Lucy Jane Bledsoe

I loved the way the threads of Delia's life - basketball, lesbianism, her friend William the poet, conversion therapy, coaching (but especially her role as a basketball coach) - were woven throughout the book. It made it so much more interesting than what I expected, a blow-by blow horrifying account of her time at the conversion therapy camp. This tapestry propelled the plot, making for a compelling read. She's a very good writer except for very occasional overwriting ("their sneakers show more squeaking out tears of rainwater"), but given all her awards I'm sure she knows more about writing than I do, so all in all five stars. show less

the title of this book is terrible, but just about everything else about it is done right. the writing is excellent, and even the title means much more than it seems like it does, in the end.

it feels like a post-apocalyptic book, but it's really just a post-natural disaster book that is actually quite realistic. if the infrastructure collapses, what remains, and what do people rebuild, and how do they organize? it's probably similar to a lot of post-apocalypse books in this, but i really show more liked the philosophy and science thrown in here. plus there's betrayal and trauma and loneliness and connection. some of the questions that come up about survival are pertinent with the climate changing the way it is, and mirror discussions i've had in my own life. so it felt realistic. the crux, though, and what the title refers to, more globally - if both violence and compassion are natural to humans, maybe we make love and altruism the successful traits in passing on to offspring, and we actually evolve love. and then more personally - the main character has to change her idea of what love is, from safety in comfort to maybe something more powerful, even if a little unknown.

she covers a lot here, and i think she does it well. it's not super-ambitious, but it's not as straightforward a story as it seems at first, either. i liked just about everything she did and i was willing to let her take me anywhere because the writing is so good.

"'...anyway, I've begun to believe that the best thing that could happen, certainly for the planet, but maybe even for humanity, is our extinction. Or near extinction, anyway. We've made a mess of this planet. Maybe recovery is only possible without us.'"

"Two lines, long parentheses, enclosed his mouth, like his smile would be a secret."

"'I love stories. Sometimes I think they might be the only thing that can save a culture.'" show less

Tell The Rest started off strong and just kept going. The characters are well written, the plot is solid, and the emotional turmoil is an easy connection point for readers (even those of us who do not get emotionally attached to sports teams, high school women's basketball or otherwise). My main concern with the book was how basketball-heavy the first few chapters are. It opens with a lot of jargon, but this quickly fades into the background of the characters' lives, and even when it was show more thickest, it did not detract from my enjoyment or understanding of the overall plot. The worst thing about the novel is that the girls on the team are not given enough time to really stand out as individuals except for maybe three of them. They are not the main focus of the book, so it does not really detract in any way from the plot. I can see reasons for keeping it this way; it presents the main plot in a clearer and more focused narrative, rather than risking losing the thread of the coach's emotional journey in between chapters focusing on the girls. The juxtaposition of Delia's chapters with Ernest's worked well, and the conclusion of their arcs was satisfying because of how well the author wrote both characters. The ending was also a fantastic way to wrap things up, and I enjoyed that final peek into another character's life. Overall, this was an emotionally charged and well written look at the way trauma survivors internalize their experiences and eventually address them in different ways. A well written piece of fiction, I would recommend it to anyone interested in lesbians, the consequences of hating your queer children, or queer characters overcoming their trauma. show less

Finally! I intended to read this book when it was first released two years ago, but life and things—and am I ever glad I went back and looked at some of the [slightly] older books on my shelves and spotted this one. Lucy Jane Bledsoe is a very fine writer and it was treat to rediscover this new-to-me title.

Tell the Rest focuses on two kids (ages 13 and 15) who have been sent to a Celebration Camp, a "conversion camp," either unknowingly or over their own objections.

• Delia is 13 years show more old, a white daughter of a single mom. She's discovered in the arms of a female friend in a church basement. The Pastor who discovered the two together calls Delia's home and tells her mother Delia has won a scholarship for a month at a summer camp, no explanation of what the camp really is.

• Ernest is 15 years old, a black teen with a gift for poetry. His poems, written for another male have been discovered and he is sent to the camp by his parents at the suggestion of his family's pastor. His parents don't necessarily want him "converted," they're just following through with the pastor's suggestion because, well, pastor...

The novel moves back and forth in time, so we see Delia and Ernest both when they meet at "Celebration Camp," and as working adults. Like humans do, they still have their struggles, but have had successes, and each is making a life for themselves that is true to they know themselves to be. Getting to spend time with with this pair along this timeline is a pleasure, even when what they're experiencing isn't at all pleasurable. For want of a better way to put it, they're real in a way that a great many fictional characters aren't, and that makes the reader care about them.

I received a free electronic review copy of this title from the publisher via Edelweiss; the opinions are my own. show less