{"id":24100,"date":"2014-02-27T23:26:40","date_gmt":"2014-02-28T03:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=24100"},"modified":"2014-02-27T23:53:23","modified_gmt":"2014-02-28T03:53:23","slug":"review-of-all-the-truth-thats-in-me-by-julie-berry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=24100","title":{"rendered":"Review of All the Truth That’s in Me, by Julie Berry"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>All the Truth That\u2019s in Me<\/em><\/p>\n

by Julie Berry<\/p>\n

Viking, 2013. 288 pages.
\nStarred Review<\/p>\n

I read this book simply because it\u2019s in School Library Journal<\/em>\u2019s Battle of the Books<\/a>, which commences March 10. I\u2019m not sure what I expected, since I hadn\u2019t heard much about it, but I was blown away and kept reading well into the night.<\/p>\n

This is a rare book that\u2019s written in second person voice, addressed to \u201cyou.\u201d But the speaker is not addressing the reader. It soon becomes clear that she\u2019s addressing the young man she loves.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how the book begins, with the heading \u201cBefore\u201d:<\/p>\n

We came here by ship, you and I.<\/p>\n

I was a baby on my mother\u2019s knee, and you were a lisping, curly-headed boy playing at your mother\u2019s feet all through that weary voyage.<\/p>\n

Watching us, our mothers got on so well together that our fathers chose adjacent farm plots a mile from town, on the western fringe of a Roswell Station that was much smaller then.<\/p>\n

I remember my mother telling tales of the trip when I was young. Now she never speaks of it at all.<\/p>\n

She said I spent the whole trip wide-eyed, watching you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She still watches him. She remembers when he smiled at her, gave her posies. But something terrible happened, and now the whole village barely notices she is there.<\/p>\n

We get bits of what happened, all along the way. We find out why she doesn\u2019t speak. She was gone for two years. When she came back, she was out of her head, left for dead, with half her tongue cut out.<\/p>\n

Then ships are sighted off the shore, coming toward the town. The Homelanders are bringing war to them, wanting their fertile farms. All the men of the town must fight, even though their arsenal was destroyed, even though they are doomed.<\/p>\n

But Judith knows where to find help \u2013 only she must confront her own nightmares.<\/p>\n

And after she does so, everything changes.<\/p>\n

This book is marvelously constructed, revealing bits of the past at a natural pace, as it comes up in the present, finally with mysteries solved at the very end. I find myself wanting to read it all over again, knowing now how it all fits together.<\/p>\n

And ultimately, it\u2019s a love story. And a story of healing. And a story of courage. And a story of a wounded girl finding her voice.<\/p>\n

julieberrybooks.com<\/a>
\npenguin.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Teens\/all_the_truth_thats_in_me.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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