The Kindest Lie

Adult fiction 

     Ruth seems to have it all: an Ivy League education, a profession, a new house, and an equally prosperous husband.  But she has a secret:

"No one talked about what happened in the summer of 1997 in the house where Ruth Tuttle had grown up.  In fact, there were days when she remained certain she had never given birth at all.  Somehow, she had convinced herself that her life began when she drove away from that little shotgun house in Indiana without her baby.  She had been only seventeen."

     When Ruth's husband, Xavier, starts wanting children to fill the new house she starts thinking of the son she only got to hold a few minutes.  Did he get good parents?  How was he doing?  Could she have a chance to make up for eleven lost years?  She decides to go back to the town she grew up in to try to locate him.

     Ruth returns to a town that is hurting.  The factory that had sustained its population has closed.  Lots of people, including her brother, are scrambling to find work.

     Ruth's quest is not appreciated by her family.  They'd managed for her to finish her pregnancy and give birth at home and arranged the adoption clandestinely so she wouldn't lose out on her Ivy League future.  They can't see why she suddenly wants to look back.

     And what if she does find her son?  How will her arrival effect him and his family?

     Ironically as the narrative opens Obama is elected president.  Racism, both personal and systematic, in the small town very much negates any notions of a post racial society.

     I think The Kindest Lie is a complex and engaging narrative.  But you don't have to take my for it.  Jodi Picoult raves about this "deep dive into how we define family, what it means to be a mother, and what it means to grow up black."

On a purrrsonal note, precious Tobago is on a diet.  She isn't a chonk by any stretch of the imagination.  But she has put on weight since her adoption.  I don't want her to be overweight because that would put her at risk for diabetes.  I knew a couple who had a dog with diabetes.  They had to give him shots four times a day.  I couldn't do that and work.  Plus I don't think baby girl wants all those shots.  ( Jules)

Shots!!!  Every day!!!  What a nightmare!!! (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to the best little girl cat in the world.

Jules Hathaway 

Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone