Book Review: Lies We Tell Ourselves

by Sophie Reeve-Foster

Recently I have been thinking about a book I read a few years ago, Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley, which I want to strongly recommend to younger readers. The book it set in 1959 Virginia, centred around Jefferson High School, where the desegregation in schools started taking pace. Among the first black students being introduced is Sarah, while Linda’s reputation as a white student informs her bullying.

The book is fictional, but it’s so important that we learn about and remember the past and the stories of individuals going through these times, and I love how Talley narrates it from different perspectives, reminding me of the greatly adored Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman. The book also demonstrates the vital point of how we often forget about different sexualities in the past, concentrating on the other forms of oppression. I love how Talley includes multiple inherent disadvantages rather than focusing on just one, which we do too often, portraying a more realistic society. 

By giving it that title, Talley cleverly applies the events of the book to everyone, including and confronting both the characters and the reader. The book is also accessible, the harsh events being told through young voices, exposing their idea of normal. Through the intimate and personal, this story comments on the much wider political and cultural changes. Each chapter is titled with a different “lie”, which gives the structure of a gradual series of revelations and foreshadowing the events.

It’s worth saying here, particularly, that we cannot use times like those, where racism was ingrained in laws and rights, to discredit current prejudice, where build-up of microaggressions and internalised oppression has hugely damaging effects.

Again, I really recommend this book for those interested in human stories and the intensity of self-deception.