All the Truth That's in Me

by Julie Berry

Reminiscent of THE CRUCIBLE and THE SCARLET LETTER, this startlingly brilliant book draws you into the claustrophic world that Judith occupies, where those in a small community are quick to judge - and usually wrongly. Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. two years later, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by her friends and family.Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to her childhood friend, Lucas. He is the boy who has owned her heart for as long as she can remember - even if he doesn't know it.But when Roswell Station is attacked, long-buried secrets come to light, and Judith is forced to choose - to continue living in silence, or recover her voice, even if it means changing her world, and the lives around her, forever.told in a voice that is achingly raw and intimate, this remarkably original novel will haunt and stay with you. It will fill you with Judith's passion and longing, and its mysteries will keep you feverishly turning the pages until the very last one.Ages: 12+'Every now and then, a novel comes along with such an original voice that readers slow down to savor the poetic prose. this is such a story. A tale of uncommon elegance, power and originality.'KIRKUS StARRED REVIEW

• ISBN10: 060636191X
• ISBN13: 9780606361910
• Publish Date: 19 August 2014 (first published 1 September 2013)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 6 April 2021
• Imprint: Turtleback Books
• Edition: Bound for Schools & Libraries ed.
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 304
• Language: English

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

My first Berry book was The Passion of Dolssa. I was so shocked by how much I enjoyed it, that I had to check out more of her work. I don't know what it is about Berry's writing, but she once again sucked me into a story, that is not my type of story.

All the Truth That's in Me is set in a colonial town. The impression I get is that it is a Puritan settlement. For some reason, I love learning about how people live in other places or how they lived in other times. I love the contrast to how we live now, and Berry does a great job bringing us back to that time period.

This story centers around Judith. At age 14, she is kidnapped. She is then returned to the town 2 years later, mutilated without the ability to communicate. I loved the way the story unfolded. Pieces of the story are revealed, and you really don't know the whole story until the end. I sort of liked how Berry kept me on my toes, and kept me guessing.

Once again, the author gave me this incredible female character, who I just fell in love with. I knew I really latched onto Judith, when I shed tears of sadness, fear, and frustration of her. She had suffered so much, and continued to suffer after her return. The injustice of how she was treated like a criminal when she was kidnapped and mutilated. The pain she suffered having to hide her affection for her beloved. The way she had to struggle to communicate with those around her. The way Judith was able to mine the courage to keep going, and to battle to get her voice back, and thus, get her life back. That was really powerful for me.

I cannot fail to mention the voice talent for this audiobook. She was fantastic. The emotion was perfect.

I have to thank Berry for another wonderful and unique contribution to the YA world.

[readingwithwrin]

"Will I help him make something of his life? Who will help me? Why does everyone presume that I, as damaged merchandise, forfeit any claim to happiness?
That I expect nothing, have no ambitions or longings of my own? When was it agreed that my lot would be to gladly serve as a prop and a crutch for others who are whole?"


I'm not really sure how to review this book to be honest. At first I really struggled to get into it since it was written in second person almost as a note or diary format. But after awhile I really started liking this writing and saw why it worked so well for this story. The setting appears to be colonial puritan America. Which makes it have strong religious beliefs that make the townspeople and her own family act certain ways towards her due to what they believed happened to her.

We follow Judith who was kidnapped as a young child and was returned with her tongue having been cut off. In the time she was gone a tragedy happened to her family leaving her mother cold towards her and her brother was exactly as he had been before she was taken.
With her mother not wanting her to talk at all due to the sounds it made when she did attempt, Judith is pretty much cut off from the rest of the world besides people being able to read her facial expressions and her nodding her head yes or no. Which causes people to just assume what had happened to her.
Causing her to be seen as an outcast that the rest of the townspeople should not be around.
As the story unfolds we get to slowly know what happened to Judith and what helped her get through it. Which was her love for a boy named Lucas. While her love for Lucas did get quite obsessive at times it was also understandable since she was always having to live in her head pretty much, and always having one-sided conversations with herself.

While this book may have been set in colonial times it also brought up a lot of issues that we have going on today still. Which showed me while we may have changed a lot over the years as a society we still have a lot more to change. Purity was a big thing in this book and it also showed how people tend to act once they assume that you've done certain things.

As for the mystery part of the story and why she was kidnapped and who killed her best friend. I was completely wrong. I was assuming it was someone else the whole time and when it was finally revealed I was shocked.

Throughout the whole story I was rooting for Judith to be able to get the confidence to talk, so that she could tell the townspeople what really happened to her, and that she was really smart, and that she knew a lot of things.

Overall I really did enjoy this book and hope to read more of Julie Berry's books in the future.


See more reviews like this on my blog

[anne]

This is well written, at least 4 stars, I am just not so keen on the story. it is about a secrets and social mores, that may be true, and we should be aware of, I just do not enjoy them, even though that is the point.

This book will make someone pause and consider what they might do in someone else's situation. Judith cannot speak. But she wasn't always this way and the past that took her voice is heavy within her. With puritan-like neighbors, she is considered cursed and judged accordingly. She may be mute but she is as sharp as a whip and longs for love just as any other. To me, this was not just a story, but a work of art. Julie Berry successfully offers historical fiction, a smidgen of romance, a tad of mystery and a dose of authentic drama, offering a bit of everything to the vast majority of readers, all in second person narrative nonetheless! There are aspects of this book that are risky in regards to the standards of literature, but it works. And it's good.

[melanchalina]

Текст книги на русском языке предоставлен издательством АСТ, редакцией Mainstream.

Я получила эту книгу совершенно случайно, и честно говоря, изначально ее не планировала читать. Но если есть возможность, то почему бы и нет?

Это очень необычная книга. Нетипичная и ярко выделяется на фоне тех книг, что я обычно читаю. Для начала, время, когда в книге разворачиваются события в книге – НЕ современность. Об этом не говорится ни разу прямо, но это отчетливо понятно по событиям, атмосфере и мелочах. Место действия – маленькое поселение, городок, в котором живет главная героиня Джудит. Джудит – изгой. Два года назад она и ее лучшая подруга без вести пропали. Лотти вскоре нашли мертвой, а Джудит вернулась лишь спустя два года – искалеченная, молчаливая. Весь город хочет знать, что произошло с Джудит, но она не может рассказать. Мальчик которого она любила, больше вне ее досягаемости. Девушка становится изгоем, от нее все отвернулись, даже родная мать. Но в какой то мере, все это дарит героине свободу. Невидимость. Незаметность. Никто не обратит свое внимание на призрака. Ее положение позволяет видеть все в ясном и четком свете, тогда как остальные живут в тумане и обмане. Но даже не смотря на свое положение, особзнавая свою «испорченность», Джудит не может отказаться от милого мальчика в которого была влюблена столько, сколько себя помнит. Ради Лукаса она готова на все. Стать еще большим изгоем, пожертвовать остатками своей свободы. Или…. Рассказать правду.

Очаровательная и мучительная книга одновременно. Страшная и прекрасная. Автору очень удалось передать атмосферность и глубину мира того времени. Книга яркая и мрачная одновременно. Полная контрастов – если быть точнее, очень эмоциональная. К одному из плюсов отнесу стиль автора. Обычно, книги от первого лица пишутся одинаково, например, говоря про героя девушки в других книгах говорят «он подошел ко мне; он посмотрел на меня», здесь же героиня мысленно всегда обращается к герою напрямую, книга похожа на повествование в дневнике. «Ты посмотрел на меня», «Ты сказал мне» - все в таком плане. Очень нетипично. И еще одно достоинство – объем, книга очень маленькая, при свободном времени два-три часа и все прочитано.

С удовольствием подожду и оценю другие работы автора.

Моя оценка: 8/10