Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

May 09, 2011

Tatiana rated it:

I know, very few of my Goodreads' friends have read or liked What I Saw And How I Lied, but I am so very grateful that such stories are even written and published these days. Historical fiction is not in vogue right now, unless, of course, it involves cattiness and soapy melodrama, it seems.

For one, I loved the atmosphere of this novel. It gave me the same feeling of strange nostalgia for post-WWII America, the way Mad Men does - red lips, cigarettes, glamor and privilege, with a gen More...

9 comments like (27 people liked it)

Jan 06, 2012

Leanne rated it:

For some reason, I avoided reading this book for awhile. Maybe it's because it was poorly received by my Goodreads friends. Maybe because I didn't quite enjoy Blundell's other novel, Strings Attached, just as much as I thought I would, and was reluctant to begin What I saw and How I lied. For whatever reason, I'm quite ashamed to say that I hadn't picked this up years earlier when I first heard of it. I really should trust Printz Honour Awards and finalists more often.

What I saw and More...

5 comments like (12 people liked it)

Sep 06, 2011

Kat rated it:

There are good novels and then there are good novels. This one is the latter.

However, it's hard to pin down why it's such an amazing novel.

Sure, I could comment that the writing was flawless and brilliant. The characters were fleshed out, detailed and intricate. The setting was technicoloured, nostalgic and almost touchable.

But I think what really makes this novel is the gritty, raw, awkwardness of it.

Evie is on the cusp of womanhood. She's More...

5 comments like (30 people liked it)

Sep 20, 2010

karen rated it:

stay tuned, there will be mary lou retton if you are patient....

so first of all, i love this title. i was supposed to read three books from the list for this week's teen class; i ended up reading five because i am such a super-nerd, but i think it is good for me, because these aren't the types of teen fiction i would ordinarily pick up - if i read teen fiction it is pretty much only survival-in-a-dystopian-setting kind of stuff, certainly not "first love in a complicated, postwa More...

59 comments like (31 people liked it)

Nov 14, 2008

Lynn rated it:

This is one of those books that I am kicking myself for not reading earlier! A kind friend sent the galley and I put it in stack to read but didn't get to it until the NBA announced their shortlist.

I enjoyed so much about this outstanding book. It was extremely atmospheric! The sense of place and time was skillfully rendered. I could hear the swish of skirts, smell hints of cigarette smoke and perfume and feel the humidity in the air. Set in postwar America, both the protagonist More...

1 comment like (12 people liked it)

Oct 27, 2008

Cindy rated it:

Wow. I loved this book. I think teens will be intrigued by the mystery and the coming of age story. How Evie evolves as a young woman discovering her sexuality and its power is very well realized. It's a very sensual book, and not just in a sexual way. The descriptions include all of the senses and bring the characters to life. The post-WWII story is different from what most teen books set during this time explore. I feel like I am fumbling with this write up and am not doing justice to the book More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 02, 2011

Stephanie rated it:

From the tone at the beginning of the book, I feared that I wouldn't be able to get into this book, but I did and it was fantastic. The book had a great setting - the time period that it was set in was extremely interesting (postwar America), allowing the book to explore issues such as sexism, homophobia and anti-semitism. There was a strong sense of atmosphere and the clothing, make-up and mannerisms of the characters really added to a sense of 'nostalgia'. From the half-way point, I was absolu More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 26, 2008

evelyn rated it:

i guess there is nothing wrong with this book winning the national book award for young adult lit this year. it was a fun read that was well-written; a good coming-of-age story wrapped up with a sort-of mystery. not sure this was the best young adult book of the year? definitely a good way to spend some down time at work, though.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2009

Jamie rated it:

GREAT GREAT COVER!
But the book inside really backs it up. The author gives just enough information so that you *think* you know what's going on, but you're not *sure.* You THINK you're sure, but.....Plots twist and turn, characters are not what they seem, and then they are, and the ending is magnifico.

I don't think that the writing is stellar, which is why I only gave it 4 stars, but you can't beat this book for plot.

For kids who have to read a historical fiction, a More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 05, 2008

46milestogo rated it:

I'm shocked this was nominated for a National Book Award. It's not a bad read, but it's certainly nothing special. And the setting is one I am going to have to work very hard to get my teens interested in, and I don't think they'll come back as rewarded as they are when they read something like Tamar.

7 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2008

Bobby rated it:

I normally really enjoy the National Book Award winners for Youth Literature (more so than the Newberys), but the National Book Award's streak has sort of ended for me. This one was good but nothing special like previous year's recipients.

Set after World War II, 15-year-old Evie feels more like a kid than a mature woman. When her family takes an abrupt vacation to Florida, Evie sees this as her chance to transform herself into the woman she longs to be. She soon meets 23-year-old More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 11, 2010

Ixcel rated it:

The book I read Was What I saw and How I lied By Judy Blundell. This book is a Historical Fiction Based om World War II. This book definently contain good forshadowing. It makes you think and it all ties up at the end. In the Begining it it confusing, but as i read on, it all started coming together. The book is about a sixteen year old girl named Evie spooner. Her father Joe just came back from World War II and everything was going well. After they recieved calls from an ex-GI, Peter Coleridge, More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Aug 11, 2009

Liberty rated it:

A fantastic coming of age novel from Judy Blundell.
Evie- an inexperienced 15 year old, struggling to understand the changes she is going thru, falls in love with Peter, a soldier who fought in the war with Joe, her stepdad. But something is wrong. Evie feels that there is something she should know but doesn't. As she watches the interactions between her parents, Pete, and the other guests at the Florida hotel where they are on vacation she grows increasingly uneasy. She is torn between he More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 27, 2008

Matthew rated it:

A YA noir set in the 1950s. The writing is superb and transporting, rendering the characters and setting in vivid, sweltering detail. I love books where the reader knows or suspects what's going on, but the protagonist does not. To achieve that without compromising the narrative with artifice is an admirable accomplishment. My only complaint about the book is that I didn't really love the main character. I liked her okay, but that's about it. It does deal with mature themes and content, in More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 04, 2011

Amanda rated it:

(1.5 stars)

WWII has ended, and Evie’s stepfather has come back home safely. The family travels from NYC to Florida on a spontaneous vacation, only to be followed by Peter, a young soldier who had been in Evie’s stepfather’s company during the war. Blinded by her crush on Peter, Evie fails to see all the lies that are being spun around her, until tragedy breaks them apart and she’s forced to pick her loyalties.

Meh. I’m in two minds about this book, but probably leaning more to More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 27, 2010

Maren rated it:

This awesome book is written in the voice of 16-year-old Evie and follows her coming-of-age experiences while on a vacation in Palm Beach with her parents during the post-war years of the 1940s. During her time in Palm Beach, Evie gets her first formal dress, falls in love, survives a hurricane, and testifies in her parent's murder trial.

While the first half of the novel contains the usual stuff of a coming-of-age story, the second half of the book centers around Evie's decisions More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 19, 2009

Michael rated it:

Note on finishing: Were it possible, I'd give this four-and-a-half stars. Not because I'm niggardly with my five-star ratings, though I think that's true. But because there is something slightly disappointing about the ending of this novel, even though I don't believe it could end any other way. Still thought it was terrific, and that it managed to deal with a lot of ugly life experiences while remaining a sharply written page-turner, and I recommend it.

Note on starting: I didn't thi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 28, 2009

Hayden rated it:

I was hesitant to read this at first because it just seemed so Atonement-y. But it really isn't. Also, it won the National Book Award.

It's 1947, and 16-year-old Evie's stepfather Joe has just returned from WWII. One day, apparently on a whim, he packs up Evie and her mother and drives them from their home in Queens to Palm Beach. There they meet a glamourous couple called the Graysons, as well as Peter Coleridge, a young soldier who fought in the war with Joe. Evie falls in love More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 23, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

Reviewed by Sarah Bean the Green Bean Teen Queen for TeensReadToo.com

World War II is over and life is slowly getting back to normal. For Evie Spooner, that means having her father, Joe, back from the war and her parents back together again. On a whim, Joe decides to uproot the family for an extended vacation to Florida.

While there, Evie and her family run into Peter Coleridge, a young ex-GI who served with Joe in the war. Peter is charming and movie-star handsome, and Ev More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 08, 2008

Allison rated it:

QUESTION? How did this win the National Book Award? If the first half of the book had been put into 3-or-so chapters so that the reader could get to the things that happen in the story, it would have been a lot better. I'm so glad that I finally finished it so I can stop sighing through an award winning novel wanting so badly to move on to the other books in my "to read" pile. I wasn't captivated by the "period" of this period piece. I wasn't captivated by the setting. More...

11 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2009

Kelly rated it:

This book won the National Book Award this year. I've never read a bad National Book Award winner, and this book was no exception with its excellent writing, compelling story, and realistic portrayal of America after World War II.[return][return]However, I've now read all but one of this year's National Book Award nominees in the Young People's Literature category, and this book wasn't the standout for me. My favorite of the nominees (and of the year) was The Disreputable History of Frankie Land More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Dec 08, 2008

Erin rated it:

I'm still mulling this one over. I thought the book had a slow start to it, but once it picked up it stayed fast paced. The writing was good, the characters well drawn and the sense of time and place were well done and vivid. All of that said I don't entirely feel that it deserved the National Book Award for young people. When all was said and done some of the plot points were disappointing and really one of the biggest secrets I saw coming immediately.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 23, 2009

Kristi rated it:

Loved it. In her acknowledgments the author credits her editor for being receptive to a "coming-of-age story involving blackmail, adultery, and possible homicide." Set in the 1940's right after WWII, the story feels like a throw-back to some of the edgier films made during that time. Although the main character is only fifteen, I can see older teens enjoying this one too.

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 27, 2011

Kelly rated it:

This was recommended by 2 lovely ladies that I work with. Although Historical Fiction is not usually my favorite genre, I was intrigued by the setting (Palm Beach, FL) for a majority of the book. As I started reading, the style got to me immediately. It was very familiar-so I checked out the author to realize she is Jude Watson. I love her YA books-Premonitions and Disappearance. The book flows so well that I couldn't put it down. The setting and characters are beautifully described.

More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 29, 2008

Jennifer rated it:

A noir drama. Wow, suspense! Great pacing throughout. Evie is an innocent kid who gets a crush, and is thrust unwittingly into a maelstrom of blackmail, betrayal and perhaps... MURTHER?!? (cue ominous music...) Loved, and thought it well deserving of its accolades.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 24, 2012

Sarah rated it:

Brilliantly written and very interesting, but quite grim. The whole tone of the book was so gravid with dread that you expected something terrible to happen from the first page, and of course it did. Some of Evie's perceptions and insights, the thoughts and decisions she made, were so clever and wise that they seemed a little out of place for a fifteen year old, but then again maybe not.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 30, 2008

Marya rated it:

This is a well written work, but after watching an overdramatized PBS special on the theft of art during WWII, I just couldn't stomach another steal-from-the-Jews plot line. Besides, it's really hard to pull off a good WWII/Holocaust story without turning such a momentous event into a MacGuffin. I barely made it through the first few chapters.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 12, 2009

Ricki rated it:

The historical background saved this one. But... I didn't like any of the characters in this novel, so it was difficult to get into it. Evie was desperate and naive (in an annoying way) and her mom was self-absorbed. The men were liars and cheats. I am a bit confused as to how it won an award.

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2009

Tee-by-the-Sea rated it:

A taut "mystery" novel, with the narrator a 15 year old girl growing up in the immediate years after World War II. This is actually a YA book, but I found myself loving the writing style and read it in two nights.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 22, 2008

J.D. rated it:

If James M. Cain or Jim Thompson wrote YA, this is the book they'd write. Fifteen year old Evie gets in way over her head with hustlers, blackmailers, and a possible murder in the up and coming boomtowns of post-WW2 Florida. One of the best books I read this year.

0 comments like

reviews