I had a review of The Help on here, and managed to delete it, rather than cutting and pasting it to format this review. Wouldn't you just know it? I guess I'm just starting fresh on the whole reviewing game.
Liar's Bench
Kim Michele Richardson
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Kensington (April 28, 2015)
ISBN-10: 161773733X
Lexile: approx. 770
Just
finished reading my NetGalley-provided copy last night. The story was
compelling enough to keep me reading lat, although, to be honest, I did
predict a few of the "suprises" fairly easily.
Mudas' 17th birthday is one to remember--her mother committed suicide that day. Or did she? Mudas doesn't believe so.
This coming-of-age story is set in the early 1970s south, with a backdrop of the Vietnam war and continued civil rights struggles. While not essential to the plot, the time and place definitely provide a framework for the story.
Mudas' voice is strong and clear, and the author writes Southern dialect naturally enough that the voice in my head had a definite Southern accent (it may help that I lived in Texas for two years). Her back-and-forth emotions are believable, as are her trust issues with her father. Other characters are clearly drawn, though perhaps a little too small-town South stereotypical at times.
One small quibble is that this book may be trying to do too much--coming of age novel, civil rights novel, mystery novel. It pushes, but doesn't cross the line.
Items to note: A few curse words. Consensual sex, off-screen and brief. Threats of non-consensual sex, but nothing carried out. Mudas grabs a male character's "ball sack" and inflicts pain in order to get away from him. Violence, threatened and actual.
Who would like this book: Anyone who enjoys coming of age. Could be a good companion to study of To Kill a Mockingbird. Probably more for a girl audience, though I can see boys enjoying Mudas, also. (I'm a big fan of Shannon Hale's #Boysreadgirls, but based on my classes of high school freshmen, I'm being realistic.)
Mudas' 17th birthday is one to remember--her mother committed suicide that day. Or did she? Mudas doesn't believe so.
This coming-of-age story is set in the early 1970s south, with a backdrop of the Vietnam war and continued civil rights struggles. While not essential to the plot, the time and place definitely provide a framework for the story.
Mudas' voice is strong and clear, and the author writes Southern dialect naturally enough that the voice in my head had a definite Southern accent (it may help that I lived in Texas for two years). Her back-and-forth emotions are believable, as are her trust issues with her father. Other characters are clearly drawn, though perhaps a little too small-town South stereotypical at times.
One small quibble is that this book may be trying to do too much--coming of age novel, civil rights novel, mystery novel. It pushes, but doesn't cross the line.
Items to note: A few curse words. Consensual sex, off-screen and brief. Threats of non-consensual sex, but nothing carried out. Mudas grabs a male character's "ball sack" and inflicts pain in order to get away from him. Violence, threatened and actual.
Who would like this book: Anyone who enjoys coming of age. Could be a good companion to study of To Kill a Mockingbird. Probably more for a girl audience, though I can see boys enjoying Mudas, also. (I'm a big fan of Shannon Hale's #Boysreadgirls, but based on my classes of high school freshmen, I'm being realistic.)
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