The Little Liar is a powerful story of the Holocaust as experienced by three Jewish characters and one Nazi and narrated by Truth.

The Little Liar by Mitch Albom

Genre/Categories/Setting: Historical Literary Fiction, WWII, Holocaust, Jewish, Greece (and other locations)

*This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

My Summary of The Little Liar:

Lies exposed!

Beloved author Mitch Albom explores the horrors of the Holocaust and the complexities of survival in this unique and powerful account narrated by Truth. (Please see the Amazon summary for more detail.)

My Thoughts:

Speechless!

I have all the feelings but few words. Have you ever felt this way after finishing a book? I’m tempted to say “Wow! Just read it!” and leave it at that!

Narrator

The most important thing to tell you is that The Little Liar employs a unique narrator: TRUTH. If you’ve read The Book Thief and appreciated the unusual narrator (Death), you will find The Little Liar to be a similar reading experience. Do you love unusual narrators? If yes, then this might be a compelling reason to add The Little Liar to your TBR.

Difficult Content

The next most important information to share is that there is difficult WWII content. By now, those of us who read WWII histfic know to expect it, but it’s still shocking, cruel, and heartbreaking. Sensitive readers need to be prepared. Although content is difficult, I didn’t experience this story as overly emotional. I suppose the inanimate narrator is responsible. Because the story is narrated by Truth, we are not involved as personally or emotionally as when we have a human narrator. In other words, I didn’t “ugly cry.” Yet it did hurt my heart. You can trust Albom to not manipulate your emotions. I hope this helps you decide if this is the right read for you.

Important to the Author

As I devoured the story, I felt the importance of the details and the content to the author. I sensed how important this story was to him and that it might be his most important work. I did read in the author’s notes that he has a special connection to Greece.

Truth

The Little Liar is an intriguing title! Truth is as difficult to discern today as it was in the 30s and 40s. Who is telling us the Truth? Is Truth absolute or is it conditional? How is Truth disguised or distorted by social media and/or news outlets or persons in power? How important is Truth to you? Who are the liars? Fabulous discussion possibilities for Book Clubs.

Also Literary Fiction

As well as falling into the historical fiction genre, The Little Liar can also be categorized as literary fiction because it addresses one of life’s biggest questions: Where do we find Truth? Who is telling the Truth? How is Truth disguised?

Thought-provoking and Challenging

Mitch Albom gives readers a great deal to ponder in this story as he explores truth and deception and exposes the liars. He makes a special point of how easily people (especially the innocent) are deceived and examines the consequences. Once deceived, is there accountability or redemption?

“Humans can be trusted only to watch out for themselves. When threatened, they will destroy anything to survive, expecially me [truth[.”

“Of all the lies you tell yourself, perhaps the most common is that, if you only do this or that, you will be accepted. It affects your behavior with classmates, neighbors, colleagues, lovers. Humans do a great deal to be liked. They are needier than I [truth] can comprehend.”

“When you do something for someone that can never be repaid, like cleaning the graves of the dead, that is a true and loving kindness.”

Content Consideration: WWII atrocities

Recommending The Little Liar

Well….I guess I’m not entirely speechless! I hope my ramblings have been informative. The Little Liar will top my list of the year’s most memorable reads, but it may not be for everyone. Only you can decide if it matches your reading tastes. Fans of Mitch Albom will not be disappointed. Although it doesn’t have the side of whimsey that his readers have grown to expect, I consider it his most thoughtful, powerful, and serious work. It’s a standout among WWII histfic. I hope you will consider it for your TBR.

Related: You might enjoy my review of The Magic Strings of Frankie Presto, The Stranger in the Lifeboat, and Finding Chicka

My Rating:  5+  Stars

Meet the Author of The Little Liar, Mitch Albom

Author, screenwriter, philanthropist, journalist, and broadcaster, Mitch Albom has written 8 number-one NY Times bestsellers — including Tuesdays with Morrie. His books have sold more than 40M copies in 48 languages worldwide. He has also written award-winning TV films, stage plays, screenplays and a musical. He appeared for more than 20 years on ESPN, and was a fixture on The Sports Reporters. Through his column at the Detroit Free Press, he was inducted into both the National Sports Media Association and Michigan Sports halls of fame and was the recipient of the Red Smith Award for lifetime achievement.

Following his bestselling memoir Finding Chika and Human Touch, an online serial that raised nearly 1 million dollars for pandemic relief, he returned to fiction with The Stranger in the Lifeboat. His new novel, set during the Holocaust, is The Little Liar.

Albom now devotes most of his time to philanthropic work through SAY Detroit and Have Faith Haiti, among many other initiatives.

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QOTD:

Is this new release by Mitch Albom on your TBR or have you read it?
Are you a Mitch Albom fan?

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I purchase or borrow from the library all books I review unless explicitly stated that the book is free (arc).

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