Review: The Kindest Lie

Note: Received an ARC from HarperCollins. Opinions are my own.

Happy Pub Day to The Kindest Lie by Nancy Johnson!

Summary: It’s 2008 and Barack Obama has just been elected President of the United States.  In Chicago, Ruth Tuttle is a married engineer and her husband wants to start a family. But she had a child as a teenager and walked away from her small hometown in Indiana, promising not to look back. But for her to move forward, she must return to her hometown, confronting her family and befriending a White boy named Midnight, who is adrift and looking for connection. 

Review: Let me start by saying that I liked this book. I thought it was well-written and the storyline flowed.  I liked Ruth, her brother Eli and Mama, her grandmother (even though I didn't agree on what she did).  I also like some of the minor characters (Corey and the Cunninghams, Natasha, etc). And there are issues of race, class, unemployment, recessions, toxic masculinity and police brutality that are brought up throughout the book. But here is what kept me from really liking it (without giving the book away).

1. The pregnancy and adoption storyline was very unbelievable. Ruth graduated from high school the same year I did. I didn't have a baby my senior year (or ever), but I had classmates who did. And knowing what they went through, it would have been very hard to pull something like that off, even in a small town in Indiana. And I figured out who the child was way before Ruth did.

2. Let me talk about Midnight. I get that he's a kid living in a small town with hardly any guidance and is naive. But there were times he got on my nerves. And I wanted to shake him in the end. But I understand why the ending happened as it did. I found out through various articles that Midnight was originally Black. I could actually see that and it might would have made a better story for me.

3. Butch, Midnight's father. Butch was an RACIST @$$HOLE. If he was real, he was probably was at the insurrection at the Capitol. I hope Midnight grew up with enough sense to turn him in to the FBI.

4. Xavier, Ruth's husband. REALLY DUDE?

5. Storylines that weren't resolved (Ruth's mother, the drug dealer, Eli's home life, Ruth's job).

Now that the book is out into the world, I'm ready to discuss. Maybe I'll do a Clubhouse room for those who have read it and want to discuss (sorry Android folks). I look forward to seeing and hearing people's thoughts and feelings about this book. I also wonder if it will prompt discussion on race and class, as the author hopes it will. This is a good debut for Johnson and look forward to reading more works from her.