What I Saw and How I Lied

by Judy Blundell won the 2008 National Book Award, a very high distinction bestowed by writers themselves--through the National Book Foundation. Having read the novel, I have an idea about why that might be.


First, about the book. What I Saw and How I Lied tells of seventeen-year-old Evie, living in America immediately after World War II, and the events surrounding a fateful trip to Florida. It deals with falling in love, first sexual experiences, mothers having affairs, fathers involved in shady business, hurricanes, murder trials, and ultimately, the financial and social results of World War II in America--including anti-Semitism.


This is fairly heavy material, and the book's treatment of it only serves to heighten the drama of the events within, rather than, as is typical of YA historical fiction, downplay them in favor of more personal discoveries. The plot is somewhat convoluted, and relies heavily on the naivete of the narrator to provide dramatic revelations later in the book. Evie's "coming-of-age" is not the joyful event one might hope for, but an upsetting one, in which she learns to lie, to protect her family whether they are right or not.

It is in this aspect, the complexities of "coming-of-age" that Blundell deserves her award. After all, she is working in a tradition, and although Evie is no Holden Caulfield, Blundell manages to meld all the disparate elements of What I Saw and How I Lied in Evie's internal journey, and still keep all the drama she desires. In this book, I see a breaking of the marketing rules that seem to constrain so many YA authors, and yet, a novel that still lies squarely and undeniably in YA company.

Evie becomes a sophisticated young lady over the course of the novel--from being afraid to step on a crack, to lying under oath in order to save her guilty parents. The type of emotions she feels are typical of YA novels: a realization that the world has shades of grey, sadness about the loss of a first love, confusion about sex, disillusionment about adults, and so on. However, the way she acts is not typical--she manipulates the situation completely, discards her former friends, and sends her father's wealth (acquired from the "Gold Train"--the confiscated goods of Holocaust victims) to Jewish refugees. Basically, Evie engineers the solution to what seems like a hopeless situation, by acting absolutely ruthlessly, by lying, as the book's title suggests.

In Blundell's National Book Award, I see admiration for a daring author, by her fellow writers, all caught in the same marketing trap that is YA lit. Blundell was honored for writing a complex character in a meticulously detailed historical setting, and most of all, for a truly gripping and thought-provoking read that never descends into sentimentality. In short order, an unusual young adult novel all around.

Do these things make me like the book, or Evie, for that matter? Not especially. But it was certainly unlike any other YA book I have read, and for that I appreciate it, and Blundell's accomplishment.