Book: None of this is True
Author: Lisa Jewell
Pages: 385
Read on: Kindle
Read in: ~4 hours
Plot Summary: Celebrating her 45th birthday at her local pub, podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie is also celebrating her 45th.
A few days later, they bump into each other again, this time outside Alix's children's school. Josie says she thinks she would be an interesting subject for Alix's podcast. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
Alix agrees to a trial interview and indeed, Josie's life appears to be strange and complicated. Aix finds her unsettling but can't quite resist the temptation to keep digging.
Slowly Alix starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it Josie has cajoled her way into Alix's life - and into her home.
Soon Alix begins to wonder who is Josie Fair really? And what has she done?
Things I Liked:
1. The premise of this book really got me excited! Imagine meeting your 'birthday twin'- born on the same day at the same hospital. I don't know about you, but I have always wondered about them! I was the only girl born on my birthday in that hospital and I often wonder what has become of my boy birthday twins (or more!). So, anyway, Alix (a podcaster) meets her birthday twin, Josie (a housewife) at the resto-bar where they are both celebrating. Alix notices that Josie's life is different from hers by the way Josie dresses, talks and the person Josie is at dinner with- a much older man. The next day, an already obsessed Josie, meets Alix outside her kids' school and teases that her life is podcast-worthy.. Interesting, right?
2. This is an extremely atmospheric book. You can feel Josie's oppressive obsession with Alix and her complete disregard for Alix and her family's space. It was so triggering and annoying to me because I am someone, who always firmly establishes boundaries and I can't abide anyone trespassing on those boundaries! So, you can imagine how powerful the writing is that you can feel this sense of claustrophobia just leaping off the pages! So nicely done!
3. Josie is a loathsome but interesting character. She is clingy, needy, annoying and, very obviously, an unreliable narrator. I mean, the book cover itself gives that away before you even get into the book. As a reader, you know Josie can't be trusted and you keep wondering if there is any truth at all to what she says.
4. The book is fast-paced and dark-and-twisty and just the perfect kind of read for a rainy day!
Things I Didn't Like:
1. Alix, as a counterpoint to Josie, was a very bland, boring and meek character. She is so gullible and ignores so many red flags that I felt the urge to get into the book and shake her! Look, is the author trying to say that Alix is a privileged nice person, who thinks everyone else is also nice and straightforward? Maybe, but, is anyone really that gullible? Okay, forget gullible, but imagine you don't like the idea of a complete stranger staying in your house but you are not asking her to leave! How weird and unrealistic is that? Okay, now, even if I ignore this and assume that some people are too nice to set any kind of boundaries or kick someone out of their house, answer me this- as a podcaster, would you start recording with someone and listening to their story without doing one iota of research on them?! Your recording studio is in your home, where your kids live, and you are letting a literal stranger off the streets into your home without doing any research on her! Without even Google-ing her! Come on! No one is that naïve!
2. The last 15% of the book was pointlessly slow. We could have gotten to Josie's real backstory much earlier.
Rating: 3.5/5
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