TELL ME EVERYTHING

by Cambria Brockman
 

I very much wanted to like this book.  Written by a Bates College alum; set on the campus of a small Maine college; compared repeatedly to Donna Tartt’s The Secret History; it had everything going for it. The story definitely drew me in. But the author’s choice to use two awkward literary devices detracted from the book enough that ultimately I was turned off.
 

In Tell Me Everything, we follow six college freshman who meet during their first week of school and become inseparable for the next four years.  As we come to know each character, we learn that each of them is hiding something from the others.  And we know from the beginning that one of them will die during Senior Weekend.  So, as we get to know them, we’re wondering who and how one of them will die.  Sounds promising, right?
 

My first criticism comes from the author’s choice to have one character read another’s diary repeatedly in order to reveal that person’s true self.  I found this device unsatisfying and, frankly, clunky.  Then, towards the end of the book when we’re getting close to figuring out “who done it,” the narrator tells the reader that she’s a sociopath.  What?  Couldn’t the author think of a subtler method to reveal that information?  From that point on, it’s clear who the culprit is.  On the whole, the book was readable.  But because of these two clunky choices by the author, Tell Me Everything was Not My Cup of Tea. (Liz)