Nothing But the Truth in A Book Walks Into a Bar

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Dec 20, 2018 Travis rated it it was ok

This story is aimed at high school or junior high school audience, and it shows. There is little to no character development: Philip, the antagonist, is identifiable only by his love of track and hatred of his ninth-grade English class; Philip's parents only distinguishing characteristic is their steadfast support for their son; the defining characteristic of Miss Narwin, the protagonist, is her profession as a teacher; the school administrators are little more than plot devices; Philip's fellow This story is aimed at high school or junior high school audience, and it shows. There is little to no character development: Philip, the antagonist, is identifiable only by his love of track and hatred of his ninth-grade English class; Philip's parents only distinguishing characteristic is their steadfast support for their son; the defining characteristic of Miss Narwin, the protagonist, is her profession as a teacher; the school administrators are little more than plot devices; Philip's fellow students are distinguishable only in terms of their sex and their names. There is no depth to any of these characters.

The lack of character development, though it is certainly a weakness, is perhaps a bit understandable in this rather short and largely plot-driven novel. The plot is interesting enough to carry the reader forward effortlessly, but there is one rather gaping flaw: a key aspect of the story is a newspaper article that is full of half-truths based solely on Philip's rendition of his conflict with Miss Narwin. The school superintendent, after investigating this matter, writes up a clear, concise memo that addresses all the problems with Philip's version of the story and that completely exonerates Miss Narwin. If this memo had been sent to the reporter who wrote the original newspaper article or to any of the other reporters who follow up on the story, the negative publicity that school received from the initial article could have been immediately countered, but this is never done. The school superintendent, after drawing up this memo, decides, inexplicably, to try to make a scapegoat of Miss Narwin. Miss Narwin herself is strangely reluctant to defend herself: had she told any of the reporters who contacted the exact details of the story, the firestorm of bad publicity could have been ended promptly.

Nothing But the Truth begins with an interesting premise, but it is a frustrating story in that none of the characters who could easily remedy the conundrum that arises do so. As such, it is simply not a very realistic story. I suppose that this story might work better for younger readers who may be more interested in plot than in characterization and who are less likely to notice or object to the gaping hole in the plot. ...more

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Dec 21, 2018 Jet rated it it was amazing

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Jan 08, 2019 Jennifer added it

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A Book Walks Into a Bar