To Be Honest

by Michael Leviton Narrated by Michael Leviton

Overview

Raised in what he affectionately calls “our little honesty cult,” Michael Leviton was ingrained with his parents' core philosophy: you do not tell any lies; you do not withhold the truth; and you speak your mind always, regardless of how offensive or hurtful your opinions may be. For young Michael, this freedom to be yourself-despite being bullied and ostracized at school-felt liberating. By the time Leviton was twenty-nine years old, he had told three (what most people would consider) lies in his entire life. But his parents' enthusiasm for “just being honest” bordered on extreme. After Michael graduated high school and left home, truth-telling-in job interviews, on dates, in social interactions-slowly lost its luster. When the only woman who ever appreciated his honesty brought this radical approach to truth into their relationship, Michael decided it was time to embrace the power of lying. To Be Honest is a quirky, tender, and wry story of a man discovering what it means and how it feels to lie in one's daily life.

Editorial Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

"Oddly absorbing ... A memoir that shows that while truth doesn’t always mean beauty, there’s something to be said for beautiful liars, too."

Publishers Weekly

"Leviton brings great wit and irony to his debut memoir about the pros and cons of being honest, at all costs, all of the time ... Honestly, this thoroughly enjoyable, wry narrative is a winner."

author of Approval Junkie - Faith Salie

I couldn’t put this book down. Wait—that’s a lie; I had to sleep and stuff. But the truth is that To Be Honest is astonishing, funny (both ha-ha and peculiar), and heartbreakingly touching. Michael Leviton has written such an unflinching look at what it means to tell the truth and to love that you can’t read it without performing an inventory of all the lies you ever told or received, in the name of being human.

Thurber Prize–winning author of The World’s Largest Man: A Memoir - Harrison Scott Key

WTF. That’s all I can say about To Be Honest. I mean. What. The. Fun. To Be Honest reads like a case study in interpersonal horror. I cringed and laughed alternately. Eek. What fun!

From the Publisher

WTF. That’s all I can say about To Be Honest. I mean. What. The. Fun. To Be Honest reads like a case study in interpersonal horror. I cringed and laughed alternately. Eek. What fun!—Harrison Scott Key, Thurber Prize–winning author of The World’s Largest Man: A Memoir

"Leviton brings great wit and irony to his debut memoir about the pros and cons of being honest, at all costs, all of the time ... Honestly, this thoroughly enjoyable, wry narrative is a winner." —Publishers Weekly

“I couldn’t put this book down. Wait—that’s a lie; I had to sleep and stuff. But the truth is that To Be Honest is astonishing, funny (both ha-ha and peculiar), and heartbreakingly touching. Michael Leviton has written such an unflinching look at what it means to tell the truth and to love that you can’t read it without performing an inventory of all the lies you ever told or received, in the name of being human.” —Faith Salie, author of Approval Junkie

"Oddly absorbing ... A memoir that shows that while truth doesn’t always mean beauty, there’s something to be said for beautiful liars, too."—Kirkus Reviews

Kirkus Reviews

2020-03-15
An obsessive search for honesty that becomes an emotional minefield.

In this uneven but oddly absorbing book, Leviton unapologetically reveals what raw honesty looks and feels like. The author was raised in a household he dubs “a little honesty cult,” in which he was encouraged by his parents to always tell the truth, no matter how painful or embarrassing the circumstances. “My parents…argued that children are born honest,” he writes, “that we revel in self-expression until parents, teachers, and friends punish or shame our honesty away.” Leviton divides his journey into three distinct parts, starting with the inevitable conflicts he inspired in other schoolchildren and the rather bizarre “family therapy camp” that would result in his parents’ divorce. Armed with a creative spark, a flair for the ukulele, and an arch sense of humor often misunderstood by others, the author landed in New York City trying to find work as a writer. This middle part is poignant but also quite painful to read, as the author describes his experiences in a relationship with the love of his life at the time, a graphic artist who regularly broke up with him. Eventually, Leviton decided that the only way to break the poisonous cycle of truth that handicapped him in many ways was to learn to lie. “My early lies,” he writes, “were simple attempts to misrepresent myself as normal,” merely pieces of his “experimentation with dishonesty.” Add to these experiences some peculiar drama on the side—e.g., Leviton philosophically arguing with an armed mugger or accidentally inspiring an orgy—and readers will get the literary equivalent of a radio program they stumbled across but can’t turn off, albeit with the edited parts left in this time.

A memoir that shows that while truth doesn’t always mean beauty, there’s something to be said for beautiful liars, too.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940177200866
Publisher:	Dreamscape Media
Publication date:	01/05/2021
Edition description:	Unabridged

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