Sunday, May 9, 2010

Tell Me Something True by Leila Cobo

Tell Me Something True is a story told both by Gabriella and her late mother, Helena.  Helena's story unfolds through a journal that she kept when Gabriella was a baby.  The journal starts off as messages from mother to daughter, but then it becomes a secret diary for herself.  Gabriella discovers the journal while she is visiting her grandmother in Cali, Columbia, and she becomes consumed by the need to find out whether her mother planned to abandon her, as appears to be the case in the journal.  Gabriella also falls in love with a dangerous man and is torn about whether to follow her heart or the advice of her family.

I expected this to be a five star book as I was reading it.  The style and the plot both had me hooked from the beginning.  However, this is one of those books that has you waiting for the big bang of an ending, and it just wasn't there.  I didn't feel like there was much character growth in Gabriella, and I felt that her mother's story just fizzled out.  I'd probably give it a 3 1/2 out of 5, but it could have been a 5.  The potential was there.

1 comment:

Literary Feline said...

I'm sorry this one fizzled for you at the end, Christine. I just finished a book where that happened too. I was sure it would be a contender in my favorite books of the year, but by the end, I wasn't as impressed anymore.