e-ARC, 480 pagesRelease Date: March 5, 2019Published by: Viking Books for Young Readers
Read from: March 26-31, 2019Stand-aloneSource: Netgalley (I received a copy of this book from the Publisher in exchange for a just and honest review. This did nothing to influence my review.)TW: Religious Discrimination, Racial Discrimination, Hate CrimesFor fans of: Historical Fiction, Romance, Fantasy, YAA powerful story of love, identity, and the price of fitting in or speaking out.
After her father’s death, Ruth Robb and her family transplant themselves in the summer of 1958 from New York City to Atlanta—the land of debutantes, sweet tea, and the Ku Klux Klan. In her new hometown, Ruth quickly figures out she can be Jewish or she can be popular, but she can’t be both. Eager to fit in with the blond girls in the “pastel posse,” Ruth decides to hide her religion. Before she knows it, she is falling for the handsome and charming Davis and sipping Cokes with him and his friends at the all-white, all-Christian Club.
Does it matter that Ruth’s mother makes her attend services at the local synagogue every week? Not as long as nobody outside her family knows the truth. At temple Ruth meets Max, who is serious and intense about the fight for social justice, and now she is caught between two worlds, two religions, and two boys. But when a violent hate crime brings the different parts of Ruth’s life into sharp conflict, she will have to choose between all she’s come to love about her new life and standing up for what she believes.
*MY THOUGHTS*
It’s very unusual that I can read (and actually finish) a Historical Fiction novel. I’m just not a fan of the genre. But sometimes I run across one that has something that I actually am interested in along with it and I’m suddenly a lot more into the novel. In the Neighborhood of True was this kind of novel .
“…there was power in the perfect red lipstick. According to Mademoiselle magazine, red draws attention to both your mouth and your words.“3%
Ruth Robb and her family have moved down to Atlanta, Ga after living in NYC. In Atlanta she realizes that things aren’t as they were in the North. Here her being Jewish hinders how popular she is and makes those she wants to like her look at her different. So, she neglects to tell anyone about that part of her. Suddenly, a hate crime makes her look at those she called friends and those who she thinks actually are.
“If everyone told the truth, Hitchcock wouldn’t have a career.“52%
As I said, historical fiction usually isn’t my go to genre. But when I saw that this was a book about a Jewish family that WASN’T about the Holocaust, I jumped on the chance to read it. This own voices story was a coming of age story that I hadn’t read before and that made it so different from others that we’ve seen before. The scary thing is there’s also a bit of a contemporary feel and that makes me so mad and so sad.
“No pearls, no power. […] There’s nothing that can’t be made better with a little adornment….“55%
As for the characters, there were times I wasn’t a fan of the MC, but I finally realized that she was a teen and the things that were important to her might not have been to me now, but they could have been when I was that age. I also had to remember that she had to make her own mistakes. And I was so proud of her when she ended up making the right decisions when they counted.
“You care too much what people think“69%
Really the only thing I didn’t really care for was the ending. It felt rushed, like it was over too fast. Definitely something I would have tried to stretch out or something. I felt like I missed out on something, but I also get that maybe the author didn’t want to give that much time to the “bad guy/girl” and wanted her focus more on Ruth. Whatever the case may be, this ending didn’t work for me.
“After all that’s happened this last week, its even more important to remember the beauty in this city. I’d rather we concede the ugliness, Mother, or as you might say, the unpleasantness.“89%
This book is very different than what I would normally read. This is probably why I enjoyed it so much! It reads easy and I can take a break from the normal in my life. It turned out to be just the break I needed!
Overall, I give this
*EXTRA*
One of the things I’m most intrigued by in historical fiction is the research of that time period the author did, and what if anything from the book was actually a real thing…… So course, I went on a hunt too find something that was big in the book: Mademoiselle magazine!
The other thing in this book I was really intrigued by was the actual thing this book is based on, the bombing. I read the Author’s Note in the book, and from that alone I learned so much. I went on to do some of my own research on it. I don’t want to post pictures here because they were so sad, but I can link you to the site I found most helpful! (Visit it HERE) I hated that things ended up that way, and I hope that one day they got justice for what they did in some way.
Do you look at historical fiction books and find out what is real from them?
Do you enjoy looking for the facts like I do?
Let me know in the comments!