After The Lie

AFTER THE LIE

by Kerry Fisher

 

Nomination: Dublin Longlist 2018

 

Date Read: May 3, 2022

 

After The Lie could have been a fun guilty pleasure, however, I just didn’t find Lydia to be a very likable character. She’s so obsessed by her mishap in high school that she has let it poison her entire life. And once the reader is privy to what she did wrong, the transgression isn’t even that bad. I was incredibly disappointed. The mayhem she caused in her own life as an adult was much worse than what went down when she was only 13.  

 

I can only assume that Fisher was attempting to demonstrate how one incident can spiral out of control depending on how you deal with it. I still don’t understand why her parents changed her name but not her father’s name? The mother insisted on getting rid of their dog because he was too unique but didn’t bother changing their own names. I just don’t get it.

 

Lydia is kind of a bitch. Her seething resentment over her son’s girlfriend goes beyond her being the daughter of her mortal enemy. Her affair with Tomaso is totally on her and can’t really be blamed on her past. I get the allure of being open and honest with someone and being accepted anyway but wouldn’t it have felt better to come clean with her husband, Mark? I found Lydia to be a snarky bitch, much like her mother. 

 

I wanted a guilty pleasure but stumbled into innocent misery. Two stars.

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