I’m as unlikely to be lost for words as my dog is to show restraint around tennis balls. But the ending of this book has truly bamboozled me. I’m not sure how I feel or how I’m meant to feel. I’m questioning the author’s motives, my visceral reactions, the extent to which I may have internalised problematic gender paradigms. It’s been an introspective few days. What is clear is that ‘True Story’ is a powerful piece of both fiction and critical thinking. @pettykate begins her debut with a first person narrative: a confused and coded story about a party hosted by a school lacrosse team with the intent of getting themselves laid, a drunken private school girl, the ride home she is given by two boys, and the rumours the boys spread about what they did to the girl in the backseat of the car. It then shifts through experimental formats, including multiple drafts of a college entrance essay written by the private school girl, several horror movie scripts written by two teenage best friends, a thriller in a remote cabin featuring ex-lacrosse team member and adult alcoholic, many unsent emails about the abusive relationship the private school girl finds herself in her late 20s and typed transcripts of interviews for the book she is ghost writing, which turns out to be for someone unexpected. This unique mastery of overlapping storytelling styles is an incredible feat in and of itself but the level of compulsion and cannot-put-this-book-downness I felt throughout these shifting mediums made it even more so. It is undeniable that this book has a clear message about the subjectivity of truth, the male pull toward self-protection in the face of allegations, the paucity of evidence in a situation like this, the viciousness of rumours and side-taking, and the potential for a sexual assault victim to lose control over their own story. The ending may not have done it for me but ‘True Story’ has certainly had my brain chasing after the proverbial tennis ball for days. #truestory #katereedpetty

This book is genre bending and also it is so multi layered.
This book is full of heavy topics so I would advise checking the content warnings before reading it.

I’d been very lucky to read about the author of this book and I was super exciting to read it, I loved it, I sat down an could put it down.

This is an interesting, intriguing and immersive book that I enjoyed. I was hooked from the start and couldn't put it down.

This unfortunately was not for me - I gave the book around 50 pages before giving up, I found it confusing and difficult to follow at times, and didn't really care enough about the characters to continue.

Honestly I found this book to be a bit of a disappointment which is a shame because I was really excited to read it, but it just didn't work for me at all!

So it's a story about high school sexual assault but what makes it different is it mixes genres such as horror, memoir, campus novel etc to tell the story.

I found this made the story a lot harder to enjoy.

It's all in different formats. I enjoyed the first part, disliked the interspersed scripts written by some of the characters when they were younger, found any chapter of Nick's completely boring, found the university letters section way too long and repetitive and a lot of the chapters I was confused as to who was even speaking.

The only parts I enjoyed were the beginning and the part about Alice's relationship with Q. These were the only bits that kept me gripped, the rest of it I found long winded and dull.

The characters had no depth, I literally know nothing about them apart from what they did. And the ending didn't work for me at all. It made the whole book feel like a waste of time.

Good message behind it, if you can actually find it in this book!

A really incredible debut novel, that is simultaneously laden with empathy and chillingly familiar. The writing is absorbing; with a smart and immersive voice. Would definitely recommend this, especially as it remains a timely read.

I thoroughly enjoyed this highly original book. It’s written as a series of emails, transcripts of audio interviews, successive drafts of annotated college admission essays and screenplays (some of which are written when the main female character was a child). True Story tells the story of a young woman who, when too drunk to defend herself, is sexually assaulted in the backseat of a car by two boys on the local lacrosse team. Or was she? Because they deny it, and the fact that they went to the local private school and were seemingly sober (or more so than she was), seems to help people side with them and call her a liar. They gaslight her, make her doubt herself, and the damage this causes her, follows her into adulthood. She finds herself in a very damaging relationship that she struggles to escape from.

Out of all the boys on the lacrosse team, Nick also struggles with the consequences of that night. Whilst he wasn’t in the car, he feels the guilt of those boys’ actions, and he slips into alcoholism as a result (there may well be other reasons as well, but this is what I read into it).

I think I probably inhaled this book. It’s one of those that you start and then find it very difficult to put down. I loved the jumps in presentation, particularly the screenplays. I was urging Alice to stand up for herself and walk out of her dangerous relationship.
It’s a fascinating novel that I’d most definitely recommend.

⭐ This was an interesting unique read.
⭐ I loved the use of multi media throughout.
⭐ The character development was brilliant & I just had to keep turning the page to see what the 'true story' was.
☆ But I really wasn't a fan of the big twist at the end, I felt it cheapened the novel.

Kate Reed Petty's "True Story" tackles a harrowing subject matter beautifully. I loved the way it was set out, playing with format. It's brilliantly written and very readable. Some sections are almost stream-of-consciousness. I couldn't put it down. A raw, eviscerating read.

I certainly whizzed through this and enjoyed the different perspectives by hearing Nick and Alices viewpoints. Q was a quite frightening character! It could easily be a bit triggering if you’ve suffered any sort of sexual assault though. However I wasn’t entirely convinced by the ending though.

I really enjoyed this read, however, I wasn't able to single out the 'story in 4 parts' aspect but this didn't detract from my enjoyment.
It was angering and emotional and thrilling and left me with plenty to think about.

Great, but difficult read.

This wasn't what I was expecting at all! I always love the mixed media format, I find them so fun to read. I loved the different viewpoints/the story from Nick's side/how his life is turning out. This had me wondering where the connection would click into place.
The ending blew my mind, and I will look out for more by this author. I wasn't sure how I felt about the book, but although not perfect, after a while and on reflection I found myself happy with the ending.

What an original book this is! It begins, like many others before it, with the tale of an alleged high school sexual assault that happened while the majority of those involved were intoxicated. As a result the reader can’t be sure what really happened, and so you expect to hear different character’s versions of the event. But what actually follows is a crazy mix of narratives, dipping in and out of different perspectives, and bridging across multiple genres. I really enjoyed it and was intrigued throughout, but I have to say I did figure out what the final twist was going to be during the second part of Nick’s story. That being said, I then went on to change my mind and convince myself that that couldn’t be the case, and I got fully drawn back in. So obviously it must be that the writing is good and not that I’m gullible 🤣 Either way it’s an interesting book that’s definitely worth a read!

Kate Reed Perry's novel is a thoughtful exploration of consent, sexual assault, and the power of perception. The structure is an achievement that not only elevates the story, but also forces the reader to pay close attention and get as much out of this book as possible.

What a journey - a really ambitious and well-executed mix of styles and genres. I was gripped, and found myself questioning whether I'd understood most of the book, until the end when the pieces just completely fell into place. This will stick with me for a while!

Straight away this book catches your attention with the four different front covers. I loved this concept and the fact that the book doesn’t conform to one genre, but four instead! What an ingenious and unique idea.

This is a multilayered book, where we see things form different perspectives and the different genres add brilliantly to this. I think this book works best going into it blindly, not knowing too much about the plot and just seeing where the book takes you. It works well that way and makes it rather enjoyable, despite the subject matter.

This is a brilliant debut novel, one so cleverly written and unique that it should be recommend the world over.

I personally couldn’t get into this book and stopped reading it. However, from what I read the writing was generally very easy to read.

True Story by Kate Reed Petty is a powerful story that revolves around something that happened when our characters were teenagers, and how this echoes through their lives.

The story is written from different points of view and in different styles, which gives the story movement and makes it more powerful.

I thought this was a really good book, and it had me glued to the page.  I wanted to know more, to see where we were going to be taken.

Trigger warning: this book deals with rape, abusive relationships and alcoholism.

 True Story  was published on 4th August 2020, and is available from  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop.org .

You can follow Kate Reed Petty on  Twitter  and her  website .

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and to  Quercus Books .

A really unique and interesting book that will largely benefit everyone to go into this as blind as possible.

True Story straddles timelines and genres to explore the nature of story telling and the stories we tell ourselves. The reader needs to work to piece it all together, but that's to its benefit.

In 1999, a couple of teen boys drive a passed-out drunk girl, Alice, home from a party. Afterwards, they brag to friends about assaulting her; later, they'll claim that story was made up. Alice herself can't remember that night, so she can never be sure which version of the story is true. and neither can the reader.

This is a very exciting new literary voice so isn't afraid to make her reader work and she throws in a bravura and unforgettable ending. Highly recommended.