ONE OF US IS LYING BY KAREN M. MCMANUS: A BOOK REVIEW
On Twitter, I met a lady who suggested I read a Young Adult book. I initially declined, as a lot of the books in this category have the same story, so imagine my surprise when I eventually read this book. It gave off a vibe of the 1980’s movie, The Breakfast Club, with a sprinkling of Agatha Christie; so, here’s to hoping this review makes you consider reading the book.
What do you think the perfect suicide is? A painless one? A suicide where the whole world watches? A suicide with a poetic suicide note? You could guess a thousand things, but I am sure a suicide staged to look like a murder that incriminates your most hated enemies would not be at the top of your list.
Well, that is what this story is about. It starts out with your four typical teenage movie stereotypes — a jock, a princess, a smarty pants and a criminal — and then, there’s our puppet master — the omniscient narrator, the owner of the school’s infamous gossip site that reveals all the nasty secrets people would rather have buried six feet under. At first, it seems our narrator has been murdered, most likely by an unfortunate victim of his gossip site, in a room with four other students who are unwilling witnesses to his death, till information surfaces that our innocent witnesses are not soo innocent, each with a grueling secret they would rather have remain unknown — secrets that were scheduled to be released the day after our narrator’s unlikely demise.
The story explores how four people from different worlds realize how easy it is to lose all you think you have once your secrets come out, how friends and family would leave you once they realize you’re not the perfect being they thought you were, how you realize that building a life based on stereotypes and people’s perception of you is like a perfect mask, and the slightest crack reveals the human behind the mask.
It also explores what depression can do to people, how everyone smiling around you might be nursing deep scars underneath their outward persona, how the desire to belong and fit in can push us to do things we would later regret.
In all, life is a harsh thing, and we are all trying to fit in and find our place in this world. So, to all that will read this, suicide isn’t the answer. Talk to someone and if you feel you can’t talk to people around you, then reach out to MentallyAwareNG or other mental health agencies around you. You deserve a chance to live out your dreams to the fullest.
To add a little sunlight to the gloom, the book gives us some beautiful endings, as our characters discover themselves, fall in love and forge true and beautiful friendships. I hope this review makes you want to read this book.
Stay safe everyone.
Millicent Maduka,
Medicine, 500L
