The Honest Truth

Well, damn, this one packs an emotional punch along the lines of The Fault in Our Stars -- and not, honestly, because they both have narrators with cancer, but because they both have main characters who burn so brightly with life and stubbornness. Maybe it is related, but anyway. I see why all the kids are talking. I knew if I finished this on the bus I would be sobbing in public and I did not care. It's that good.

Boy, I really am no good at selling this. let me try again. A compelling read, a storyline that sucks you in immediately and won't let go. Deep emotional connections (in a good way) and adventure, adventure, adventure. Oh, and a dog. A really great dog.

I read this book in one sitting. I kept telling myself I'll stop at this chapter but I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN. It takes place in Washington State, and is about a boy who does not want to go through treatment, again. So he runs away to follow his dream of summiting Mt. Rainier. With the alternating perspective of his best friend, Jessie who is still in Wenatchee and knows of Mark's dream; this story will leave you wondering just how far a person will go to save their friend. There are no illustrations in this book but the cover illustration will make PERFECT sense after you read it. Theme: Would you keep a secret for your friend? How far would you go to protect a friend?

Wow! Let me just say that whatever recognition this author has, it's not enough. I'm a fan of [a: Roland Smith|137554|Roland Smith|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1273370012p2/137554.jpg] and [a: Gordon Korman|2130|Gordon Korman|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1199721579p2/2130.jpg], but this guy tops both of them. His writing is deeper and elicits a stronger emotional reaction from the reader. Like Smith and Korman, he writes with boys in mind. His books tend toward adventure and survival. He keeps the length around the 250 range, so he doesn't scare off kids who aren't book nerds.

His books can be summed up fairly quickly. He keeps the plot tight. I've also read [b: Scar Island|29847473|Scar Island|Dan show more Gemeinhart|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1464971051s/29847473.jpg|50207824], and recommend it just as highly. The Honest Truth is about a boy, Mark, who has been living with cancer for 7 years. They thought they beat it, but it's back, and he's had it. Kids with incredible adversity tend to be thinkers. Mark's a thinker. He remembers how his grandfather slowly died of kidney failure and he doesn't want to go like that. He wants to die on his terms and he wants to fulfill his promise to his grandfather to climb Mt. Ranier.

Now let's face it. Kids aren't logical and they don't usually consider all the issues when they make a decision. So the fact that Mark sets off with his dog, by himself, on a train, with a plan already in place to cover his trail, isn't surprising. Selfish, yes. Surprising, no. So he puts his life in danger multiple times before he even makes it to Mt. Ranier, with his dog by his side. There's a lot of adventure packed into this short book. In the end, he's rescued. Probably took lots of tax dollars. We'll ignore that for the sake of the learning process he went through. Life should never be wasted. There's always a chance, no matter how tiny.

And let me say something about his dog. This is a dog story. But he's not your typical Retriever or Labrador. He's a dog that fits into his duffel bag. Hats off to smaller dogs. Something happens to this dog near the end, which I'm not going to spoil. You have to read the book to find out. Be forewarned, if you have a dog that's your best friend, you will be on edge and might even have that horrible feeling in the pit of your stomach where you can relate.

One other thing. This is also a book about a friendship very few people have, but wish they had. Now, before I end, a couple of quotes so you get the writing style.

"The whole house hung like broken dishes before they hit the floor" -- Describing the effect his disappearance has on his parents.

"There's more than one kind of truth. There's the truth that you can measure, the truth on maps and charts and in books of facts. And maybe in that kind of truth, Mark didn't reach the top. Maybe he didn't even come close...But in the other kind of truth, the kind of truth you feel in a deeper place, in that kind of truth the maps don't matter. In that kind of truth the skinny, bald kid with the disease eating away at him and the little brown dog with one brown eye and one green eye made it father than they ever should have." -- Mark's best friend having her own moment of realization.

It's a tear jerker book if you're that kind of person. Just read it and recommend it. show less

This book hit way too close to home for me. I don't think the author's intention was for people to kind of feel empowered on their mission to commit suicide. Having been down that path before though- this book scared the living crap out of me. I think this book could be really dangerous for the wrong reader.

The real message of the book filled up about two paragraphs.
"Here's what I get: everything. Taking my weak little steps through the snow down that mountain, I got it all. I thought of all my sickness, my anger, all my fear. All that was just the darkness, just the storm. I got lost in it. But there's always the other side of the storm. And people who get you there.
All the world's a storm, I guess, and we all get lost sometimes. We show more look for mountains in the clouds to make it all seem like it's worth it, like it means something. And sometimes we see them. And we keep going."

I am not even entirely sure what that means.

The other scary thing about this book is how much emphasis is put on what a loyal friend Jessie was because she didn't tell his secret.


I don't want kids thinking that keeping that kind of secret is ok. I am alive today because my best friend didn't keep my secret- and I will forever be grateful for her.

In the end- we get the impression that Mark has died. I realize that he had cancer. He wasn't looking for attention in his death. But people who are suicidal take comfort in knowing they will be missed. Jessie wrote this book about the stupid, stupid decision her friend made. All the little decisions were written up all poetically. You kind of want him to just die. You want him to follow through with it. I think we are supposed to respect Mark for wanting to take his death into his own hands.

I think the author makes it ok by basically sealing his fate. He will more than likely die from cancer. But I can fit my situation so comfortably into his. I have suffered from depression for two decades. I've been hospitalized and had to spend months away from family. Who is to say that my pain isn't as great as his? Maybe doing something irresponsibly stupid and selfish will make my pain worth it. At least those are the thoughts that were creeping into my unhealthy brain.

I gave this book 3 stars because if read by a healthy, mature child- it could be kind of an inspiring story- with an overdone message.
If it is read by a child (or adult) looking for the courage to go through with suicidal plans and thoughts they have had- this is bad bad news.

I just think Mark's epiphany came too late in the book. I think the help he got from his friend and the last adult before the mountain was portrayed as admirable. Honestly, Wesley would probably go to jail in real life. I sincerely hope Jessie got yelled at.
Also, for as good as Mark was at planning things, he didn't really care about his dog if he didn't have a solid exit plan for him. He just assumed Beau would make it back fine from the giant mountain of ice that would be Mark's death.

I just don't think there was enough good in him or in the story to undo all the selfish determination he had to die.

Oh- and I also had some complaints about some minor details. He gets dragged down a river and everything gets soaked- but his camera works fine a few hours later? His notebook that was in his backpack was barely wet, but he was soaked to the bone? There were just a few little details like that pushed me out of the story.


I will not be recommending this book to kids. show less

I wanted to love this -- I'm a sucker, as I've mentioned, for personal journeys finding hope from struggle, and I was especially interested in a middle grade novel tackling the issue of a "cancer kid" who wants to die on his own terms. Unfortunately the language and characters felt so forced I had a hard time sticking with Mark on his journey to discovery. The repetitions of the phrases "Here's what I don't get" and "That's the truth" felt just that -- repetitive -- rather than lyrical or moving. Mark's love of haiku and film photography were a little too timelessly artsy to work for me. And I absolutely could not forgive Mark for taking his faithful doggy on such a dangerous journey! I do give the book a lot of credit for not giving show more him a miraculous recovery at the end. He may go through all this and still die of cancer, just like he thought he would. That ending will be hard for a lot of kids, but it's the only honest one for the kids whose experience it's trying to honor. show less

Very moving. I cried and almost flipped out when I thought the dog was going to die.

Veers between thriller (falling into crevasse, getting beat up, almost drowning in a river) and emotional gut wrencher (cancer battle, suicidal thoughts, losing best friend).

Oy, this book. I loved it and was angry at it at the same time. More precisely, I was angry at everything the dog was put through.

The Honest Truth by Dan Gemeinhart is a story of desperation in an attempt to find the truth within.

"Everybody oughta have a dog. Dogs teach you love and kindness. They remind you what's important. A life ain't much of a life without a dog in it, s'what I always said" (141). There's a lot of honest truth in this quote. In the novel, Mark has fought cancer for several years and now he has to decide if he wants to live or die. He's decided climbing Mt. Rainier is his challenge and represents how he chooses to live before dying; as much as he feels death is something you experience alone, he takes his dog Beau with him because he can't truly do this journey alone. Little does he realize that he'll learn more lessons about life and himself show more because of Beau. The novel alternates between Mark's story and his best friend Jess, as she is back at home with Mark's family. Jess is torn between loyalty and telling the truth about what she knows.

Friendship, living, dying, respect, kindness, anger, loyalty, and miracles all play roles in this novel, as the reader is asked to consider serious questions about one's choice in life. I know I'm making it sound like a deep novel, and there are many ideas and conversation starters, but it's truly a solid middle school novel. Don't be surprised if you shed a tear or two. It's not an adventure novel, but it will hold your attention with the anger that feeds Mark and the tension of what his ultimate choice will be: life or death. His journey is not an easy one. There are serious dangers as he travels alone. He faces harrowing moments that should send him home, but he has to learn from each. The final lesson, however, is for the reader. If anything, you'll definitely want a dog by the end of the novel! show less