Twenty Questions

by Alison Clement

"It seemed to June that she had the perfect marriage until the day Ronald Pruett was arrested for the murder of Vernay Hanks. Through her job at an elementary school, June knew both the victim's child and Pruett. Moreover, on the day of the murder, she had almost taken a ride from Pruett herself." This connection with the murder becomes an obsession for June and leads her into a deceitful and increasingly complicated involvement with the dead woman's brother and her child. Pretending to have been a friend of the victim, June inserts herself into their lives and through this discovers disturbing things about her marriage and herself.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 11, 2006

About the author

Alison Clement is the author of Pretty Is As Pretty Does (MacAdam Cage, 2001), which was a Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers choice and a BookSense selection. Her second book, Twenty Questions (Washington Square Press, 2006), won the Oregon Book Award for Best Novel. Her work has appeared in The Sun, High Country News, Salon, Calyx and The Alaska Quarterly Review. Alison grew up in South Carolina and Georgia. She lives now in Oregon.

Reviews

[Mary Montgomery · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was incredible! The characters, story, and pacing were superb. I would read a grocery list if this chick wrote it.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

When her car breaks down, June is offered a ride from the father of a grade school student at the school where she works. For some reason June turns him down. Later the same man is arrested for strangling another woman. June realizes that she narrowly escaped becoming a murder victim. The actual victim is the mother of a ten-year-old girl, also a student at June's school. For reasons June can't explain to herself--guilt? curiosity? the need to see that the little girl is safe?-- she goes to the child's house and pretends to have been a friend of the dead mother. Thus insinuating herself into the girl's and her uncle's life, June's lies grow increasingly tangled. When she sees a bracelet that belongs to her on the child's arm--a bracelet June has not given her, a bracelet that belongs in her home, a place the girl has never been---well. . . the plot thickens as they say.

This was an incredibly riveting novel. I wasn't able to guess a single turn of the plot, which made this a very satisfying read. June is a wonderful main character, a woman who has escaped a terrible fate, but whose continued involvement with the victim's family unravels her own seemingly perfect life.

Highly recommended!

[Powells.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

June's close connection to a murder in her town becomes an obsession that leads her into an intimate and increasingly deceptive relationship with the dead woman's child and brother, forcing her to confront her own marriage and past. Nominated for the Oregon Book Award's Ken Kesey Award for the Novel, Alison Clement's Twenty Questions is a compelling story of violence, morality, and above all, the human being's unending desire for reinvention.
Recommended by Crystal, Powells.com

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. The biggest reason I did not give it 5 stars is because I do not like books that have an open ending. I would have liked it better had the author given something finite. I cannot imagine getting so tangled up in something like the situation in this story but this one had me on the edge of my seat the whole time I was reading.

[Heather Gordon · Rating 1 out of 5]

I can honestly say I've never had a book legitimately put me to sleep. It's as if a middle schooler had written the book. Things started to get interesting over 100 pages in, but the whole story really fell flat. Nothing major ever came of it. There was no shocking twist, and the author talked in circles.

[Lydia H · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not love this book... I just couldn't get pulled into the story. I wanted to care about the characters and their stories but I just couldn't.

[Lettie Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't say what it was about this book that I liked but I really did enjoy it.

[Kat Walter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Enjoyed the read, but it went nowhere. The twists were ho-hum and the ending was unsatisfactory.

[Stefanie Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

""

[April · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not quite finished this book, but I just have to share. At first, I thought it was strange. I couldn't tell if the way it was written was because that was the author's style or if it was because it was the point-of-view character's personality.

Now, I realize it's the POV Character speaking. As a victim of my ex-husband's affair, I am amazed with how well this character represents that same position. Everything the character says and feels is exactly the things I have said and felt myself while going through my own situation. I'm reading it not even noticing the tears on my cheeks because it's like reliving...reliving what I'm going through right now. I know this is fiction. But the author must have been through the same kind of pain in order to tell the story so accurately. I am definitely rooting for Jane, the POV and main character. I don't know how it will end for her, but I'm hoping she will end up as happy as she deserves.

**I'm finished the book now, and I had to drop a star because the ending, though it fit for the main character June, it leaves you hanging, wondering what's going to happen next. It ends in motion, and you know that something HAS to happen next, but the author leaves the reader to decide on their own just what that is. Like I said, it does fit the story, and perhaps it wouldn't have worked had there been an actual ending. But it still leaves you, or me at least, hanging, wondering, and wanting to know where June ends up. The possibilities are infinite.

[Dolcie]

Reading this book was a very strange experience for me. I work at the same school as the author so reading this book was like having seen the film before reading the book. I recognized several places and people although they are supposedly fictional characters. I could also very much relate to the main character and her relationship with the children. I also understood where these children were coming from because these children truly exist at my school although by a different name and in many children. One odd thing was that I couldn't help but imagine the author as the main character even though our actual kitchen manager is totally different. Regarding the actual story I thought the beginning was a little rough, the middle was actually pretty good, the part where they are looking for the girl a bit weird and the ending was unexpected even though the author gave subtle hints. I thought the story was very depressing although very real, but the ending was excellent, it pretty much lets you decide what happened. I feel it difficult to rate this book with fairness because I know the author so my review will have to do for now.

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a few pages to get into the groove, but in the end, I was totally caught up in Alison's story about the obsessive behavior of June, the elementary school lunch lady, who turns down a ride from a student's father one afternoon only to learn the next day that he's been arrested for murdering the woman he gave a ride to next. Particularly because they look similar and because the daughter of the dead woman is one of June's lunch line helpers at school. She gets all caught up in the dead woman's family after posing as one of her friends. It's all very complicated in the way that people with messy lives always seem to be complicated, but intriguing. I would not enjoy knowing June in life.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple, wholesome, but serious and totally free from pretention or doubt. Also, as a dweller of a city not far from Corvallis, Oregon, I was moved by how slyly the setting is referenced without detracting from either the Oregonian quality of the environment, or the story's universal appeal. The main characters, while flawed, are also believable and live through a serious crisis with dignity and integrity. Plus, I have to admire the fact that this book never turns graphic or gratuitous in its depictions of child abuse, poverty or violence.

This one belongs to the great West Coast tradition of authors like Beverly Cleary and my beloved Jean Hegland. Honest, to-the-point and well-crafted writing with heart. :-)

[Avielle Sales · Rating 4 out of 5]

June had the perfect life and the perfect marriage to Ronald Pruett until the day he was arrested. June knew the victim, Vernay Hank's child and Pruett through her job at an elementary school. her having a connection with the people in the murder made her obsessed and lures her to a more complex involvement than she'd expect with the victim;s brother and child. June proceeded her investigation by pretending to be a friend of Vernay's and makes even more shocking revelations throughout the entire process.Personally this wasn't my best reading because it was confusing as to who was talking about who in many parts of the reading and it took me a while to get the hang of the writing style. but I really do love the whole idea of crime, betrayal feminism, and deceit.

[Renie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This rather short book takes its time...at about page 90-100 or so, it starts reining in the reader's interest with more assertiveness, but still it takes its time, reading more like a stream of consciousness than your typical novel. The protagonist also seems very real as the reader spends the majority of the book inside her mind, reading her thoughts, questions, concerns, etc. The main character, June nearly accepts a ride from an acquaintance who is charged with murdering another woman he does give a ride to on the same day. June views her life as having been saved by not accepting the ride, but as the book progresses, she discovers her life as she knew it changed that day anyway.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"She didn't know how to measure her own distress within the context of the world" (p.168)

When I first started this book I was a bit put off and perplexed by the writing style. It took me a few chapters to get into it. The character speaks in an almost stream of consciousness style. I ended up liking it, once I got past my initial surprise. The author/main character talks about class in a way that I have rarely encountered in fiction books. A few aspects were predictable but I was still surprised by the plot throughout.

I picked up this book not expecting much (I acquired it in a free box) but was pleasantly surprised!

[Sara Diane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story. Clement's has a style that I couldn't quite place or name, and it was slightly annoying, but like a car accident, strangely alluring. This is a story about a woman who befriends the daughter of a murder victim and through this friendship, learns that her life is not what she thought it was. Due to some of the topics discussed, this is for more mature audiences (20+) and only those who can deal with cussing. I do have to say that the cussing wasn't there for effect but it came off very natural--which is to say it felt like something that character would say.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

After declining a ride when her car breaks down, the main character is shocked to discover that a woman picked up by that man the same day is murdered. She becomes somewhat obsessed with the dead woman and insinuates her way into her family's life, and discovers some things about herself and her own life in the process. This book was not what I thought it was going to be from reading the description of it - it was more of a psychological drama than a mystery/suspense book. Interesting and different. 3.5 stars.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sometimes, narrative simplicity makes for a relaxing, refreshing read, as in the Mma Ramotswe novels. Not so in this case...it seemed like a children's book with a murder plot, for the most part. June was a reasonably well-written character, but it was like spending several hours inside her head with her thoughts...nothing really seemed to happen, nothing was resolved, and it certainly didn't deliver the "gripping story that speaks of violence and betrayal, feminism, and reinvention" that I was promised!

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have a family of readers who all buy books and circulate them among family members. I have no idea who brought this book to my house. The first few pages had me thinking I wasn't going to like this book, but I ended it thinking it was a story that was well told with twists that I didn't anticipate. Was it an education? Not the type I was looking for, but Clement did a good job of defining the heartbreaks of broken trust and relationships.

[Lori Friedman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author came to speak at my local library. Wonderful listening to an author read and gave me a tone for the voice as I read it. This was a really good book with a stupid ending. It twisted to make it so unprobable that it ruined it. Like the author said "Oh, 365 pages gotta end it..." Oh well. Maybe Alison will keep writing and improve her craft.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested in reading this book because it won the Oregon Book Award for Oregon authors. It is set in Corvallis and the main character works as a cook in a grade school. It is also a murder mystery and an interesting discourse on marriage and about whether or not you can really know anyone. There were a few choppy spots but overall it was pretty good.

[Tammie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once I started reading it, it was really hard to put down. It has a lot of twists in it that no one really would expect...at least I didn't at first. The ending confused me a little bit, though. Other than that, I loved the book.

[Lisa]

The story was interesting and deep, but you don't know it at first. At first, it's just a story about a strange woman who has a hard time processing a peripheral tragedy. But then, I realized it's a story about a woman figuring out who she is...and who she isn't.

[Marcee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd give this a 3.5. I like the writing style and the story was good. I didn't like the ending-it just left too much open. It would have been nice to know what happened to the main characters, even it was very general.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mediocre at best. June's narrative voice is histrionic and a little annoying. The plot was predictable and not particularly original. Mildly entertaining and a super quick read, but nothing special.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book until the end. I am not sure why it was classified as a Mystery, as it was more of a drama with a rather unsatisfactory ending. Quick read, I read it all in one afternoon/evening.

[Lidiab · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first the book was hard to get into,but if you can make it to chapter 4 things pick up and start making sense. We can all relate to June on some level. And all of our lives;actions and consequences are interrelated. This book was simple and a bit sad.

[Diane Large · Rating 3 out of 5]

June has several major events happen in her life and she must fine out who she is. It took a while to get into the book, then there was an abrupt ending which I didn't like. It's not what I would call a typical murder mystery.

[Lindsey · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is coming close to being the end of this book and it is frustrating. It seems almost too cliche and unrealistic.