The Truth about Alice

by Jennifer Mathieu

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

Teenagers are so mean! I already knew this, but The Truth About Alice just confirmed it. A beloved football player has died, and everyone blames Alice. Why? Because she slept with him and another guy at a party two weeks prior. Yep, teenager logic, gotta love it. Instead of Alice explaining herself, we get four different POVs of her classmates with varying positions on the scale of evil. The story is a mix of lies, lies perceived as truth, and the truth. Not just about Alice, but about each of these narrators.

Elaine was the hostess of the party where Alice allegedly had sex with two boys, and she's the on-off again girlfriend of Brandon, who died. She's had some kind of grudge against Alice for years, so she's quick to believe the rumors. Kelsie was Alice's best friend, but she's desperate to hold on to her popularity, so of course she ditches her. I also think she was the worst of them all, since she was suppose to be Alice's friend, but is practically the ringleader. Josh was Brandon's best friend, and the one who planted the seed that Alice was to blame for his death. Finally, there's Kurt. I adored him. He's the only one who talks to Alice, since he's a social outcast, too.

The Truth About Alice was kind of painful to read, but not in a bad way. Three of the four narrators are just awful people doing awful things for no reason. Well, they have their reasons, but they aren't good ones. They also each have their own secrets, which are kept hidden since everyone is too busy talking about Alice. They owe her in a way! I just couldn't believe some of things they said.

What I liked best about The Truth About Alice was that Alice wasn't entirely innocent. She's in no way to blame for the rumors about her, or for the death of her classmate. What I mean is that she's not some perfect angel who has never done anything bad and now has horrible things spread about her. She's done some stuff, she's lied, she's hurt people for no good reason. Basically, she felt like a real person to me, even if we were only viewing her through others' eyes. Despite the things that she's done, that the others use for justification, I felt for her.

I really liked The Truth About Alice. It's not a pleasant book, but it is a good one. Whoever made up that saying that words can never hurt you was a liar. Words hurt, whether we mean them to or not.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.