Reviews

All of This Is True: A Novel by Lygia Day Penaflor

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clovetra's review against another edition

2.0

this was um...... a book for sure!
i would like to note i gobbled this up simply because the format is so quick to read. most pages have like. 50 words max on them.
now, onto what i thought made this book.... abysmal.
first off - the plot twist. i could see it coming from what, 50 pages away? oh how easy it was to guess
too. this is marketed as a mystery novel, but ngl its not really? idk what it is, i'd say probably more contemporary/drama. but there was no mystery here.
three. all the characters are insufferable. miri is a brown-noser, penny is whiny, fatima is egotistical, soleil is boring & jonah is.... well. i probably feel like that was the author's intention but my god. when you have no redeemable characters in your novel it gets tiring.
four - this reads like a cheesy Y/A novel. like why do all characters sound like the same person? they all speak the same. im not kidding you when i say i got deja vu to my mystery piece i had to write in year 8 for school. like that's how mid this was. the inflections, the tone, the language. everything the characters speak with is so similar. and yes i know its because they're all mimicking fatima but its soooooo boring as a reader.
finally, what the fuck was that book within a book. its a neat idea but my god is it hard to equate brady = jonah, sunny = soleil. like obviously i knew that they were the same characters, but because the "book within a book" was in third person and the book itself is in first person i felt like i was having a stroke.
even though i just dunked on this book lowkey i did enjoy it tho. would i ever re-read? maybe if i was drunk. sober? god no. did i have a grand old time reading this? eeehhh debatable. i did however demolish this novel, so ive gotta give some props to the author. ive never seen a book executed this way, with so many different mediums and i lowkey loved it so much. its just the execution was a miss for me.

deedoodah_reads's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

✧ L E T M E S U M M A R I S E ✧

Something bad has happened to Jonah, but who to blame differs depending on who you ask. Miri wants the world to know that Fatima Ro isn’t as responsible as the media makes it seem. Soleil blames The Absolution of Brady Stevenson for what happened, while Penny just wants to tell the story of how it all unravelled. But who is to blame for what happened to Jonah, where did Fatima Ro go and just what’s with Jonah?

✧ W H A T W O R K E D W E L L ✧

All of This is True does a really good job of setting up the mystery from the beginning. I had so many questions that I wanted to be answered by the end of the book – the most important being who exactly is Jonah and why did he deserve to be assaulted and left for dead? The plot had me hooked because I just needed to know how things were going to unfold.

Set out in interviews and conversations, journal entries and excerpts of The Absolution of Brady Stevenson, All of This is True is a real page turner. I think the book took me around three hours to finish, making it a quick and easy read.

✧ W H A T N E E D E D W O R K ✧

Okay, so this is going to be a little bit long. Firstly, the characters were incredibly bland. I failed to connect with any of the three main girls and I struggled to form a decent opinion of Fatima Ro. The only things I took away from the characters were that they were shallow, egotistical and self-centred. As for Fatima Ro, she felt manipulative and arrogant, with absolutely zero qualms about using young teens who idolised her for her own benefit.

By the time I reached the end of All of This is True, there were a LOT of questions that were still unanswered and that really, really irritated me. The book just suddenly ended, with no real conclusion or summary. It was unsatisfying as I felt like there needed to be closure – either in the form of Jonah’s condition, Fatima’s whereabouts and thoughts or a reconciliation between the girls.

Unfortunately, the twists of the novel were predictable. I already knew how the book was going to end by the middle of the story. Sure, I finished the book because I wanted to see how it was going to be concluded, but this did not mean I was surprised at any point by the plot. That was disappointing, as it kind of ruins the mystery element of the novel.

✧ W H A T T H R E E W O R D S ✧

Predictable, basic but page-turning.

✧ T O C O N C L U D E ✧

Although the book had a lot of flaws, I did enjoy the short amount of time it took to read and it filled my reading need. Having been in a reading slump, the book has reignited my interest in fiction. However, there isn’t a lot of depth and the characters can be perceived as boring. All of This is True is a perfect quick read, but is not for anybody looking for a deep, mysterious read.

katyrc's review against another edition

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2.0

This was interesting but I don't really think it did what it came to do. It did not help that predicted the main plot twist almost instantly. However I am impressed by the author's use of format and how they intertwined perspectives; it's just a shame the content wasn't very substantial in the end.

booksandmagic's review

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adventurous challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Content Warnings

sofface's review against another edition

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5.0

Really enjoyed this book. An interesting story with just enough drama. The formate of it was fun and engaging, made the whole thing a lot more enjoyable.
Would love to read more from this author.

ashlit's review against another edition

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2.0

Great concept & so relatable but boring. I must admit I’m disappointed because this should be a story that I should devour, but it was very slow moving and lacked any excitement.

The characters were 1 dimensional, in my opinion. I wanted to know Fatima Ro, and not just through the eyes of the other characters.

Overall, great marketing on behalf of the publishers, to make me feel like I would be held in suspense & on the edge of my seat....but this was a regrettable read that lacked any excitement.

2 Stars purely for the potential story that could have been...