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A gay teenager in 1990s Wyoming must contend with the violent loss of a loved one in this historical YA novel that draws from the tragic murder of Matthew Shepard in 1998.
Juniper, Wyoming, high school student Ash is still reeling from his mother's death and ostracization by his friends when his father signs him up to join the crew for a college production of Oklahoma! Ash is slowly drawn out of his shell by student reporter Jenna and the star of the show, Shane, with whom a romance slowly blooms. Shane is talented, sensitive, and magnetic, but also deeply troubled. When Shane is found brutally beaten and unconscious, Jenna and Ash are shattered. And after Shane dies, they watch his death become a rallying point for gay rights advocates, and they wonder what the full story is and if they truly knew Shane at all.
All The Truth I Can Stand is a heartbreaking exploration of grief and legacy, and details the good and the bad that can come to pass when an imperfect person is made into a symbol.
"Keen prose meditates on the nature of violence fueled by bigotry and its effects, making for a layered and provocative telling that will encourage readers to critically examine their own behaviors and perceptions." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Even though the prologue signals that tragedy lies ahead, the novel doesn't feel predictable—instead, it carries an eerie sense of dread. Ash's closeness to Shane carefully brings Shane's story into vivid focus without conveying a feeling that Ash is speaking for him...A tender fictionalization that sheds light on human complexity." —Kirkus Reviews
"Stokes has done an excellent job of incorporating real life into his fictional narrative." —Booklist
"The novel connects personal identity with cultural and national concerns...Personal loss becomes entangled in the gay community's historical fight for recognition and equality in [All the Truth I Can Stand]." —Foreword Reviews
"A masterful blend of wholehearted fiction and absolutely essential American history." —Steve Sheinkin, New York Times bestselling author
"A buoyant account of first love, made especially poignant by the brutality of what follows. All the Truth I Can Stand is riveting." —Eliot Schrefer, National Book Award Finalist
This information about All the Truth I Can Stand was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
YA debut author Mason Stokes is a professor of English at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, where he teaches African American literature and queer fiction. In addition to his scholarly writing, Stokes is the author of the adult novel Saving Julian and the personal essay "Namesake," which was selected by Jonathan Franzen for inclusion in the 2016 edition of Best American Essays.
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