Customer Reviews

Tell Me Something True

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Leila Cobo's debut novel is an utterly wonderful and riveting book that had me in its clutches from the first page. It is lyrical and sensual with no word out of place. The character development is perfect, deep and meaningful, bringing the reader into the heart of the protagonists and their lives. In a sense, this novel sang to me in its poignant story of great loves.

The story is about Gabriella, a young woman who is half American and half Colombian. She was orphaned at four years old when her mother died in a plane crash. Every year Gabriella goes to Cali, where her mother is from, to spend a month with her grandparents. She has always believed that her mother and father led an idyllic and perfect life until she finds her mother's diary in Cali - - and then she realizes that what she thought was true is a lie.

The diary talks about a tumultuous affair that Helena, her mother, had when Gabriella was four. Helena was in Cali for two months working on a photography book that had been commissioned by the governor. She met a man who she fell in love with and Gabriella questions whether Helena would have abandoned her and her father for her lover. The diary consumes her as she reads page after page of sensual and loin tingling descriptions of their affair. Gabriella is puzzled and angry about her family's secrets, of being led to believe something was true that was not.

At the same time that Gabriella finds the diary, she meets a young man. Angel, with whom she falls in love. Gabriella and Angel are both rich and are part of high society but Angel has a darkness about him and is not accepted by the old money that Gabriella is associated with. Angel's father is the foremost drug lord of Cali and is currently in jail. Everywhere that Angel goes, he is accompanied by a cotillion of armed guards. Gabriella is swept off her feet and their love affair is as sensually and sexily described as any literary depiction I've every read. Now Gabriella is at a crossroads. Is she drawn to Angel because of her anger and puzzlement about her mother's actions or is she truly in love with this man for who he is, despite his family?

The book gives a very detailed and clear portrayal of Colombian culture and lifestyles. Having been to Colombia, I can say with some experience that the descriptions of armed bodyguards, cotillions of soldiered cars, the danger, the frenetic and joyful lifestyle, the parties, the fear and the celebrations all ring true.

The book is structured in chapters alternating Gabriella's experiences with pages from Helena's diary. The story flows beautifully in this manner as both women's lives are juxtaposed on one another. We feel the joy, the pain, the heat, and the quandaries that each woman experiences. We feel at one with them. I am not one who usually cries when I read books, but this book brought tears to my eyes - - of joy and of pain. It is a wonderful book and I look forward with anticipation to Ms. Cobo's next novel.

When Gabriella was four years old her mother, Helena, died in a plane crash. Her American father wanted her to know her Colombian heritage and family, so he took her to Cali to visit her maternal grandmother every year. As Gabriella got older, she would go for the visits by herself, staying with her grandmother for a month at a time.

When Gabriella is twenty-one, she goes for her month long visit. On her first night there, her cousin drags her to a party and she meets, and is attracted to, a dangerous young man. At first she tries to keep her relationship with him secret, but eventually decides she doesn't care who knows.

When her grandmother tells Gabriella that her old family home will be torn down to build luxury condos, Gabriella returns for one last visit. While she's there, she discovers her mother's old diary, which her mother wrote to her. What she reads in that diary changes Gabriella's life forever and causes her to make some decisions she might not have made otherwise.

TELL ME SOMETHING TRUE by Leila Cobo grabbed me from the start and never let go. This book is about relationships and the damage lies can do to them. The story alternates between Gabriella's viewpoint in the present day and her mother's viewpoint from the past via her diary, with one short chapter from Gabriella's grandmother's viewpoint. I thought Gabriella was a great character and I could really relate to her, even though our lives are nothing alike. I couldn't put the book down because I had to know what was in the diary and how it was going to affect Gabriella. Gabriella did some things that I didn't agree with, but I could understand why she made the choices she did. I think anyone who enjoys stories about relationships will enjoy this book.

This debut novel by Colombian writer Leila Cobo is simply one of the most beautiful, poignant books I've read in a long time. The story of Gabriella and her ill-fated mother, Helena, told in both their voices, will no doubt resonate with all of us who have fallen in love, who have suffered a loss, who have struggled to understand the capriciousness of love and fate. Set between Colombia and Los Angeles, this is a story of mothers and daughters, of loves won and lost. It is also a story of being torn between two totally different worlds. But the real beauty lies in the way Cobo describes her very imperfect characters and their struggles. The love story between Gabriella and the forbidden, "damaged" Angel is utterly heartwrenching, and, as a native Colombian, Cobo describes her imperfect country in terms both magical and stark. A word for the wise: Have a box of tissues handy.

"What if everything you believed about your family was a lie?" That's the cover's theme promise of Tell Me Something True, and if this theme were truly followed, it might have been an exceptional book. Certainly, it tackles many important issues: the defining relationships between mothers and daughters, balancing emotion and lust with responsibility, burying the past and embracing the future.

The plot centers on L.A.-raised Gabriella Richards, whose mother died when Gabriella was just a toddler in a Miami-Cali jet crash. While visiting her aristocratic and kind-hearted grandmother in Columbia, Gabriella chances across her mother's diary, written just for her. She learns that her mother -- at the time of her death -- was involved in a passionate relationship with a Columbia-born man. At the same time, Gabriella drifts into a relationship of her own with the handsome and charismatic son of one of Columbia's top drug dealers...a man who is nothing like his father. The question arises: how far do you go for love? How much is too much?

The novel is told in alternating chapters; Gabriella, and then diary entrees from Helena (Gabriella's mother). And herein lies the problem. The diary seems resoundingly false. First, it is difficult for the reader to distinguish who is Gabriella and who is Helena; both "voices" sound identical. The diary does not have that intimate, communicative feel of a diary; rather, it sounds somewhat pretentious and contrived. Neither of these two key characters stand individually and on her own.

It is also difficult to understand the draw of these forbidden love affairs. Certainly, there is much lust, which is a key component of initial love. But the men -- Gabriella's Angel and Helena's Juan Jose -- never rise far beyond the caricatures of a romance novel. They are, at least in Angel's case, strikingly handsome. But these tragic romances flirt with melodrama. And some of the dialogue -- such as when Gabriella refers to herself as an "execrable creature" is just too way over the top.

One more observation: All too often in literature, women who defy societal expectations and have passionate affairs (think: Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina, the list goes on and on) are ultimately "punished through death" for their indiscretions. Whether this author intended to follow in this path or not with Helena's death (this is revealed early on and is NOT a spoiler), there was still something disheartening about the "easy out." I say this, mindful that it was necessary as a plot device.

I note that I am in the minority; most others have given this novel far higher ratings. This novel has and will find its audience among those who enjoy romantic tales. Its description of Cali, Columbia comes across as genuine and real. For me, though, the novel had too many flaws to rate it more favorably.

I thought I was ordering a book that spoke of the experience of a Latina woman. I thought I was ordering literature, when in actuallity this book is like reading a soap opera. The story line was predictable and the characters were flat, and rather stereo-typical. There's a lot more to being an Hispanic woman than having long curly hair. I didn't get much more than that from this book. If you're looking for beach reading, then pick up this novel. If you're looking for something with depth, strong writing, and interesting perspectives, look elsewhere.

I just finished this book about 10 minutes ago and just had to come and give it a 5 star rating. I had never heard of this book, and randomly selected it during my last trip to the book store. I started reading and simply could not put it down. Cobo's characters are so easy to relate to. They jump off the paper and into your hearts. This story is amazing and I eagerly await future books from Cobo. Don't hesitate, read this book! I have a feeling I will keep this story within my heart for a long time.

Title: Tell Me Something True
Author: Leila Cobo
ISBN: 978-0-446-51936-6
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (a division of Hachette Book Group)
Address: 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
List Price: $[...] USA/[...] Canada

Leila Cobo's debut novel, Tell Me Something True, hooked me from the beginning, and kept my attention to the very end! This fast moving story is set in Cali, Colombia. Gabriella Richards, is a young woman and classical pianist who lives in Hollywood with her father. Gabriella had lost her mother at a very young age. She is visiting her grandmother in Colombia, as she does every year.

Several things transpire, leading Gabriella to find her mother's old diary, which she discovers is written to and for her. As she reads through her mother's diary entries she finds many lies have been told over the years to protect her mother's secrets from being revealed.

As Gabriella deals with her mixed emotions and feeling of betrayal, she gets involved with the son of a known drug dealer who she had met at a party. As the two become more fond of each other, Gabriella is led on a journey of awakenings throughout her four week summer vacation in Columbia. Gabriella continues her quest to find the truth about her mother's apparent secret life that she led without her prior to her fatal accident.

The story crescendo's towards the culmination of events that leads Gabriella to learn the truth about her mother, and face some unpleasing things about the life of her lover. As all is revealed, Gabriella learns some difficult life lessons and discovers a few things about herself in the process.

Leila Cobo displays her remarkable writing skills through her characters. They are credible, and believable. She draws the reader into their world with amazing ease. Leila herself is a native of Cali, Colombia. She has degrees in journalism and piano performance and is a former concert pianist. She is well known and respected in her field. She is the executive director of Latin content and programming for Billboard. She also includes an author's note with some anecdotal notes, giving the reader insight into the inspiration for her impressive debut novel.

- written by Jennifer Ochs
[...]

Twenty-one year old Colombian-American Gabriella has been raised in both countries. Her father resides in Southern California as a successful movie producer while her maternal grandmother, who she visits every Christmas, lives in South America. Her late mother was never been part of her life except for a photo of Helena that Gabriella loves.

A piano prodigy, Gabriella finds her mother's diary that shocks her; not just aboute her mom's affair though that is a stunner when she always of Helena as an earth angel. At a Hollywood gala, Gabriella and affluent pop music promoter Angel Silva meet and are attracted to one another. However, she has some doubts because his father is a jailed drug trafficker. Still as she falls in love, Gabriella keeps looking into what happened to her mother who died in a plane crash just after she apparently had a torrid affair.

This is a violent bittersweet romance starring an intriguing heroine whose image of her parents and grandma collapses with the reading of her Mami's diary. The truth is not as kind as the lie her love ones told her to shelter her from the transgressions of her Mami. Although at times too melodramatic especially when Angel enters Gabriella's life, TELL ME SOMETHING TRUE is a fascinating family drama that asks readers whether lying to protect a child even an adult child from the tarnished truth about a deceased loved one is acceptable. Using true events like the plane crash in 1995 of a flight from Miami to Cali, Columbia as anchors to her tale, fans will enjoy Gabriella's quest to learn who her Mami's secret lover was and why her Mami was on the plane.

Harriet Klausner

I loved this debut novel by Columbian writer Leila Cobo. Set between Columbia and Los Angeles it is the story of Gabriella, a concert pianist, and Helena, her late mother, told from both their perspectives. It's a beautifully written and poignant story of mothers and daughters, first love, loss, family and the gulf between two cultures. I literally couldn't put it down and ended up reading it at one sitting.

Not only a fast paced page turner, but it makes one think....WHAT IF there were major things about your mother that you didn't know? Also cool scenes from Colombia. Seems to be a fascinating country on many levels and one that I'd like to visit someday.