Give Me Some Truth

Gansworth, Eric. Give Me Some Truth. 2018. 432p. ISBN 9781338143546. Available as an audiobook from Overdrive.

Maggi, 15, and her family are Native-Americans who left the reservation near Niagara Falls years ago. Maggi has worked with her mother, her older sister Marie and her twin brother Marvin, to create traditional artwork they sell at the Niagara Falls park to tourists. Marie has met a secretive man, and she wishes to move back to the Reservation, so at the beginning of the story Maggi finds herself once again living in a shack without much creature comforts. 

Carson, 17, is a great musician, and he yearns to get off the Reservation. His ticket to New York City starts with winning the upcoming Battle of the Bands. Problem is, he doesn't have a band. So he needs to convince his friend Lewis to join the band. Carson is focused on his own problems, but his abusive father keeps distracting him with his brother's foibles. Derek, Carson's brother, held up a local restaurant, General Custer, and was shot in the behind. Everyone on the Reservation knows everyone else's business, and they now calls him the Hamburglar. 

When Maggi moves back to the Reservation, Carson remembers when she was a younger kid, but now finds her attractive. Maggi, for her part, is infatuated with an older man, who works for the school district maintenance team. And that man is the uncle of the boy who has been harassing Lewis, with whom Maggi also works. 

As the three of them navigate life, form a band, and learn how to play together, they will learn some hard truths, make some mistakes, and figure out what life really has to offer.