Title: The Truth According to Us
Author: Annie Barrows
Published: June 9, 2015 by Dial Press
Pages: 486
Source: Publisher at BEA
Rating: 3.5/5
Goodreads
In the summer of 1938, Layla Beck’s father, a United States senator, cuts off her allowance and demands that she find employment on the Federal Writers’ Project, a New Deal jobs program. Within days, Layla finds herself far from her accustomed social whirl, assigned to cover the history of the remote mill town of Macedonia, West Virginia, and destined, in her opinion, to go completely mad with boredom. But once she secures a room in the home of the unconventional Romeyn family, she is drawn into their complex world and soon discovers that the truth of the town is entangled in the thorny past of the Romeyn dynasty.
At the Romeyn house, twelve-year-old Willa is desperate to learn everything in her quest to acquire her favorite virtues of ferocity and devotion—a search that leads her into a thicket of mysteries, including the questionable business that occupies her charismatic father and the reason her adored aunt Jottie remains unmarried. Layla’s arrival strikes a match to the family veneer, bringing to light buried secrets that will tell a new tale about the Romeyns. As Willa peels back the layers of her family’s past, and Layla delves deeper into town legend, everyone involved is transformed—and their personal histories completely rewritten.
My review:
There were good points and bad points regarding this book. I think the good outweighed the bad, but some parts were a bit disappointing. Let's talk about the things I liked. The setting descriptions were lovely, I thought the main characters were well developed, and the plot was interesting. I liked that we got snippets of letters written to and from Layla, and there were excerpts of her history of Macedonia writing pieces. I enjoyed the mystery associated with Willa's father, and this kept me intrigued throughout the book. What I wasn't as enamored with was the length of the book. It took a long time to get into the meat of the story, and I think this may result in some readers giving up too soon. The writing was a little hard to follow as it switched between past and present, first person and third person.......all within the same chapter! As the novel progressed I got used to the format, but it was a bit of a mess in the beginning.
All in all I can say that I did enjoy this story, and I would recommend it to others with the stamina to continue past the kind of shaky start.
I wish an editor had taken a hatchet to this one! I think it had the makings of a really great small town life story and I did enjoy parts of it, but it just dragged so much in between the good stuff. I ended up DNFing it at 60%.
Agree, it was slow going in parts. It did pick up a bit at the end. Overall I'm glad I stuck with it, but I certainly understand why many didn't.
Hmm so I am not so sure. I think I will keep this one in my long range reading possibilities. Thanks for this honest and helpful review.
It's certainly not a bad book, just not necessarily one I would put at the top of my reading list.
Thank you for this. I was wondering how it would be since she did not have a co-author on it. It makes me glad I passed on it, and now I know not to bother in the future unless I totally run out of things to read.
It wasn't a bad story, but just not something you will fly through. I think perhaps better editing could have made it much better.