Review: What I Saw and How I Lied

Title: What I Saw and How I Lied
Author: Judy Blundell
Pages: 288
Publisher: Scholastic

Evie can't wait to grow up. World War II is over, her stepfather is home, her family has come upon some money, and she is just coming up on that age where yeah, she does want boys to notice. But they don't. Until the family picks up and heads to Palm Beach for the summer. There she meets Peter, an ex-private who had served with her stepfather Joe in the war. Not only is he an older man, but he seems to understand her. Evie falls like only a 15 year old girl coming into her own is able. But it seems as if there is an ugliness beneath the glitz (I really do not like that word) and shimmer of Palm Beach. Evie is forced into adulthood by exposing the secrets of her sheltered school-girl life, by discovering herself, and learning how to lie.

I'm going to go for the bad first. There was some. As a matter of fact, right there in the first bit I thought I was going to have to put it down. It was reading like a catalogue, with so many cultural references to products of the late 40s that I felt compelled to buy one. And if the pre character development Evie referred to someone as "movie star handsome" one more time... blah... bad things were going to happen to a future review. That was the condemning phrase through the entire novel. Also, the war-time celebrity name dropping was rampant and not so subliminal. As in, I just rented about four films with black-and-white guys in tuxedos and impossibly curvaceous heroines swooning about on the case. But.

It was definitely worth it. I grew to really like Evie through the book. I could relate to her in many ways and understand how she thought, even while I drew my own conclusions as to the conflict around her. I was crossing my fingers for her to figure it out before she got hurt. Her voice matured through the flipping of pages and it was quite literally like spying on a someone's most private thoughts and development. The plot picked up as well. After around page 30, the references took a holiday and I was able to see the course of events, which was both moving and rapid enough to keep me interested. I am SO glad that I didn't put this down. And when I finally did it was with an ache as I let the bittersweetness just sort of sink in. Fan. tas. tic. I ended up loving it and even re-reading some sections. And who doesn't love that feeling when its attached to a book?

I'm ditching the rating system. How does one rate something like a story? It means something a little different to everyone. Draw your own conclusions.

Plus. Isn't that cover gorgeous?