Publishing Date: April 14, 2015
Publisher: Penguin Canada
Pages: 320 pages
Young Adult Contemporary
The Premise: The story follows Normandy Pale and her two best friends, Dusk and Neil. Together they make the Truth Commission. They come together and ask the truth from people at their school to uncover what is really going out behind individuals that seem guarded. The truth will set you free is essentially the message of their attempts. Things however get complicated when the truth actually hits closer to home with Normandy, when her sister, Kiera, famous older sister returns home from school and begins acting strangely. Normandy must try to be an active member of the Truth Commission with her friends, but can she really handle the truth that comes from her sister Kiera?
My overall thoughts and review: When I first read the premise for this book, I didn't think anything of it. I was intrigued by it and I was lucky enough that one of my blogger friends shared an ARC copy that she received for the book. This book definitely surprised me. I found the structure of the text quite interesting, because it essentially is a rough draft of a project by Normandy. There is a forward, there are footnotes, there are afterwords, epigraphs, etc. It really feels as if the entire book is coming from Normandy and it feels like a book within a book. This was my first time reading something by Juby and I was pleasantly surprised. I found the pacing a bit slow in the beginning, but it really picked up half-way through. I loved what a strong voice Normandy had and how at some passages, the strong voice was still there, but her being so reserved shows the other side to her personality. The story definitely took a much darker turn that I anticipated and the ending, well, it was not exactly the happy-go-lucky cheery ending that you would expect, but that is okay. And I think ultimately, it was the best possible outcome for Normandy. Because at the end, it not only demonstrates what is right, and what happens when the truth comes out, but it demonstrates Normandy really coming to terms with the idea of the truth and what it means to her. It is quite a perplexing read and really gets you thinking about different identities, behaviours and the truth. I would definitely recommend this if you are looking for a YA contemporary novel that pushes the limits and explores something a little darker. In the words of Meredith Grey, it is definitely dark and twisty.
My rating of the book: ✮✮✮✮ (4/5 stars)
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Disclaimer: I received an Advanced Readers Copy of this book from a fellow book blogger. All opinions are my own.
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