Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

I generally don’t mean to imitate people I’m with on a regular basis–I really don’t–but if their accents and/or manner of speaking are noticeable, I do it unconsciously.  This is why listening to an 18-hour audiobook that takes place in the South is dangerous; for the last week or two, I’ve been tamping down the urge to twang and yet hearing it come out in my voice anyway when I’m, say, reading to my kids.  And since my linguistic roots are in RI and UT, I doubt anything coming out of me would be anything but annoying to people actually from that part of the country.

Such was the recreational hazard that came with listening to Annie Barrows’ The Truth According to Us, a novel of Depression-Era West Virginia, but I didn’t care, because I LOVED the voices. (I’m glad I listened to it rather than reading the physical book, and that’s a rare feeling for me.  Try the audio if you can!)  There were several, almost like a radio play, and it totally worked–especially since bits and pieces of the story are told in letters.

Aannyywwaayy…if you’re wondering why I haven’t gotten around to talking about the plot yet, it’s because I can’t decide what’s a spoiler and what’s not.  In a book that’s well over 500 pages, do events from, say, 100 or so pages in count?  This book is about the daughter of a wealthy senator who gets booted out to support herself on a WPA job, as well as the family with whom she boards–only it’s really more about the family than it is about her, except that it’s more complicated than that.  I’ve seen Willa compared to Scout Finch, and the comparison isn’t terrible; the rest of the characters are really just too hard to describe without giving anything away.  What I can say about The Truth According to Us is that I stopped counting the number of times I laughed out loud, but there are depths of pain to balance out the humor.  The ending is satisfying but surprising, or at least it was for me, and the story will stick with you long after you’ve reached the last page.   Read it, listen to it, whatever, but it’s worth experiencing either way.*

*There is some language–just so you know.