What I Saw and How I Lied

Genre: Teen, general fiction
Status: Library Book
author: Judy Blundell
Grade: A, with reservations

"He might have been a thief, a liar and a cheat but he was a good person."


When I think of the 1940's I think of women in high heels, swanky suits and that bright red lipstick. I think of men in suits and ties and stylish hats. I think black and white, big band and film noir. "What I saw and How I Lied" perfectly evokes every one of those images to give us a sleek, stylish thriller told in a quick but intense 280 pages.

Evie Spooner is 15 yrs. old when her step-father comes home from the war. She is thrilled to have him home but she feels all the awkwardness of that age where she is starting to notice boys but they are not really noticing her. It is not made easier by the fact that her mother is "a dish" -- a gorgeous, curvaceous blond who makes Evie look even drabber in comparison. But all that gets pushed from Evie's head when after getting a call from a man looking for someone else Evie's step-dad suddenly decides to take his little family on a whirlwind trip to Florida.

The book is told in the first person, which frankly is the only way it would have worked. As we move inexorably toward the moment when Evie will have to lie we, the reader, pick up all the clues telling us why her world is about to do a complete 180. In a third person tale missing these hints would have made Evie look like a complete idiot but because we see them all through Evie's eyes we know why she was misinterpreting them, what she was thinking and feeling as she did so and that saves the book. It also gives it its air of mystery and doubt, giving it that unique noir feel that is so impossible to catch in a third person story.

My reservations come in under two points -- one is that this is marked a teen novel but the subject matter feels very adult to me. One of the biggest points of the novel is that moment when we all realize that the adults in our lives aren't saints or perfect but all too human. Many teen books have this but this goes far beyond the norm and introduces a world so cynical even a long time Law and Order veteran watcher like myself had to shake her head a bit at it all. This is a testament to Blundell -- she makes her characters very real, very much regular people in a seemingly regular situation which quite suddenly turns on them. Her timing and the sense of the growing of the mystery is exquisite, it was a perfect noir pace. But that also makes it a book which really doesn't read "teen" and more, I'm not sure many modern teens would be able to relate to it.

The second reservation dealt with one of the characters. She acted very much out of character or at least, according to Evie, what we knew of her character and a great deal of the plot hinged on that. I would have liked to have seen the author explain it a bit more, show us if Evie had misjudged her previous character of if a change of location is what caused the change in behavior.

Overall this is a fantastic read. It is a "National Book Award Winner" and most assuredly deserved that. I recommend it -- but maybe mom's will want to read it before passing it on to teens.

The Tea: The strongest black tea you have or cheat a bit and make it coffee. Drink it straight or with a strong dose of sugar and regular cream (no flavoring!). It will go perfectly with the spirit of the book.