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A review by jenpaul13
The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson
3.0
With a future filled with possibilities ahead of her, one woman’s path forward means confronting the past she’d left behind in Nancy Johnson’s The Kindest Lie.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Ruth Tuttle’s life is on a good track: she’s got an Ivy-League education that paved the path for her career as an engineer, she’s got a kind and successful husband, Xavier, and Obama was just elected as president. Hope fills Xavier for their future and he’s eager to start their family, but Ruth hesitates; she’s not processed everything that happened when she had a baby at seventeen and walked away as she promised to her family. Knowing that leaving her past unresolved will keep her from building a solid future with her husband, Ruth finally tells Xavier about her son and leaves Chicago for her hometown of Ganton to begin digging to find her son. Throughout this process, she befriends a young white boy, who likes to be called Midnight; Midnight lost his mother at a young age and drifts, seeking connection with anyone who will pay him attention. As Ruth finally gets to the heart of the secret her family kept from her, Midnight goes missing, along with his friend Corey; while the adults search for the boys, Midnight’s thoughtless actions with a cap gun strains the already simmering racial tensions in the town, placing the lives of Midnight, Corey, and Ruth in danger and forcing a truth to the forefront in an indelicate way. Having confronted her past and come to terms, mostly, with her son’s life now, Ruth’s reconciliation with her family and Xavier takes priority to continue toward a promising future.
Thoughtfully addressing topics and issues relating to motherhood and racial relations, especially in relation with police action, this story explores aspects of life that divide people and opportunities for their success, even if only perceived factors. While incorporating themes worthy of further thought, the plot wasn’t particularly novel or contain much depth as the story seemed to try to be more of a character-driven story, though the characters didn’t feel overly nuanced or complicated with some appearing merely to incite action before being forgotten and relegated to the sidelines until convenient to use again, and it’s difficult to believe that a small community such as Ganton was depicted would not realize or question the odd behavior of Ruth during her pregnancy and subsequent quick departure from town with virtually no return visits. The narrative itself was disjointed with the perspectives offered unevenly between Ruth and Midnight and the heavy reliance on their memories to provide their historic context for the events currently taking place; a majority of the story was through Ruth’s perspective with a handful from Midnight’s, leaving the balance off-kilter and raising critical thought about the need of Midnight’s until the collision of their worlds became more intertwined for the too-rapid conclusion of events.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Ruth Tuttle’s life is on a good track: she’s got an Ivy-League education that paved the path for her career as an engineer, she’s got a kind and successful husband, Xavier, and Obama was just elected as president. Hope fills Xavier for their future and he’s eager to start their family, but Ruth hesitates; she’s not processed everything that happened when she had a baby at seventeen and walked away as she promised to her family. Knowing that leaving her past unresolved will keep her from building a solid future with her husband, Ruth finally tells Xavier about her son and leaves Chicago for her hometown of Ganton to begin digging to find her son. Throughout this process, she befriends a young white boy, who likes to be called Midnight; Midnight lost his mother at a young age and drifts, seeking connection with anyone who will pay him attention. As Ruth finally gets to the heart of the secret her family kept from her, Midnight goes missing, along with his friend Corey; while the adults search for the boys, Midnight’s thoughtless actions with a cap gun strains the already simmering racial tensions in the town, placing the lives of Midnight, Corey, and Ruth in danger and forcing a truth to the forefront in an indelicate way. Having confronted her past and come to terms, mostly, with her son’s life now, Ruth’s reconciliation with her family and Xavier takes priority to continue toward a promising future.
Thoughtfully addressing topics and issues relating to motherhood and racial relations, especially in relation with police action, this story explores aspects of life that divide people and opportunities for their success, even if only perceived factors. While incorporating themes worthy of further thought, the plot wasn’t particularly novel or contain much depth as the story seemed to try to be more of a character-driven story, though the characters didn’t feel overly nuanced or complicated with some appearing merely to incite action before being forgotten and relegated to the sidelines until convenient to use again, and it’s difficult to believe that a small community such as Ganton was depicted would not realize or question the odd behavior of Ruth during her pregnancy and subsequent quick departure from town with virtually no return visits. The narrative itself was disjointed with the perspectives offered unevenly between Ruth and Midnight and the heavy reliance on their memories to provide their historic context for the events currently taking place; a majority of the story was through Ruth’s perspective with a handful from Midnight’s, leaving the balance off-kilter and raising critical thought about the need of Midnight’s until the collision of their worlds became more intertwined for the too-rapid conclusion of events.