ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S IN ME by Julie Berry is a young adult novel that was recommended to me by Rachel who runs The Reading Picnic. I was looking for a quick read that would grab me right away to get me out of my Major Book Hangover after Attachments by Rainbow Rowell (seriously though, that book ruined me for at least a week). She immediately knew what to recommend! Here is the synopsis from its Goodreads page:
Four years ago, Judith and her best friend disappeared from their small town of Roswell Station. Two years ago, only Judith returned, permanently mutilated, reviled and ignored by those who were once her friends and family. Unable to speak, Judith lives like a ghost in her own home, silently pouring out her thoughts to the boy who’s owned her heart as long as she can remember—even if he doesn’t know it—her childhood friend, Lucas. But when Roswell Station is attacked, long-buried secrets come to light, and Judith is forced to choose: continue to live in silence, or recover her voice, even if it means changing her world, and the lives around her, forever. This startlingly original novel will shock and disturb you; it will fill you with Judith’s passion and longing; and its mysteries will keep you feverishly turning the pages until the very last.
What initially drew me to this book is that it’s written in second person. According to the definition of second person writing,
“[s]econd person point of view is often used for giving directions, offering advice, or providing an explanation. This perspective allows the writer to make a connection with his or her audience by focusing on the reader. Second person personal pronouns include you, your, and yours.”
Notice that fiction isn’t up there as a usual medium for second person storytelling, so I knew I was at least in for something original.
I can totally commend Julie Berry’s quality of prose, it was almost poetic with how she would write Judith’s interesting perspective. I do think that the progression of the plot, however, suffered to allow for Berry’s great quotes. The “big reveal” at the end was less than satisfying and the story moved quite slowly, especially for a slightly disappointing ending. I would have preferred for Berry to actually write some great poetry with this imagery rather than compose a story that was second-rate to her stellar word choice.
I usually don’t include this many pictures in a post but when doing research to write the review I found all of these great GIFs with quotes from the novel on the book’s website. Because the poetic writing strung throughout was truly my favorite part I thought they were worth sharing:
Do you have any second person fiction stories you’ve enjoyed?
Here’s another review of ALL THE TRUTH THAT’S IN ME that you may enjoy:
