Customer Reviews

A Version of the Truth

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

 

 

Tanya Eby is a relatively new narrator's voice for this listener - and she's a pleasure to hear. Her voice is distinct, well modulated, and pleasing. She conveys the protagonist's angst, determination, and joy with only a slight change in pitch. To some, this may seem like a minor detail but it's quite effective.

For openers in this, the second novel by the gifted writing team of Kaufman and Mack, we hear Cassie say, "I didn't intend to lie on my resume. It just happened.." Hmmmm, perhaps so but Cassie is a master of pretense. She's been faking it since childhood, initially pretending to read in school by memorizing, then telling her mother she had done her homework at school, and trying to convince friends that being called "dumb" didn't matter.

Now, she's 30-years-old and badly in need of a paying job. Her only assets seem to be some years spent at a wildlife center and Sam, a smart (sometimes foul) mouthed parrot bequeathed to her by a former tutor. Discouragement is now her middle name as all the employment agencies want to know why she didn't finish high school, and then show her the door as quickly as possible. So, she does what she's done in the past - she fakes it, her resume that is. She lists the credentials she wishes she had, describes who she would like to be.

Cassie does land an office job at a topnotch university with two bosses, both professors. One, William Conner, is incredibly handsome and he sees behind Cassie's mask, sees things about her that she does not yet know herself. However, smooth sailing eventually turns into stormy seas, and Cassie stands to lose everything.

A Version of the Truth is laced with humor, unpredictability, and vivid imagery. Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

This is an example of smart chick lit. I love all kinds of chick lit, but sometimes I get annoyed with the same kind of protagonist. Cassie Shaw was completely different kind of woman. Cassie is a widow, uneducated, loves animals, and has a reading disorder. She decides to lie about her education on a resume and gets a job in a university. She has found her niche but all good things must come to an end, especially if it was based on a lie. Will she be able to overcome who she was, who she is, and who she wants to be?

I have mixed feelings about this book. It left me wanting more. After I finished reading this book I was still hoping for something to happen. I didn't feel the closure that I get with most book at the end. The ending seemed to be really rushed, and the epilogue didn't feel in the gaps much.

In their sophomore novel, A VERSION OF THE TRUTH, Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack spin the tale of a late bloomer's reinvention of herself and a lie that threatens to undo it all.

Just as their central character, Dora, was charming and neurotic in their debut novel, LITERACY AND LONGING IN L.A., the spotlight this time is on the likable but troubled Cassie Shaw, who is 30, newly widowed and needs a job. Her credentials aren't enough to get her much more than a "want fries with that?" sort of gig; her dyslexia made traditional learning difficult. Cassie quit school at 16 after she flunked the second, third and ninth grades, making do with a high school equivalency test. Come to think of it, "late bloomer" might be a generous term.

Cassie is neither grieving the death of her husband Frank, a cheater and a liar, nor regretting leaving her part-time job as a cashier at his towing business to work at the wildlife center. Up until now, she has given most of her love to her mom and her African gray parrot, Sam, a character in his own right.

The lovely backdrop to Cassie's story is the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and Topanga Canyon, a half hour from L.A. There, she lives with her affable hippy mother, who charmingly still believes in Bigfoot and, most importantly, Cassie.

The story opens as --- after lying on her résumé and inventing a college degree --- Cassie lands an entry-level job at a university doing office work and odd jobs for a group of professors in the behavioral science department. Once in academia, she gets a physical makeover (expensive dress, better hair) and begins an interior makeover as well. Soon, she is immersed in classes and classic literature, and for the first time feels that she's on the verge of becoming a woman she can be proud of. Men follow, including the wealthy Freddy and the charming Conner, along with a (literally) steamy sex scene and a session where she's sharing hits on a bong. Cassie is never sure if she's just a one-night stand to be trifled with, or if she'll ever be taken seriously. And despite her age, she comes across as immature. The reader will need to resist shouting, "Grow up!" which perhaps is the authors' intention.

Kaufman and Mack's first-person narration allows the reader to run the gamut of emotions Cassie feels in a personal way. Tiff, her best friend who is rough around the edges and always in trouble, is the believable, down-home, partying girlfriend who reminds Cassie of where she came from. Shoplifting, getting drunk and causing a ruckus, Tiff alternately cheers Cassie up, embarrasses her, or gets her into hot water.

Of course, there is that little matter of the résumé. It's a foregone conclusion for the reader that Cassie is going to be burned by it in the end. What makes the trip through the pages interesting is Cassie herself --- a lost soul with plenty of pluck whose mistakes don't keep her from forging ahead, although not without misgivings.

Humor leavens the text, and there are some inviting nature tidbits. One of my favorite moments that brings the two together: when the migrating monarch butterflies swirl around her, Cassie muses, "Legend says they are the souls of dead relatives returning home. Lord, I hope not." Anyone who has ever been in academia --- whether as a teacher or a student --- will resonate with some of the scenes involving bored students on field trips or drunken faculty parties.

A sub-theme of the book, Cassie's discovery of the are-they-extinct-or-aren't-they ivory-billed woodpeckers, may stretch the credibility of readers who are bird enthusiasts. She never took a picture of them? Just written notes? Were the birds ever real? Her version of the truth is up for grabs.

More believable is Cassie's struggle to accept herself for who she is and discover who she can become with the right sort of motivation. This message will be an encouragement to underachievers or women who need to overcome a difficult past.

--- Reviewed by Cindy Crosby. Contact Cindy at [...].

Contemporary fiction doesn't often give us an underdog as protagonist (unless it's the assistant, bitching about her boss) and for that alone, Jennifer Kaufman and Karen Mack deserve credit. Cassie Shaw is a high-school dropout, whose dyslexia has taken a serious toll not only on her academic and professional life, but also on her self-esteem. It didn't help that she was married to a jerk, whose death has left her relieved but broke. Tired of being passed over by jobs, she makes up a BA in her resume and starts working as an assistant at the local university. There she's exposed to a world and men she would never have met otherwise, and has the opportunity to create a new life for herself -- although it is based on a lie.

Despite a slow (very, very slow) beginning, A Version of the Truth is a worthy novel, with compelling and believable characters, that doesn't fall on clichés (Sam, the parrot, is absolutely hilarious). I found some of the outdoor descriptions tedious, and the writing uneven (which is to be expected, I guess, in a novel that has two authors), but still I'd recommend this, particularly to nature lovers.

This is chick lit that works even for an old hen like me. I knew nothing about the book but it caught my attention in the paperback section at the library. Ordinarily I avoid collaboratively-written novels but these two writers work together well and have written an intelligent and interesting story.

Being dyslexic has to be a challenge and even more so when not diagnosed early and the learner not given the proper attention and help to overcome the problem. Heroine Cassie did not receive enough of that help and at 30 feels a failure in life. The book takes her on a journey of discovery to find out who she is, what she wants and how she can achieve her goals. I found the story to be interesting and inspirational and far superior to much of the more usual fluffy chick lit with rather vapid and superficial heroines.

Bird-watcher Cassie Shaw goes against all she believes in when in desperation thanks to being newly single and thirty she lies on a resume to land a much needed job. In no time at all she finds herself employed by an elite college and working for two professors that are extremely different. One is sexy animal behaviorist Professor Conner. This is the man that sees behind the façade Cassie holds up to the world and under his tutelage her worlds open up and she begins to learn things about herself she didn't know exists. This would be perfect if her new found insight didn't come with the price of a fib. How can she reconcile what she has learned while holding on to a lie?

This story is full of vivid imagery, the reader will feel as if they are right beside Cassie. There is also wit and humor peppered through this engaging story that many readers may be able to relate to, that is the struggle some of our lives take when we least expect it. The authors have penned an enjoyable story that entertains.

In reading the "chick-lit" genre, there are certain things that I've learned to expect: Female main character in some big city world looking to be a publicist or something like it, whose life has just fallen apart due to the man in her life cheating/leaving, trying to find/rediscover herself, landing in the lap of the man of her dreams, saving the day through her various antics, and living happily ever after.

A VERSION OF THE TRUTH is refreshing in the sense that it's almost completely opposite! The main female character is not some hot (haute) fashionista with loads of designer goods and high taste. She's a small town girl that struggles professionally and personally and comes off as more real rather than some other characters I've come across in the chick-lit genre. Her discussion of nature, which has been looked down upon in other reviews, shows more of the depth and complexity of her character. People escape in different ways, where some shop, she connects with nature.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants get away from the "typical" chick-lit book. I'd go into more of the differences, but I wouldn't want to ruin the ending for anyone :-)

I initially liked this book but found the last quarter of it to be very depressing and even though the writer gives us a cheery epilogue I was not convinced. If you love animals and especially if you are a bird lover, you might find this to be a very sad book.

This is a delightful and intelligent book about a woman with a failed past (high-school drop-out, failed marriage) who through determination pretends to be the kind of person she always wanted to be. She succeeds in a new job and a new life, but struggles with the question, "Is a person who they think they are or who others perceive her to be?" Because of dyslexia, which she is slowly overcoming, she has told a lie to get her job. How she resolves that problem and learns to become comfortable with her new self is a great read. Not to be left out is her African gray parrot named Sam and the array of colorful characters. I really enjoyed the story, but wish the derogatory personification of soldiers had been left out.