The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett

Bibliography
Sedoti, Chelsea. The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett. Sourcebooks, 2017.
image from: amazon.com

Summary (from amazon.com)

Hawthorn wasn't trying to insert herself into a missing person's investigation. Or maybe she was. But that's only because Lizzie Lovett's disappearance is the one fascinating mystery their sleepy town has ever had. Bad things don't happen to popular girls like Lizzie Lovett, and Hawthorn is convinced she'll turn up at any moment-which means the time for speculation is now.

So Hawthorn comes up with her own theory for Lizzie's disappearance.  A theory way too absurd to take seriously...at first. The more Hawthorn talks, the more she believes. And what better way to collect evidence than to immerse herself in Lizzie's life? Like getting a job at the diner where Lizzie worked and hanging out with Lizzie's boyfriend. After all, it's not as if he killed her-or did he?

Told with a unique voice that is both hilarious and heart-wrenching, Hawthorn's quest for proof may uncover the greatest truth is within herself. 

My Thoughts
This book was the Overdrive Big Library Read this season. I felt like I needed to read it if I was going to promote it. (I enjoyed last year's pick https://rhttps://readingjourneys.blogspot.com/2016/10/this-is-where-it-ends.html ).  However, this book didn't captivate me like last year's. In fact, it was slow getting into it and took me almost the entire month to read it. I thought it would be more mystery. I thought there'd be more, I don't know. Something.  I thought the cover was cute and somehow tied into the book. I thought I'd learn about the hundred lies. I don't think what I expected is what I got.

I also hated the grammatical errors (commas before the word because, not capitalizing words that should be). I understand that modern writers take liberties with conventional rules, but I want teen readers to see correctly written texts as models.

I have this labeled for my mystery/drama genre, but I think I will move this into my chick lit section.

Griffin Mills is a small town with not much to offer. When a girl goes missing in the woods, the entire town starts talking. This isn't just any girl, though. She's Lizzie Lovett. She's was a high school cheerleader, a girl who had lots of friends, a girl who seemingly had "it all" in life. Why would she go missing? What happened? That's what Hawthorn, the main character, is trying to figure out. She speculates some funny scenarios (i.e., alien abduction). She is socially awkward, but on this quest to find out what happened to Lizzie, Hawthorn has self-discovery. She grows. She makes bad decisions. She makes good decisions. She develops some authentic friendships. The title makes the reader think this will be Lizzie's story, but really it's Hawthorn's. I liked Hawthorn. She is real. She is quirky. She is smart!

While reading, I kept thinking that Hawthorn's brother Rush might be "in" on something with Lizzie's disappearance. He just pops in and out of the story. Towards the end, I was glad to see his protective big brother role shine.

I  liked seeing the literary references (In Cold Blood, Carrie, and one of my favorite poems We Wear the Mask (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44203/we-wear-the-mask) including Halloween costumes (Poe and Hester Prynne).

The hippies descending on the family's lawn was funny (and ended up being purposeful to Hawthorn's quest).

It isn't unbelievable that two characters in this book have sex, but the scene is more graphic than it needs to be. This could have been alluded to without the details.

SPOILER ALERT---ultimately, this is a book about a teen suicide. I think the reader needs a resolution about what happened to Lizzie, but as my school and town have experienced this tragedy fairly recently, I wondered about my high school kids reading this book. Lizzie's suicide probably wouldn't haunt me as it does if I wasn't thinking about our local teen. There are similarities in that both situations involve popular kids that seemingly "have it all." This story is a reminder to me that no matter how someone appears on the outside, it may conflict with what's happening on the inside.

The very last chapter gives a summation to the story. I think the reader needs this.

So, overall, the book was too long for me compared to the character development and action of the story.  It wasn't as much of a mystery read as it was a relationship story. It probably won't be a book I recommend to my teens.

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess

Bibliography
Hatmaker, Jen. 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. B and H Publishing, 2012.

image from: jenhatmaker.com

My Thoughts
I'd heard some friends talking about this book, so I put it on my pile. It's funny to me when I have books on a pile for over a year, but when I finally get to it, it is EXACTLY the time I'm supposed to read it.

Jen Hatmaker is real. She doesn't seem to censor the reality of her life and how this experiment really played out. She talks about the success as well as the struggles. There were some very funny moments in this experiment. I laughed out loud when she wrote about the backyard garden (both times). I chuckled at her commentary.  I connected to many of the things that she strives for as a mom.

The experiment is 7 months, 7 areas, 7 simple choices to eliminate waste and "create space for God's kingdom to break through" (Hatmaker 4). She compares this experiment to a fast. She must "repent of greed, ungratefulness, ruined opportunities, and irresponsibility" (Hatmaker 5). She enlists the help of six friends (The Council). These ladies help keep Hatmaker accountable. Hatmaker writes in a journal/diary/confessional format to show the reader her experiences while trying to fulfill the experiment. She is so funny!

The areas that Hatmaker focuses on: foods, clothing, excess stuff, media, waste, spending, stress.
Month one is food. She decides to eat only 7 things for an entire month. There obviously are many challenges with this. I'm not sure I could have done it.

She writes about her kids and members of her church going to feed the homeless in Austin every week. That honestly frightened me. I want to think of myself as a helper, but I don't think I could do that.

When she got to the money month, she writes about three shifts that we could all do:  1. non consumption 2. redirect all that money saved 3. become wiser consumers (Hatmaker 168). "We can simply stop spending so much, use what we have, borrow what we need, repurpose possessions instead of replacing them, and live with less" (Hatmaker 169). PREACH! As much as I try to live by this, there are times when I don't.

In month seven, she is working on stress. To do this, she decides to pause and pray seven times a day and actually observe the Sabbath. Again, I'm not sure I could do this. I applaud Hatmaker. I think some of the stress of my world is due to me not pausing.

In the last chapter, Hatmaker writes that this was HER experiment and results might vary for others. However, she does remind the reader of the "baseline as a faith community:

Love God most. Love your neighbor as yourself. This is everything.
If we say we love God, then we will care about the poor.
This earth is God's and everything in it. We should live like we believe this.
What we treasure reveals what we love.
Money and stuff have the power to ruin us.
Act justly, love mercy, walk humbly with God. This is what is required." (Hatmaker 218)

I thought about this book at various times. I thought about what I might create for my own 7 experiment.  I paused. I needed to read this book at this time. Thanks God for inspiring Jen to write this book so I could read it.