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Those Who Knew
Those Who Knew: A Novel | Idra Novey
22 posts | 12 read | 33 to read
"Those Who Knew speaks with uncommon prescience to the swirl around us. Novey writes, with acuity and depth, about questions of silence, power, and complicity. The universe she has created is imagined, and all too real." --Rebecca Traister, author of All the Single Ladies From the award-winning author of Ways to Disappear, a taut, timely novel about what a powerful politician thinks he can get away with and the group of misfits who finally bring him down. On an unnamed island country ten years after the collapse of a U.S.-supported regime, Lena suspects the powerful senator she was involved with back in her student activist days is taking advantage of a young woman who's been introducing him at rallies. When the young woman ends up dead, Lena revisits her own fraught history with the senator and the violent incident that ended their relationship. Why didn't Lena speak up then, and will her family's support of the former regime still impact her credibility? What if her hunch about this young woman's death is wrong? What follows is a riveting exploration of the cost of staying silent and the mixed rewards of speaking up in a profoundly divided country. Those Who Knew confirms Novey's place as an essential new voice in American fiction.
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wellreadredhead
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Pickpick

This is one of the best novels I have read in a long time. I find it difficult for literary fiction novel to be nearly perfect but this novel is. I can barely bring my thoughts together to write a review. The prose is masterful and timely, covering themes of corruption, wealth, family, and interpersonal relationships including LGBT ones. Please read this one. It is so intensely beautiful.

JaclynW Great review! 5y
66 likes7 stack adds1 comment
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Jenjamin
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“She kissed the top of her friend‘s head and it felt maternal, sensual— that fragile, erotic overlap that can happen in an embrace between two people who have gradually become essential to one another but have yet to speak of it, and who will likely never speak of all the shoved-down wadded-up things they have come to silently glimpse inside each other.”

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Jenjamin
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I‘m really enjoying this book!

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Jenjamin
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P. 80: “How did Joan of Arc do it, S? How did she stay true to the voices in her head as they led her into the fire?”

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Callsie
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Loving this so much! The unnamed island is creepy, trippy fun, and there is a bookstore featuring prominently recipe for D-light 😍

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tholmz
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Pickpick

“There was really no predicting where, or when, the least lonely years of one‘s adult life might begin.”

9 likes1 stack add
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AlexGeorge
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Pickpick

I already know this will be somewhere near the very top of my list for 2019, and it‘s only January. Spell-blindingly good. Lyrical, relevant, magical, thoroughly intoxicating. You know that old cliche about not wanting a book to end? Totally that.

Cinfhen Haven‘t heard about this book!! Your review has peaked my interest 😃 6y
16 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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AlexGeorge
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Totally in love with this book.

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kbuggle
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Pickpick

This is my first read of the new year. It‘s smart and relevant and timely. I picked a good one to kick off 2019.

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ChantelMcCray
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A bookstore and a burgeoning puppy romance.

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TheNerdyProfessor
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Mehso-so

This book was a social commentary on class, status, and power. It was a book about the consequences of one's actions and how past choices can follow you. While this book had some lofty aims, overall it fell flat for me. It was a quick read but not one that is likely to be memorable.

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TheNerdyProfessor
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I've decided for 2019 that I want to do a better job tracking the books I've read. I found this beautiful Moleskin book journal that is the perfect way to reflect on what I have read. I was so excited about it, that I decided to get an early start. Love love love. 😻

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TheNerdyProfessor
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My book haul from #HarvardBookstore and #BrooklineBooksmith. So many good ones to choose from! I definitely relied on Litsy to help me decide which ones to get!

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strandbookstore
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Pickpick

#WriterCrushWednesday is all about Idra Novey and her novel Those Who Knew. Her provocative story follows Lena, who suspects foul play from a current Senator/former co-ed when a young women who is helping him out politically turns up dead. With a nod to the thriller genre, Idra's storytelling explores the cost of staying silent paralleled with the reactions to speaking up. Find your copy on the main floor. #wcw

61 likes5 stack adds
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Chelsea.Poole
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Bailedbailed

Nope...I'm outta here!! 🏃🏼‍♀️💨 🚫👎🏻
Can't do it. I'm an hour and 15 minutes in and I don't know what I'm listening to. I'm not sure if it's me or the book's fault but I don't know who the characters are or what the setting is, nor can I see a plot at this point. So, what's the point of continuing? Permission to abort, granted.

Notafraidofwords You didn‘t miss much. 6y
70 likes1 comment
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BookishTrish
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Panpan

I liked the journey but there didn‘t seem to be any destination. I really liked Ways to Disappear and was hoping for more. Solid writing; muddy plotting and magic realism touches that go nowhere. Meh.

67 likes1 comment
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BookishTrish
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I‘m an hour from the end of this one with no clue where it‘ll end up - and I like it #audiobus #weekendlibrarian

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BookishTrish
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Sunrise #audiobus

Cathythoughts So beautiful ❤️ 6y
72 likes1 comment
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BookishTrish
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Warm fire. Black Russians. Book.

Grrlbrarian All those things ❤️ Enjoy!!!! 6y
73 likes1 comment
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BookishTrish
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#May wants to know if I need help with the #audiolaundry

CoffeeNBooks Cute cat!! 6y
RealLifeReading So cute!! 6y
merelybookish That face! 😻 6y
rubyslippersreads Tortitude! 😹 6y
TheSpineView Such a sweetie! 6y
82 likes5 comments
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Notafraidofwords
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Panpan

I read her other book and loved it, so I picked this one up and it just didn‘t do it for me. Set in an unnamed country after a regime has fallen, the main character revisits a fraught relationship she had with a senator. This book is doing too much. And it‘s meant to feel universal, but vagueness doesn‘t equal universality. Yet, plenty of people will read this and love it because of its faux literary fiction sentences that are just so beautiful.

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Tadams4

This book sounds amazing! Cannot wait to start!