struggling about his sexual identity in this book. I wish the author expounded further, although there were a lot of bits and pieces of his struggles, I still wished they were much clearer. I take it more people would be able to relate to his personal dilemma. He also knows what really happened to Brandon when they had the accident. And I also wished that the truth about this was revealed.
How could there be a heaven for me and not for every little fly I swat or squirrel I've accidentally run over? - Josh
Kurt is my favorite voice among the four. In a way, he was an outcast. He's the nerd who kept to himself, but I take it that it was also by choice. He liked that he had that kind of freedom. No one bothered him. But just like any other high school guy, he is attracted to someone. This someone is Alice. When an opportunity to be close to her arose, he took it. They became friends in the process, but he holds a secret, the truth. These voices reminded me of the people that I have met in high school. I found Kurt, Elaine, and Josh to be the most relatable. I've had friends like them. I also knew some Kelsies and Alices. Even I have experienced being talked about behind my back. My uncle asked my mom if I was pregnant. LIKE, OMG, I was 14! Of course, it wasn't true, and my mom knew that, and told my uncle that it's just a bad rumor. (My cousin goes to the same school, so my cousin told my uncle!) When my mom told me about it, we both laughed! This is definitely a compelling read. We witness how a false rumor can slowly ruin a person's life. The after effects can be so devastating. We hear it from the news all the time. There were others who took their own lives because of extreme bullying, and in Alice's case, the whole town was basically against her. Where were the adults? The Truth About Alice pushes us to think and reflect on our actions. Is our social standing more important than telling the truth? When you hear a rumor, do you believe it right away, or do you try to find out if it's true? And if you were bullied and is the constant subject of false rumors, how do you go on with your every day life? What kind of struggles does one have in order to survive the repercussions of such rumors? Although the ending was quite satisfactory, the book didn't blow me away. I still think that this is an important story to read, and if you have the time, pick this up! I received this book from Roaring Brook Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
