The Porcupine of Truth is a comedic and enthralling coming of age story about two children who find meet accidentally at a small zoo with little to no animals. Carson is visiting Billings, Montana along with his mother so that they can take care of his dying alcoholic father. Aisha has been thrown out of her house by her religious father and rejected by her girlfriend. Aisha and Carson are quick to form a bond and Aisha moves in with Carson as they begin to unfold a longtime mystery about Carson’s grandfather and the history of abandonment prevalent in his family.

Konisberg’s novel is hysterical. There are many different types of humor involved in the writing, from bad puns to jokes that are almost too painfully disturbing to read. Aisha, though not the main character, often feels like she takes over the book (and rightfully so!) as a result of Carson’s descriptions and her own plight. What is so interesting about this book is that we get to see the friendship between two young people spring up where there is an obvious lack of parental warmth. My only complaint is one Aisha brings up: Carson is pretty selfish. He focuses mostly on his own plight and does not really understand that Aisha is suffering as well. For most of the book, he thinks Aisha’s only problem, at least that he focuses on, is the fact that she was homeless for several days before they met.

© 2015 Catia Cunha

Catia Cunha has a BA in Theater Arts and English from Mount Holyoke College. She won Young Playwrights Inc.’s 2013 National Playwriting Competition where her short play “Legs” was presented as a staged reading at the Lucille Lortel Theatre at the culmination of the Conference. In the spring of 2013 she produced and acted in her first full-length play, ____space, which was presented at Mount Holyoke. Catia’s senior project, Disinsemination, a play about feminist lesbians and aliens, was presented as a staged reading at Smith College and Mount Holyoke in Fall 2013. Mount Holyoke’s Rooke Theatre produced it in March 2014. In October 2014 Catia participated in the Grex Group’s Insomniacs 24-hour play festival. She is currently working on a play about sea monsters in the subway.