What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell is an addictive mystery/romance set in post-WWII America. It was published in 2008 and won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature in that same year. It has 284 pages.
Summary
Fifteen-year-old Evie wants desperately for her mother to allow her to grow up--to wear lipstick, date older boys, smoke cigarettes, and dress in stylish clothes. When Evie's stepfather takes the family on a Florida vacation, she meets the man of her dreams. Peter is in his early twenties and served in WWII, but Evie knows this is love. Things get complicated when Evie's parents are put on trial for murder. Slowly Evie realizes that life is a lot more complicated than she had thought, and now she has to decide whether to lie to protect her parents or tell the truth.
My Take
Overall, I thought What I Saw and How I Lied was a great page-turner, but it didn't move me. The ending was a departure from what I had expected, and that was a nice surprise even if it didn't seem very consistent with Evie's character. Maybe that was what kept me from fully loving the book: Evie was so naive and innocent and then suddenly so grown-up and, well, guilty. I guess everyone ended up guilty in one way or another. Maybe that's the point. We're all fallible, we all make mistakes, and we all have to figure out how to pick up the pieces of our broken lives and move forward to create something new.
*Warning: This book contains some language and sensuality. I would recommend it for an older teen audience.
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