Hello everyone!
I am back with another review! Today it is Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart. Thanks so much to Penguin Random House for sending me a copy of this book for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
As with Lockhart's previous book, not only is any synopsis I could give you going to be super vague but also would spoil most of the story. So I will just say this: the story follows Jule and Imogen, two girls who are alike and different. One reinvents herself to be the person she's always wanted to be, the other seemingly squanders what she has without even knowing it. Aaaaand I think that's all I can really say.
I understand what Lockhart wanted to do with this book, but I just don't know if it was done in a way that makes sense. Part of my problem was that I went into this one thinking it would be another WWL. And it wasn't.
The story is told in reverse-chronological order, something that I've only ever seen a handful of other times. Once the story got going it was easy enough to keep everything straight but there were moments when I had put the book down and picked it up the next day and trying to remember what had already happened but was really going to happen in the future. We get all the way down to chapter 1 from 18 and then Lockhart throws a chapter 19 in. I was really expecting to have a clear ending by chapter 1. Instead, I had to remember what had happened in chapter 18 and figure out why 17-1 were so important.
I think this book pushes the boundaries, both in formatting and subject matter. Lockhart writes a couple of feminist, don't-take-no-for-an-answer characters and throws the usual timeline formula out the window. Which, don't get me wrong, I really loved, I just felt like I was missing something. I don't know if I'm not smart enough to see the bigger picture here but I'm struggling with the significance. I also don't want to get to the end of the book and have the story just get started. I feel like there was supposed to be a point, and maybe it's too subtle for me to pick out, but I think I missed it.
There wasn't really a mystery to this book. We have lots of questions, but they never get answered. I know it's supposed to be thought-provoking but I'm just left feeling stunted and dissatisfied.
Overall, it's no We Were Liars, but then again, if that wasn't your cup of tea, this one might be.