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True Story: A Novel by Kate Reed Petty
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True Story: A Novel (original 2020; edition 2020)

by Kate Reed Petty (Author)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
25011108,457 (3.73)10
"A "mind-blowing, page-turning, unputdownable" novel (Elif Batuman) about the fifteen-year fallout from a poisonous high school rumor, exploring how stories from the past can come to define who we are. A gifted and reclusive ghostwriter, Alice Lovett makes a living helping other people tell their stories. But she is haunted by the one story she cannot tell: the story of, as she puts it, "the things that happened while I was asleep." Back in 1999, Nick Brothers and his high school lacrosse team return for their senior year in a well-to-do Baltimore suburb as the reigning state champs. The afterglow of their big win is bound to last until graduation; not even the pressure of college applications can get in the way of their fun. But when a private school girl attempts suicide in the wake of one of the team's "legendary" parties, and a rumor begins to circulate that two of Nick's teammates sexually assaulted her, it seems like it might ruin everything--until the team circles the wagons, casts doubt on the story, and the town moves on. But not everyone does. Fifteen years later, four people--Alice, Nick, a documentary filmmaker, and a wealthy entrepreneur--remain haunted by the roles they played, the things they still don't understand, and how the story has shaped their lives. In sections told from different points of view, each more propulsive than the last, the layers of mystery are gradually peeled back as we barrel toward the truth of what really happened that night . . . and what came after. At once a compulsive page-turner and a thought-provoking exploration of issues both timely and timeless, True Story marks the debut of a phenomenal new voice in fiction"--… (more)
Member:chrisblocker
Title:True Story: A Novel
Authors:Kate Reed Petty (Author)
Info:Viking (2020), 336 pages
Collections:Your library, Read
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True Story by Kate Reed Petty (2020)

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» See also 10 mentions

Showing 1-5 of 11 (next | show all)
Oooooooof. There is no review that will do this book justice. There are 4 months left in 2021 but I'm pretty confident this will make my top 5 books of the year. I'm so beyond impressed that it is the author's debut novel like wtf; it is incredibly well-written, creative, masterful pacing, and such a nuanced complex take on rape culture. It starts off with the typical narrative of sexual assault rumour involving athletes of a high school, and then it takes us through different formats of storytelling and POVs that all accumulated into the big reveal. I had goosebumps at the end. Trigger warning for an animal death; it was horrendous but necessary for the story. If you are going to read one book this year, read this. ( )
  altricial | Dec 17, 2021 |
This is a book that, once I got into it, I could not put it down. It is yet another book about writing and storytelling, but I find that this subject always seems fresh to me, and here the subject is telling your own story--how do you do that when you aren't even sure what your story is? It uses the tropes of horror to good effect, resulting in a kind of "found footage" novel. I also thought the insights into both alcoholism and abuse were particularly sharp. Different and dark, another winner from the Shirley Jackson Award shortlist. ( )
  sturlington | Nov 14, 2021 |
Weird writing style. I don't understand the switch to 2nd person narrative for some parts of this. It definitely took me out of the story, which was itself disjointed and hard to follow anyway. It wasn't terrible but I wouldn't recommend it either.

Popsugar 2020 - Book with the same title as a movie or TV Show ( )
  NCDonnas | Jan 2, 2021 |
Weird writing style. I don't understand the switch to 2nd person narrative for some parts of this. It definitely took me out of the story, which was itself disjointed and hard to follow anyway. It wasn't terrible but I wouldn't recommend it either.

Popsugar 2020 - Book with the same title as a movie or TV Show ( )
  NCDonnas | Jan 2, 2021 |
Debut novel by a writer known for short fiction, it has been acclaimed as "singular and daring". It tells the story of a woman finding her voice in the wake of trauma. It tells a powerful story, but I'm not a fan of this storytelling. I often felt like I was reading a series of shorts from a creative writing class only loosely interconnected. ( )
  MM_Jones | Oct 25, 2020 |
Showing 1-5 of 11 (next | show all)
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"A "mind-blowing, page-turning, unputdownable" novel (Elif Batuman) about the fifteen-year fallout from a poisonous high school rumor, exploring how stories from the past can come to define who we are. A gifted and reclusive ghostwriter, Alice Lovett makes a living helping other people tell their stories. But she is haunted by the one story she cannot tell: the story of, as she puts it, "the things that happened while I was asleep." Back in 1999, Nick Brothers and his high school lacrosse team return for their senior year in a well-to-do Baltimore suburb as the reigning state champs. The afterglow of their big win is bound to last until graduation; not even the pressure of college applications can get in the way of their fun. But when a private school girl attempts suicide in the wake of one of the team's "legendary" parties, and a rumor begins to circulate that two of Nick's teammates sexually assaulted her, it seems like it might ruin everything--until the team circles the wagons, casts doubt on the story, and the town moves on. But not everyone does. Fifteen years later, four people--Alice, Nick, a documentary filmmaker, and a wealthy entrepreneur--remain haunted by the roles they played, the things they still don't understand, and how the story has shaped their lives. In sections told from different points of view, each more propulsive than the last, the layers of mystery are gradually peeled back as we barrel toward the truth of what really happened that night . . . and what came after. At once a compulsive page-turner and a thought-provoking exploration of issues both timely and timeless, True Story marks the debut of a phenomenal new voice in fiction"--

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