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A review by mxhermit
In the Neighborhood of True by Susan Kaplan Carlton
4.0
CW: underage drinking, anti-Semitism
An intense, familiar, heart breaking novel about choice, morality, and family, In the Neighborhood of True is the story of Ruth, a young teen girl who is faced with a complex web of action, feeling, racism, and anti-Semitism when she and her family move to 1950's Atlanta after the death of her father.
What is justice, right or wrong, and who is she to decide whether to stand up? Reading Ruth's story as she figures out who she is, what her strength is and what she will do with it, is a mighty important tale from Susan Kaplan Carlton. I want to thank Brittani Hilles from Algonquin Books & Algonquin Young Readers for reaching out to me & giving me the chance to review this book.
Taking place in 1959, there was a lot of particularly time period sentiments that were blood boiling in their existence. From Mr. Hank (Ruth's grandfather) brushing aside his daughter, Ruth's Mother, desire & passion regarding covering important news stories because his paper "needs men to hop on those stories", to the decorum rules that Ruth and her peers are having drummed into them, there a quite a few occurrences of tongue biting in the reading of this book. These pale next to the religious bigotry that begin in vocal asides and snowball into horrible actions as the story continues.
A terrifying thought is that there are echoes of sexist & religiously intolerant practices, if not worse ones, in our current atmosphere. It was saddening to read about the past & realize what's changed and what we only think has. From larger scale things to the micro acts throughout, Carlton took care to craft a story that didn't neglect the layers of life.
Ruth, the main character and whose lense everything is filtered through, is a complicated girl. She is a teenager going through complex emotions that would be hard enough at any time in history but especially so given the events, historical and personal, going on around her.
As the daughter of a Jewish father and a mother who converted from Christianity, there's a pull as to what she should be loyal to. When her family, after the death of her father, moves from New York City to her mother's hometown of Atlanta and into the guest home of her grandparents, there's an entire atmosphere of anti-Semitism to contend with. Ruth wants to belong, a reasonable thing, but what will that cost?
There are choices she has to make along the way that show what she may or may not be betraying in regards to her own moral compass, consciously or not, as well as what she's not really seeing going on around her (i.e. hearing about integration protests on the radio but dismissing them when she realizes the report doesn't contain any names she recognizes).
Carlton's characterization strength extends to setting. From details regarding fashion to the way Mr. Hank has a wireless set up to receive news reports in his home, the 1950's were exquisitely portrayed on the page. Once sunken into the story, admittedly as explained above there were the difficult choices and topics to contend with, but as well written as the book was, it was one that on multiple sides made it one that I didn't want to put down.
An intense, familiar, heart breaking novel about choice, morality, and family, In the Neighborhood of True is the story of Ruth, a young teen girl who is faced with a complex web of action, feeling, racism, and anti-Semitism when she and her family move to 1950's Atlanta after the death of her father.
What is justice, right or wrong, and who is she to decide whether to stand up? Reading Ruth's story as she figures out who she is, what her strength is and what she will do with it, is a mighty important tale from Susan Kaplan Carlton. I want to thank Brittani Hilles from Algonquin Books & Algonquin Young Readers for reaching out to me & giving me the chance to review this book.
Taking place in 1959, there was a lot of particularly time period sentiments that were blood boiling in their existence. From Mr. Hank (Ruth's grandfather) brushing aside his daughter, Ruth's Mother, desire & passion regarding covering important news stories because his paper "needs men to hop on those stories", to the decorum rules that Ruth and her peers are having drummed into them, there a quite a few occurrences of tongue biting in the reading of this book. These pale next to the religious bigotry that begin in vocal asides and snowball into horrible actions as the story continues.
A terrifying thought is that there are echoes of sexist & religiously intolerant practices, if not worse ones, in our current atmosphere. It was saddening to read about the past & realize what's changed and what we only think has. From larger scale things to the micro acts throughout, Carlton took care to craft a story that didn't neglect the layers of life.
Ruth, the main character and whose lense everything is filtered through, is a complicated girl. She is a teenager going through complex emotions that would be hard enough at any time in history but especially so given the events, historical and personal, going on around her.
As the daughter of a Jewish father and a mother who converted from Christianity, there's a pull as to what she should be loyal to. When her family, after the death of her father, moves from New York City to her mother's hometown of Atlanta and into the guest home of her grandparents, there's an entire atmosphere of anti-Semitism to contend with. Ruth wants to belong, a reasonable thing, but what will that cost?
There are choices she has to make along the way that show what she may or may not be betraying in regards to her own moral compass, consciously or not, as well as what she's not really seeing going on around her (i.e. hearing about integration protests on the radio but dismissing them when she realizes the report doesn't contain any names she recognizes).
Carlton's characterization strength extends to setting. From details regarding fashion to the way Mr. Hank has a wireless set up to receive news reports in his home, the 1950's were exquisitely portrayed on the page. Once sunken into the story, admittedly as explained above there were the difficult choices and topics to contend with, but as well written as the book was, it was one that on multiple sides made it one that I didn't want to put down.