Tell Me Something True

I love this book. It made me happy and sad and I even recommended it to my teacher because I love it so much. It is probably on my top 5 book list that I love.

I just finished this book about 10 minutes ago and just had to come and give it a 5 star rating. I had never heard of this book, and randomly selected it during my last trip to the book store. I started reading and simply could not put it down. Cobo's characters are so easy to relate to. They jump off the paper and into your hearts. This story is amazing and I eagerly await future books from Cobo. Don't hesitate, read this book! I have a feeling I will keep this story within my heart for a long time.

Title: Tell Me Something True Author: Leila Cobo ISBN: 978-0-446-51936-6 Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (a division of Hachette Book Group) Address: 237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017 List Price: $[...] USA/[...] Canada Leila Cobo's debut novel, Tell Me Something True, hooked me from the beginning, and kept my attention to the very end! This fast moving story is set in Cali, Colombia. Gabriella Richards, is a young woman and classical pianist who lives in Hollywood with her father. Gabriella had lost her mother at a very young age. She is visiting her grandmother in Colombia, as she does every year. Several things transpire, leading Gabriella to find her mother's old diary, which she discovers is written to and for her. As she reads through her mother's diary entries she finds many lies have been told over the years to protect her mother's secrets from being revealed. As Gabriella deals with her mixed emotions and feeling of betrayal, she gets involved with the son of a known drug dealer who she had met at a party. As the two become more fond of each other, Gabriella is led on a journey of awakenings throughout her four week summer vacation in Columbia. Gabriella continues her quest to find the truth about her mother's apparent secret life that she led without her prior to her fatal accident. The story crescendo's towards the culmination of events that leads Gabriella to learn the truth about her mother, and face some unpleasing things about the life of her lover. As all is revealed, Gabriella learns some difficult life lessons and discovers a few things about herself in the process. Leila Cobo displays her remarkable writing skills through her characters. They are credible, and believable. She draws the reader into their world with amazing ease. Leila herself is a native of Cali, Colombia. She has degrees in journalism and piano performance and is a former concert pianist. She is well known and respected in her field. She is the executive director of Latin content and programming for Billboard. She also includes an author's note with some anecdotal notes, giving the reader insight into the inspiration for her impressive debut novel. - written by Jennifer Ochs [...]

I loved this debut novel by Columbian writer Leila Cobo. Set between Columbia and Los Angeles it is the story of Gabriella, a concert pianist, and Helena, her late mother, told from both their perspectives. It's a beautifully written and poignant story of mothers and daughters, first love, loss, family and the gulf between two cultures. I literally couldn't put it down and ended up reading it at one sitting.

This debut novel by Colombian writer Leila Cobo is simply one of the most beautiful, poignant books I've read in a long time. The story of Gabriella and her ill-fated mother, Helena, told in both their voices, will no doubt resonate with all of us who have fallen in love, who have suffered a loss, who have struggled to understand the capriciousness of love and fate. Set between Colombia and Los Angeles, this is a story of mothers and daughters, of loves won and lost. It is also a story of being torn between two totally different worlds. But the real beauty lies in the way Cobo describes her very imperfect characters and their struggles. The love story between Gabriella and the forbidden, "damaged" Angel is utterly heartwrenching, and, as a native Colombian, Cobo describes her imperfect country in terms both magical and stark. A word for the wise: Have a box of tissues handy.

Leila Cobo's debut novel is an utterly wonderful and riveting book that had me in its clutches from the first page. It is lyrical and sensual with no word out of place. The character development is perfect, deep and meaningful, bringing the reader into the heart of the protagonists and their lives. In a sense, this novel sang to me in its poignant story of great loves. The story is about Gabriella, a young woman who is half American and half Colombian. She was orphaned at four years old when her mother died in a plane crash. Every year Gabriella goes to Cali, where her mother is from, to spend a month with her grandparents. She has always believed that her mother and father led an idyllic and perfect life until she finds her mother's diary in Cali - - and then she realizes that what she thought was true is a lie. The diary talks about a tumultuous affair that Helena, her mother, had when Gabriella was four. Helena was in Cali for two months working on a photography book that had been commissioned by the governor. She met a man who she fell in love with and Gabriella questions whether Helena would have abandoned her and her father for her lover. The diary consumes her as she reads page after page of sensual and loin tingling descriptions of their affair. Gabriella is puzzled and angry about her family's secrets, of being led to believe something was true that was not. At the same time that Gabriella finds the diary, she meets a young man. Angel, with whom she falls in love. Gabriella and Angel are both rich and are part of high society but Angel has a darkness about him and is not accepted by the old money that Gabriella is associated with. Angel's father is the foremost drug lord of Cali and is currently in jail. Everywhere that Angel goes, he is accompanied by a cotillion of armed guards. Gabriella is swept off her feet and their love affair is as sensually and sexily described as any literary depiction I've every read. Now Gabriella is at a crossroads. Is she drawn to Angel because of her anger and puzzlement about her mother's actions or is she truly in love with this man for who he is, despite his family? The book gives a very detailed and clear portrayal of Colombian culture and lifestyles. Having been to Colombia, I can say with some experience that the descriptions of armed bodyguards, cotillions of soldiered cars, the danger, the frenetic and joyful lifestyle, the parties, the fear and the celebrations all ring true. The book is structured in chapters alternating Gabriella's experiences with pages from Helena's diary. The story flows beautifully in this manner as both women's lives are juxtaposed on one another. We feel the joy, the pain, the heat, and the quandaries that each woman experiences. We feel at one with them. I am not one who usually cries when I read books, but this book brought tears to my eyes - - of joy and of pain. It is a wonderful book and I look forward with anticipation to Ms. Cobo's next novel.