What I Saw And How I Lied
is exactly what Evie tells us in this book, beginning with her family's fateful trip from New York City down to Palm Beach, Florida. Evie meets Peter, a man who served in World War II with her stepfather, and from that moment on, none of their lives will ever be the same.
I was rather surprised by this National Book Award winner. I really liked the post-World War II setting and the noir film feel, but I found myself hating the characters. Evie was just stupid in a teenager-who-hasn't-got-a-clue way (which isn't to say I wasn't when I was one). Her parents are both idiots when it comes to her and themselves. I definitely hated Peter who really was a "heel" in my opinion. While the story was interesting and the mystery elements were excellent, I just really couldn't love this book, mostly because of all the stupid things the characters did. That said, it was really well done and the writing was beautiful - it isn't terribly difficult to see why it won an award.
Read-alikes:
A Northern Light
by Jennifer Donnelly (which I also hated but thought was very well written :)It also reminded me of the movie Casablanca, mostly for the Bogie references (and all the smoking).
RATINGS:
s-factor: !@
Some scattered throughout.
mrg-factor: XXX
Two scenes in particular that are pretty descriptive.
v-factor: none
(though as a side note, there was a lot of smoking and drinking)
Overall rating: **
