Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Years ago, I read E. Lockhart's We Were Liars and fell in love. With its perfect blend of mystery and suspense, not to mention its shocking twist ending, it promptly became one of my favorite young adult books. Naturally, when Lockhart published Genuine Fraud, I had to check it out. Even though I was extremely excited to read it, I ended up falling into my old pattern of buying the book and then never getting around to it. I put it on my Finally in 2019 list so that I could see if it would end up being another favorite for me.

Genuine Fraud starts off under unusual circumstances. It begins on chapter 18, in which we are first introduced to our protagonist, Jule. The usual exposition you would get at the start of a novel is not included here; the reader is just dropped into a story-in-progress. From context clues, we can infer that Jule is living in a luxury hotel under a different name. She has disguised her appearance, is using a fake accent, and is in some sort of trouble with the law. A police officer is hot on her trail, and as chapter 18 comes to a close, the officer finally catches up with her--then the story starts moving backwards.

The chapters start counting down from this point, with the reader learning all about how Jule came to be living in this situation bit by bit. We discover that she is a talented con artist with a penchant for stealing identities. We also learn that she comes from a troubled past and is likely dealing with mental health issues. As time flows backwards, the mystery surrounding her situation begins to unravel and it becomes possible to piece together her story and start understanding her motivations. Eventually, the last chapter of the novel returns us to the present time where one final twist remains to surprise readers and end the story.

Sadly, this novel was only okay for me. I did appreciate the unusual design structure, which kept things mysterious and interesting. I've never read a book that goes backwards before, so I enjoyed having that new reading experience. One drawback of this format, however, was that it made me feel like I never properly got to know or understand Jule as a character. Lockhart didn't provide enough detail throughout to give me a strong sense of who this character was. I understand that part of the plot was her dissatisfaction with her own life and her compulsion to step into the lives of others, but the quick bursts of information each chapter presented to me weren't enough to make her feel real. The story was very fast paced, with each chapter bringing with it a new revelation, but the pace came at the cost of character development. This made the backwards structure feel gimmicky at times, rather than essential or important to the story.

Without a well-developed character to focus on, the point of reading became trying to figure out the mystery. The plot was definitely interesting and a challenge to try and "solve," but it did make the experience more like a logic puzzle than a story to escape into. I was engaged, but not enthralled. Interested, but not fascinated. I'm not sure everything lined up and made sense at the end, either. Compared to We Were Liars, a novel that had me utterly captivated from page one, this novel is definitely inferior. This is a fun read to consume if you want something quick and entertaining, but it is shallow. It's so shallow that I don't have much more to say about it.

Genuine Fraud was the last novel on my original Finally in 2019 list, and it was also the weakest novel on it. I still enjoyed reading it overall, and I rated it three stars, but knowing the kind of storytelling that E. Lockhart is capable of made this feel like a weak effort. Younger readers will definitely like it, however, and I can see myself recommending it to some of my more mature students.

On a happy side note, I have now officially completed my Finally in 2019 Challenge! I finished it much earlier than I was expecting--I set my goals low so that I didn't feel too pressured throughout the year. Now that I polished off my original list, I will continue to add on books that I just really feel like reading at the moment that I haven't gotten around to yet. I do so many reading challenges that I sometimes feel like I don't have the freedom to just pick up whatever book I want, so I'm excited to see where my whims take me!

Challenge Tally
Finally in 2019: 6/6 Books Read - Complete!

Total Books Read in 2019: 13