Book Review: The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieu

The Truth About Alice
Author: Jennifer Mathieu
Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Released: June 3rd 2014
Review Source: Purchased

Everyone has a lot to say about Alice Franklin, and it’s stopped mattering whether it’s true. The rumors started at a party when Alice supposedly had sex with two guys in one night. When school starts everyone almost forgets about Alice until one of those guys, super-popular Brandon, dies in a car wreck that was allegedly all Alice’s fault. Now the only friend she has is a boy who may be the only other person who knows the truth, but is too afraid to admit it. Told from the perspectives of popular girl Elaine, football star Josh, former outcast Kelsie, and shy genius Kurt, we see how everyone has a motive to bring – and keep – Alice down.

For me, The Truth About Alice stands out from other high school stories because of the manner by which it is told. Although Alice is the catalyst the story centers around the story is really about an ensemble cast of characters. Here you have five teens, each with a particular corner of the high school market, sharing their perspective on a bundle of events that has altered their little high school world forever.

Kurt Morelli, the outcast by choice genius. At this point in his young life he has accepted that he's unpopular with a laissez faire attitude, and is content with his books and hobbies, “When I sit by myself in the cafeteria rereading The Hobbit for the thirteenth time just because I want to, I don’t look out onto the sea of faces and wish I wasn’t alone. I simply acknowledge the sea exists and go back to The Hobbit. It isn’t difficult for me.” Except...all the while daydreaming about Alice Franklin, and having a unique insight into the cause and death of Brandon Fitzsimmons that only his outcast status could provide.

Kelsie Sanders, the conflicted best friend of Alice Franklin, may be the best depiction of how high school operates, and a sample of how people treat one another in society as a whole. What stops a person from stepping up when a co-worker is getting bullied or they witness a crime and don't come forward with information? Self-preservation. A prior hurt from her best friend left a gaping hole of resentment that allows Kelsie to shun Alice when the rumors start. Without her perspective, she would only seem shallow and effortlessly cruel; with her perspective we understand that she is constantly at tug-of-war with guilt at her behavior toward Alice, especially when Alice needs her the most, and her refusal to give up the popular seat and do the honorable thing. It seems okay because virgins get a bad wrap, but in a different way. They get handled with kid gloves instead of getting socially stoned to death.

Elaine O'Dea, head of the teenage girl hierarchy at Healy High School, reminds me of Brooke McQueen from Popular, an old late 90's short-lived high school dramedy. Like Brooke, Elaine comes off as a wicked snob, obsessed with her own vanity and status, all of which is true. As leader of the pack, girls follow her lead or constantly look for ways to impress her. So it's no surprise when she takes a story and runs with it, turning rumor into hardcore fact in the eyes of her adoring public. However, it’s the silent peer pressure to deface school property and turn a girls bathroom toilet stall into a Brandon Fitzsimmons Memorial a la slut shaming Alice Franklin that is the true measure of her social status. Like Brooke McQueen from Popular, Elaine O'Dea gets tired of her own games and tries to make peace, in her own way, but the damage is done.

Josh Waverly, best friend to the deceased Brandon Fitzsimmons, is kind of the every jock that would normally fade into the background if it weren't for his valuable point of view. He also played Healy High football like Brandon, but he talked so much about Brandon, I can't be sure what position he played. One could say he wanted to be Brandon with the admiring and idolizing tone Josh uses when he speaks of him, “It was like I was high on us being us. Me and Brandon. Brandon and me.” I think there's a valiant effort to not necessarily make Josh likeable, but benign enough to possibly not hate him. However, since Josh is a mega coward that has his own shovel in the party of digging Alice's hole, it's up to the reader to decide.

Alice Franklin, the girl who gets tossed from grace. She seems oblivious, uncaring, dispassionate, guilty, or unaffected through the eyes of others. The truth about Alice is she still believes in the best of people.