Reporter's First Novel Holds Mirror to Culture Prone to Ignoring
the Obvious (2)  Sunday, 26 June 2011 10:35 By Martha Sorren,
Truthout | Book Review   • Print   • Email Reporters First Novel
Holds Mirror to Culture Prone to Ignoring the Obvious  (Image:
Simon & Schuster)  So Much Pretty Cara Hoffman Simon & Schuster
New York, New York, 2011  "The responsibility of every
intelligent person is to pay attention to the obvious," Cara
Hoffman's debut novel, "So Much Pretty," advises. Having read
this on page four, the reader is instantly alerted to observe
the finer details of the story. Hoffman takes her readers on a
journey that leaves it up to them to put the pieces together and
figure out the truth about what goes on in the tiny upstate New
York town of Haeden.  In a society where media is often used to
distract rather than inform, the task of sifting through
information to discover reality is not an easy one. Hoffman
illustrates this difficulty in "So Much Pretty," where the
characters discover that they hav