Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart

Summary from Goodreads:

The story of a young woman whose diabolical smarts are her ticket into a charmed life. But how many times can someone reinvent themselves? You be the judge.

Imogen is a runaway heiress, an orphan, a cook, and a cheat.
Jule is a fighter, a social chameleon, and an athlete.
An intense friendship. A disappearance. A murder, or maybe two.
A bad romance, or maybe three.
Blunt objects, disguises, blood, and chocolate. The American dream, superheroes, spies, and villains.
A girl who refuses to give people what they want from her.
A girl who refuses to be the person she once was.

Review:

I loved this one. I read it in two sittings. One at the beach and one at home before going to bed extremely late.  It’s one of those books where you both hate and love the main character at the same time. You hate her because you quickly suspect her of foul play, most likely murder. But you love her because of how smart, bad-ass, and determined she is.

This book is unique. It’s told backwards. It literally starts at the end of the story, with the main character on the run in Mexico. She’s in disguise at a fancy hotel until she becomes aware of a cop following her. With each chapter, you’re taken back 1 week, 4 weeks, 6 weeks, etc. until you learn why the main character is running from cops in Mexico. I could see some people hating this writing style. But, for me, it worked 100%. It kept me riveted the whole time. I had to know what brought this character to this low point.

This is a short novel, but by no means an easy novel. Besides it moving backwards, it’s also loaded with references. It reads like an homage to The Talented Mr. Ripley. It also is chock-full of Victorian literature references and nods to orphan stories. There’s super hero movie references too. In a way it’s like if The Talented Mr. Ripley was re-written very specifically for me. I love super hero movies and Victorian literature. To me, Jule was a modern day Becky Sharp. I wouldn’t call her Batman or any superhero really, but I saw the similarities to Victorian orphans.

This is a book for book lovers, and definitely for English majors. It’s an English Major’s dream. Can you catch every reference this is filled with? Also, I love that a part of it takes place in Martha’s Vineyard because I live on Cape Cod, and I could picture it so well. I loved the international travel. I loved the complex relationships. I love that nothing is told for the reader straight out. You have to keep reading to see why Jule was connected to Imogen to begin with. You have to read it all the way through to find out why all these things happened.

I loved this book. It is very much not for everyone. And I can see some people struggling with the layout or even some of the intense similarities it has with a book I already mentioned. But, for me, it all fit perfectly. I give it a 9/10.