The Truth According to Us - A Review

The Truth According to Us

by

Annie Barrows

A Review

With an interesting plot, I expected more from this book.  But the best I can is say is that I found it boring.  I felt as if I were back in Fern Bacon Junior High School being forced to read some piece of literature that had reached the “classic” status and found it to be uninteresting and easy to stay away from.  

It took me three weeks to reach the 50% point of the book; I wanted more of the story, but did not want to take the time to read it.  In contrast, the next book I picked up took me two days of reading to reach the 50% mark.  Granted, the length of the books probably varied (hard to tell with e-books), but the greater contrast to this reader was the willingness and desire I had to continue reading the story.

Macedonia, West Virginia, was on the verge of celebrating its sesquicentennial; and in doing so, it wanted an official history prepared by the Work Projects Administration’s Writers Project. Layla Beck was the political appointee assigned to research and write that history.  Using a variety of styles (first and third person narration, journal entries, and copies of correspondence, Annie Barrows tells two stories: first, the story of Macedonia; and, story of the process used to uncover Macedonia’s history.  Written the late 30’s, as might be expected, there are stories of former slaves, moonshiners, and corrupt politicians.  It makes for an interesting plot - but one that could not hold my attention.  

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This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.