kwashington's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
maryam162424's review against another edition
5.0
June 13, 2020:
Oh I loved this book as much as I did the first time!!! It literally has all the components I love about books. A strong female character, mystery, suspense, love! Oh, Judith's voice is so compelling and compassionate that honestly, I rooted for her during the whole book. The fact that it was historical fiction was also a bonus because I love to see women rise above society's perception of them. The second person POV just made the whole book seem much more intimate. It seemed like she was writing all her thoughts and worries TO Lucas, who I love love love!
The writing is beautiful, characterization is beautiful, and the mystery really was amazing! And this book really did touch on an important theme that a woman's word is just as strong and valid as a man's. You can see it very often nowadays that women's voices are silenced or lowered over the voices of men. I have seen it in my own culture. Judith's courage to speak up of the truth really was inspiring and I hope that whoever does read this book, learns that their voice is important too, their words are valuable.
CAN'T WAIT TO REREAD IT AGAIN!!!
Oh I loved this book as much as I did the first time!!! It literally has all the components I love about books. A strong female character, mystery, suspense, love! Oh, Judith's voice is so compelling and compassionate that honestly, I rooted for her during the whole book. The fact that it was historical fiction was also a bonus because I love to see women rise above society's perception of them. The second person POV just made the whole book seem much more intimate. It seemed like she was writing all her thoughts and worries TO Lucas, who I love love love!
The writing is beautiful, characterization is beautiful, and the mystery really was amazing! And this book really did touch on an important theme that a woman's word is just as strong and valid as a man's. You can see it very often nowadays that women's voices are silenced or lowered over the voices of men. I have seen it in my own culture. Judith's courage to speak up of the truth really was inspiring and I hope that whoever does read this book, learns that their voice is important too, their words are valuable.
CAN'T WAIT TO REREAD IT AGAIN!!!
bookladysreviews's review against another edition
2.0
I've had my eye on this book for a while and truth be told, I was immensely disappointed. I don't want to sound harsh, but because it's been a while since I've disliked a book so much, I'm going to be completely honest here. No offense of course, to anyone who has read and enjoyed this book!
First of all, the narrative was interesting enough, but something about it bugged me. A lot! I couldn't concentrate on the story and it took me almost a week to finish this book. There were so many slow parts that, by the end of the book I seriously lost count. I literally forced my self to finish the book because I wanted to form a complete opinion on the matter. I also kept telling myself that it might get better, but it didn't.
On a more positive note, the plot was fascinating but unfortunately, it wasn't able to overshadow everything else that was going on with this book. Or should I say, wasn't going on. As you have probably figured out by now, I wasn't a big fan of the writing style and I felt like there were some major plot holes that I couldn't, for the life of me, let go. In other words, I found it lacking in a lot of things. Another one being that I didn't like the characters. At all! I tried so so hard to connect with them and sympathize but, I just couldn't.
Second and maybe most important of all, I couldn't understand what was happening half the time. It jumped from one thing to the next without really explaining the transition, if I must call it something and the whole thing just felt rushed. Maybe that was the intention of the author but still. It wasn't enjoyable.
To conclude this, not so positive review, I have to say that as a reader, I expected more from a book that has such a meaningful and full of depth synopsis. Everything is not what it seems after all. It had a pretty interesting foundation as a story and I feel like, if it had been handled differently, it would have been so much better. What I mean by that you might be wondering. If the flow was smoother and the author did a better job at explaining the story and transitioning from one thing to the next without being confusing and disorienting, then All the Truth That's In Me would have been a great read!
cuddlesome's review against another edition
4.0
Warning for brief discussion of mutilation and sexual assault. There is also death and a pretty gruesome discussion of an accidental gunshot to the foot in this.
Ahhhhghh I read the first two thirds of this book thinking it would be a 5 but it fell apart a little by the end. Still really liked it though and decided on a 4 over a 3 but with some caveats.
Pros:
A selectively mute main character as a POV character. I feel like that isn’t seen very often. She has her tongue partly cut out prior to the events of the book and spends some time without speaking at all then later working with her brother and friend to relearn how to do it with her disability.
I enjoy a weird sub genre of “suspenseful slice of life out on the farm”-type stories. There’s a lot of quiet intimacy in visiting with her horse and cow and doing chores in between worrying about mysterious/scary happenings.
This was written in present tense and dipped into second person POV at times, which I personally enjoy.
A lot of emphasis on themes about uneasy relationships in small towns and with family in a way that was really interesting. It dipped its toes into “sins of the father” and mother, for that matter.
Cons:
Excess clarification that despite heavily, heavily implying it for 90% of the book that the main character’s kidnapper did not rape her. Because this is olden times she would have been “ruined” if he had and I was side-eyeing it and trying to understand if I as a reader was supposed to agree with that ludicrous idea. For what it’s worth, her love interest, at least, doesn’t blame her/see her as lesser for that.
Speaking of olden times, could have been a tiny bit clearer about the setting; it wasn’t immediately apparent that it takes place in American colonial times. I spent a little while operating under the assumption these were present-day Amish people or even some sort of dystopia.
Everything felt like it wrapped up a tiny bit too neatly at the end; it was VERY happy and there was a clear bad guy and everything was fine. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad all was well, but it came together pretty quickly. My particular copy is an ARC, I wonder if the final version was any different.
Also, side note, there’s a character named Goody Pruett and every time she showed up I thought of that meme, you know the one—“I saw Goody Proctor with the devil.”
Overall liked it despite its flaws and am putting it on my favorites shelf and will probably reread it.
Ahhhhghh I read the first two thirds of this book thinking it would be a 5 but it fell apart a little by the end. Still really liked it though and decided on a 4 over a 3 but with some caveats.
Pros:
A selectively mute main character as a POV character. I feel like that isn’t seen very often. She has her tongue partly cut out prior to the events of the book and spends some time without speaking at all then later working with her brother and friend to relearn how to do it with her disability.
I enjoy a weird sub genre of “suspenseful slice of life out on the farm”-type stories. There’s a lot of quiet intimacy in visiting with her horse and cow and doing chores in between worrying about mysterious/scary happenings.
This was written in present tense and dipped into second person POV at times, which I personally enjoy.
A lot of emphasis on themes about uneasy relationships in small towns and with family in a way that was really interesting. It dipped its toes into “sins of the father” and mother, for that matter.
Cons:
Excess clarification that despite heavily, heavily implying it for 90% of the book that the main character’s kidnapper did not rape her. Because this is olden times she would have been “ruined” if he had and I was side-eyeing it and trying to understand if I as a reader was supposed to agree with that ludicrous idea. For what it’s worth, her love interest, at least, doesn’t blame her/see her as lesser for that.
Speaking of olden times, could have been a tiny bit clearer about the setting; it wasn’t immediately apparent that it takes place in American colonial times. I spent a little while operating under the assumption these were present-day Amish people or even some sort of dystopia.
Everything felt like it wrapped up a tiny bit too neatly at the end; it was VERY happy and there was a clear bad guy and everything was fine. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad all was well, but it came together pretty quickly. My particular copy is an ARC, I wonder if the final version was any different.
Also, side note, there’s a character named Goody Pruett and every time she showed up I thought of that meme, you know the one—“I saw Goody Proctor with the devil.”
Overall liked it despite its flaws and am putting it on my favorites shelf and will probably reread it.
ravensandpages's review against another edition
2.5
I think the middle part dragged a lot, but I enjoyed the short chapters. This cover was absolutely not giving Puritan historical mystery though, that’s for damn sure.