You Don't Know Me

Goodreads Description

An unnamed defendant stands accused of murder. Just before the Closing Speeches, the young man sacks his lawyer, and decides to give his own defence speech. He tells us that his barrister told him to leave some things out.Sometimes, the truth can be too difficult to explain, or believe. But he thinks that if he's going to go down for life, he might as well go down telling the truth. There are eight pieces of evidence against him. As he talks us through them one by one, his life is in our hands. We, the reader- member of the jury - must keep an open mind till we hear the end of his story. His defence raises many questions... but at the end of the speeches, only one matters: Did he do it?

My Review

Ah, I feel so torn with this one. It was a book that I really wanted to love, and that I thought I was going to love. It was, after all, a courtroom drama, and I love those. To be honest though, I battled with this read.

Basically, this story is written as one long monologue. The defendant is giving his closing argument in his own trial after having fired his advocate. The way that the story is written didn't totally grab me. I would have enjoyed the whole experience much more if the structure had been different. I think the story would have been so much more engaging if the defendant had been in the witness box, giving evidence. Both advocates could have been asking questions, the defendant answering them and the reader left to decide whether they believed the defendants version of events. Instead, the monologue seemed exceptionally long and drawn out.

This is another issue that I had. The monologue and in turn, the book itself, was too long. In real life, a closing argument would never last for the length of time that this one did. It just doesn't happen that way. And the language used by the defendant would never be allowed either. In real life, a court room is a very serious place, with tradition, a judge that everyone respects and a very intimidating atmosphere. In this story, the defendant, in using "street" language, swore at various times and throughout the monologue. As a reader, I have no issue with swearing, but in this case, it was unrealistic. It wouldn't happen in a real court. Every now and again, the defendant would apologise to the judge, but most of the time he didn't.

And lastly, I did battle with the "street" talk used in this book. I must give the author credit and say that he captured the character of the person perfectly by using this language, but for a girl like me, from a certain background, never having spent any time on the streets, or as part of a gang, the language was difficult. And yes, ultimately this is a story about gangs, street life, violence, drugs and young people growing up on the streets. And that didn't grab me.

Did I like anything about this book? Actually, yes. The author is clearly very talented. He created a main character that was really well formed and clear in my mind. By using street language, the reader is left with a very vivid understanding of who the main character was, and of the world he lived in. The structure of the book was also very different, and a novel concept. I've never read anything else quite like it before. And being innovative is always a good thing, even if it doesn't always work out perfectly.

Although this book wasn't for me, I will read the next book by this author. I think he has definite writing talent. Unfortunately, this story didn't work for me as I found it too long, a little dull and I couldn't relate to the whole gang vibe, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't give this author a second chance. Something about his writing appeals to me, so I'll try one more.

My Rating: * *

Publication Date: July 2017 (South Africa)

Genre: Courtroom drama

Format: Trade paperback

Source: Review copy received from the publisher. Many thanks to author, Imran Mahmood and Penguin Random House SA for my copy.