Gut a fish. Rewire a truck. Survive the collapse of the US government. All lessons fifteen-year-old Lark has learned during “homeschool” with her conspiracy-theorist-Doomsday-prepping parents. If only she’d also learned the fundamentals of human biology or even how to read. When Lark gets her first period and realizes how much she doesn’t know, she ignores her fears of everything outside their rural Montana farm and secretly attends school for the first time.
At high school, Lark discovers the world is very different than she has been told, from the basics of the internet to government takeovers that never happened. Lark uncovers the holes in her parents’ beliefs and realizes that she must decide her own truth. But it won’t come without sacrifices.
One of the things I learned reading cult narratives is how easy it is to control someone. If you can control their information, control their sources of knowledge, then you can control everything. This isn't a cult - exactly - but the principles are the same; Lark's father wants her to believe and act exactly as he does, so he keeps her near him all the time and makes sure she has no other source of knowledge.
Until she sneaks off to school, anyway.
I liked this story - it says important things that we should be talking about, especially in light of decisions made in American law yesterday - but outside Lark's family, I found the characters a little flat. Alex was lovely, but he didn't have much of a personality in my opinion. Jessica has even less; she's just nice and religious in a non-overbearing way. Jessica's not a huge part of the story, but Alex is, so it' a shame we don't know more about him.
I really enjoyed the story, though. It was lovely to watch Lark find her feet, and her mind, and start to think for herself. I'd love to check back in on her later and find out how her parents are doing.
A recommended read, if only to teach people that we should all be thinking for ourselves!
The Truth About Everything publishes on the 11th of October, 2022. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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