Those We Thought We Knew - David Joy - ★★★★.½

AUTHOR: David Joy

GENRE: Literary Fiction

RATING: 4.5 stars.

In a Nutshell: A literary fiction combining a crime investigation with a social issue. Powerful in prose, impactful in intent. A must-read for those who like deeper fictional content representing today’s world.

Story Synopsis:

Twenty-four-year-old Toya is an artist with a strong social bone. When she returns to her ancestral home in the mountains of North Carolina to complete her graduate thesis (connected to her family history), she is gobsmacked to find a Confederate monument standing in the heart of the town.

When local deputies get reports of a strange man sleeping in the back of a station wagon, they are stunned to find a white KKK robe & hood in his car, and a notebook containing the names of several high-ranking officials.

Soon, there are two horrendous crimes in the county. And we, just like the characters, are forced to wonder if we ever know “those we thought we knew.”

The story comes to us in a limited third person perspective of some of the key characters.

Bookish Yays:

✔ Excellent setting, making perfect use of the author’s local knowledge of the North Carolina mountains and the town of Sylva.

✔ Character-oriented storytelling at its finest, without ever slacking the pace.

✔ Impeccably-sketched characters, many of whom make your question the assumptions you might make about people. It’s not just that the characters were morally gray, but they are ordinary people with hackneyed thinking – the kind who don’t allow society to be anything other than what they want it to be.

✔ While I could guess the identity of the perpetrator, it did not, in any way, take away from my experience of the story. The reveal is hinted at multiple times and though we don’t want to accept it, we are forced to open our eyes to the hidden truth, both fictional and factual.

✔ Through Toya’s pov, we get to see some amazing revelations about modern art. I am not really a fan of what passes as “art” in the contemporary world, but her thoughts made tremendous sense to me.

✔ So many brilliant lines that made me pause and ponder! One of my favourites was, “Keeping your mouth shut is the same thing as nodding your head.”

✔ Love the title - so suitable and so significant! It’s applicable beyond political and geographical boundaries.

✔ Quite a few amazing themes, including but not limited to intergenerational trauma, racial prejudice, gender discrimination, entitlement, and judgemental thinking. Also brings up a few points about some key problem areas in US history such as the slavery of Blacks, the confederacy, and the KKK.

✔ Despite the pertinent issues, the writing doesn’t bulldoze us with edifying warnings. The themes are raised through the unfurling events than through spoonfeeding or forcefeeding.

✔ I was so sure this brilliant work was by a Black writer, not because of its writing or of its social relevance but because of the perspective it provided on racist issues. Reading the author’s bio after completing the book gave me a pleasant surprise. This faulty perception of mine also indicates how conditioned we are to jump to stereotypical conclusions based on half-baked assumptions. I love it when a book makes me rectify my erroneous opinions. Respect to the author for writing a book with such an impartial view!

Bookish Nays:

No major ‘Bookish Nays’ at all. The only thing that was a tad annoying to me was the tendency to use the word ‘barefooted’ in many characters’ initial description. I guess we Indians are barefoot so many times at home that this isn’t even a stand-out character trait to me. To see the word pop up thirteen times in a single book was weird!

All in all, I loved this rural noir that offered me so much to reflect upon. It shines a harsh light on contemporary society, and I am sure the life lessons included (without being in-your-face about it) are relevant much beyond those sylvan mountains.

Strongly recommended to all those who read literary crime stories with a focus on significant social matters.

My thanks to Penguin Group, G.P. Putnam's Sons, and NetGalley for the DRC of “Those We Thought We Knew”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.