Hi everyone! I’m so excited to be a part of the blog tour for In the Neighborhood of True today! While I don’t usually read historical fiction, this novel sounded too important to ignore.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In the Neighborhood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton
Release Date: April 9th 2019 from Algonquin Young Readers
A 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.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SUSAN KAPLAN CARLTON currently teaches writing at Boston University. She is the author of the YA novels Love & Haight and Lobsterland. Her writing has also appeared in Self, Elle, Mademoiselle, and Seventeen. She lived for a time with her family in Atlanta, where her daughters learned the finer points of etiquette from a little pink book and the power of social justice from their synagogue. You can visit her at her website at susankaplancarlton.com.
MY REVIEW
*While this is a blog tour, I stand by my honest thoughts on the book. I read it with an open mind and I honestly enjoyed the novel. I would not be supporting this blog tour otherwise.
I don’t usually read historical fiction but In the Neighborhood of True sounded important and it definitely is worth the read.
After Ruth’s father passes away, she moves to the town where her mother grew up but it is widely different than New York as she is used to. It’s 1958 and the Southern small town she’s moved to is definitely not accepting. In an attempt to make friends, she decides to hide the fact that she’s Jewish but when her synagogue is hit by a hate crime, she has to decide whether hiding her identity is something she needs to hide.
I really liked Ruth. She definitely seemed like a real teenager and I think she definitely had a strong voice in In the Neighborhood of True. I think her exploration of identity would definitely be relatable to people today even. Ruth was definitely a character I was rooting for and I was really engaged reading her story. While there are elements of romance in the novel, they did not really feel so much like the real focus of Ruth’s story. The romance elements were interesting to read but I definitely got the sense that the novel was more about self-discovery than anything else.
The novel was well-written and fast-paced and I really did enjoy it. In the Neighborhood of True has strong themes of acceptance that I think are necessary even 50 years after the novel takes place. My usual aversion to historical fiction is totally gone with this one and I definitely recommend reading this novel if you get a chance.
content warning: this novel takes place in the 1950s and uses language modern audiences would find offensive (homophobic, racist & anti-semitic slurs).
Thanks again to the publisher for including me on this blog tour! I highly recommend In the Neighborhood of True!
