I’ve posted my review of Twenty Six Lies/One Truth by Ben Peek.
I very much enjoyed it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product//0975590383/ref=cm_rv_thx_view/002-3465346-1390431
Review of Twenty-Six Lies/One Truth by Ben Peek
This short book is a collection of thoughts and reflections disguised as the personal dictionary of a possibly fictional version of the author. I found it very intriguing. I’ve read through it twice and skimmed it several times since then.
Warning: this book is NOT a speculative work as most of Peek’s other fiction such as Black Sheep. In theory, we’re reading about the man who has been nowhere, done nothing, and met nobody. However, this book is about truth and point of view. How much does the truth really matter when it comes to the writers? Does it matter if these stories about Peek’s life actually happened? Sly entries about JT LeRoy, Helen Demidenko, and other literary frauds are peppered through out the book. Is this entire book a fake-out? The real fun comes from trying to separate the lies from the truth and exploring the idea that maybe truth can be personal as well as universal.
My favorite entry was about a classroom of children that sang a racist song to a Hindi teacher and the guilt that the writer felt afterwards. I wasn’t familiar with the product references, I presume it is an Australian reference, but the emotions were spot on. In the end, I didn’t care if the entries were completely true. Certainly my gut felt they were true and that is the highest praise one can give to any book.
The Universes of Jason Andrew 