quippe | Entries tagged with e. lockhart

The Blurb On The Back:

IMOGEN is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook and a cheat.

JULE is a fighter, a social chameleon and an athlete.

IMOGEN and JULE. JULE and IMOGEN.

An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two. A bad romance, or maybe three.

Blunt objects, disguises, blood and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies and villains.

A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.

A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

A girl who is … a genuine fraud.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

E Lockhart’s YA psychological thriller is for the most part a well-constructed, gripping story that owes more than a passing debt to THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY while making great use of consecutive flashbacks to create tension, mystery and establish Jule and her relationship with Imogen but is ultimately let down by Imogen being thinly drawn and an anti-climactic ending that left me really disappointed.

GENUINE FRAUD was released in the United Kingdom on 5th September 2017. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

The Blurb On The Back:

We were liars.

We are beautiful and privileged.

We are cracked and broken.

A tale of love and romance.

A tale of tragedy.

Which are lies?

Which is truth?

You decide.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

E. Lockhart’s literary YA novel nods at KING LEAR and THE GREAT GATSBY in a character study about wealth and privilege and the bubbles it can create for those born into it. I really enjoyed the literary allusions, especially as Lockhart ties them in to the way Cady’s grandfather manipulates his three daughters but Cady’s first person narration is overwritten and overly dramatic at times (particularly her constant references to bleeding) and I didn’t believe in her romance with the idealistic Gat. The central problem with the book though is that you’re being asked to empathise with essentially a poor, little rich girl who’s utterly blind to the problems of others in the world and who can’t even remember the names of her servants. I personally found that a hard sell. In addition, when the big reveal comes as to what happened to Cady, it feels underwhelming and without wishing to go into spoilers, it reinforced my total lack of sympathy for her situation. Ultimately, I can see why this has been so critically well received, but it ultimately wasn’t my thing.