All True Not a Lie in It audiobook

It was hard to get into Boone's mindset. The story started with a lot of swearing, and every unmarried woman was called a whore. I did eventually travel back to the time where most were not educated, government was minimal, women had no power, the majority of the population lived in poverty, and pioneer spirit drove people to any minuscule opportunity. I found Boone's inner life sad. He seemed wildly in love with his family (parents, wife, children), but his relationships were never enough. He was full of discontent, being constantly pulled by both guilt, and childhood dreams. I look forward to Alix's next book.

I cannot overstate how much I loved this novel. If you're looking for a novel about an American hero taming the wild frontier that follows a straight line and ends triumphantly, you will be disappointed. But historical fiction that breaks my heart is my favorite genre, and I am officially an Alix Hawley superfan.Hawley's writing is spare but vivid, well suited to a character as haunted as her Daniel Boone. I enjoyed the meandering, dreamlike quality of his narration, the observations and memories that crept in from the periphery. Hawley has clearly done her research but doesn't hit the reader over the head with how much she knows. At the end of the day, I don't care what's "accurate" because the story is so fascinating. When I reached the end and there were no more pages to read, I wanted to weep - luckily I hear she is working on a sequel. Eagerly looking forward to that book and more from this writer!

This was a very primitive country when Daniel Boone entered the world and he was ideally suited to this environment. He was a man of wanderlust, always wanting to venture into the perfect next piece of land.We here and see the world through his thoughts in this story. So many of the situations presented can be confusing. The author does not tell you the research or sources she used to to frame his character and thoughts. This would have been quite useful and added more credibility to the whole frontiersman image.Daniel was certainly connected with his deceased family members, in particular his brother, Israel, and son, Jamesie.His love and attachment to his wife, Rebecca, was strong and true. But his idea of a business trip into the unexplored wilderness was for a year or more.In the beginning, he felt entitled to explore & settle the Kentucky territory with little for thought that the natives were here first, typical for his time.If you’re curious about those who came before this will surprise and startial you.The episode with the natives will display almost a foreign concept of family and trust.Still I would very much like to know how the author arrived at presenting her picture of his life.Daniel fell into the same image we give to the founding fathers-perfect human beings. We forget they were human and flawed as us all. Daniel was such.

This is a very well written book, and I did enjoy it! The life of Daniel Boone and his adventures in the frontier of Kentucky was a captivating story. His inner struggle in coming to terms with the death of his brother and his relationship with his wife made him a very complex character. The harsh judgments of his Quaker community regarding sexuality and women also was troubling to him. The book also had a lot of depth in the portrayal of the Indigenous peoples, as well as the Negro slave in the story. It is historical fiction at its best!

Well writtenAs I read, I tried to reconcile this Daniel Boone with the TV character and legend I remember from my past but this Daniel Boone was a much more deeper character. One who struggled with life he was living, instincts, love, loss and survival. I was pulled into the mind of this character through the writer 's skill at telling this story. Having finished this book, I find myself thinking about what goes on in Daniel Boone's life and mind beyond where the words stopped, wishing that the words continued.

A clear and unique first-person voice of the life of Daniel Boone. The man was famous, he's a legend, and yet Alix Hawley has gorgeously toned his fame down and made his story easy to follow and absolutely captivating to read. Just started the sequel!

Rich description of Daniel Boone’s time in the new world. Well written

Fictional novel, based on stories of real-life Daniel Boone.

Historical figures can make compelling fiction and that is the case here. Mythic frontiersman Daniel Boone tells the story of a good chunk of his life starting when he was a child. His voice felt real, though it took me some time (almost 100 pages) for me to become comfortable with it. So much sensory detail and interior dialogue. Hawley's Boone was haunted by the dead. He was a man with a dream of paradise in Kentucky. Never content in a settlement, he wanted more. This wanderlust was the springboard for his adventures and hardships.His life was fascinating and I admit I had to look him up in Wikipedia after reading the book to see if the bones of the story were factual. They were, though his life continued for many years past where this tale ends. Something that stood out for me were the attitudes towards women, not only his, but the people of that time. His courtship of the prickly Rebecca is something I will never forget and the snarls and tangles of their life together rang true.I would rate this 4.5 if I could, but there were times when I wasn't sure what was happening. I suppose our narrator didn't either.I finished reading this feeling like I knew a man who lived a large life. No longer a myth.

All True is an extraordinary read. I was several months reading this novel simply because Alix Hawley's writing is so dense and gorgeous. Never superfluous. The story line and tension were definitely not lost in the prose as can be the case with some literary fiction...at least for me and where I am at in my love of literature. Personal preference trumps everything. No pun intended. Several times throughout the reading I had to close the book as well as my eyes and let the images linger. Not once did I feel Hawley's voice coming through. I am certain she must have been channeling Boone's spirit, honing the truth of his experience in a raw land Hawley would otherwise have no way of know so intimately. The opening scenes of this novel may stump people who are not used to literary fiction, however, I encourage all readers to continue! I found that absorbing the dialogue and the way it was structured was a bit like softening into someone's beautiful accent. Once your ear adjusts, you never want that person to stop talking. Or in this case, unfolding a story. I look forward to what comes next!

ALL TRUE NOT A LIE IN IT by Alix Hawley (Alfred A Knopf, Canada, 2014) is a remarkable telling of Daniel Boone from age 7 in Pennsylvania, to his capture by Indians on the western frontier which at that time was Kentucky. These were the days bison roamed our young nation as far east as the Carolinas and Georgia. Much of the time he is alone. The writing is lyrical, yet appropriate for a little-educated man. For example, when he is trying to find someone in the forest: "My entire skin listens. I call out quietly and then high like a bird, I use my own voice and all kinds of others.”Or: “I think down to sinew, I feel strung like a bow, which makes me reckless in my body.”He is alone more than he is with people. Little is known about Boone’s life, but if part of this is not truly true, it nevertheless paints a remarkable picture of a woodsman and settler around the time of the Revolutionary War when the British were paying bounties for Yankee scalps. A time when a child’s death was never a surprise and small mistakes could be fatal.A lovely read, especially about the “beauties and terrors” of Kentucky

I am not finished yet, but this book has already gained my attention. The characters are realistic and, so far, likeable. In other words, you want to know what happens to them. It works both as an adventure novel and as a historical-fiction (although I don’t know how accurate it is –doesn’t matter anyways). I just know every time I read these kinds of books I become sad knowing that I will never know what it was like to live back then. Another good book I won through a First-Reads giveaway.P.S. I was just wondering if the title “All True Not a Lie in It” is a reference to Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”.