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To Be Honest

A Memoir of Radical Honesty, Love, and the Occasional Necessary Lie

By: Michael Leviton

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Hardcover | 5 January 2021

At a Glance

Hardcover
304 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.8 x 14.6 x 2.9

Hardcover

RRP $39.99

$35.75

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A memoir about one man’s strange upbringing in a family fanatically devoted to honesty

Raised in what he affectionately calls “our little honesty cult,” Michael Leviton was ingrained with his parents’ core philosophy: You do not tell any lies; you do not withhold the truth; and you speak your mind always, regardless of how offensive or hurtful your opinions may be.

For young Michael, this freedom to be yourself-despite being bullied and ostracized at school-felt liberating. By the time Leviton was 29 years old, he had told three (what most people would consider) lies in his entire life. But his parents’ enthusiasm for “just being honest” bordered on extreme. After Michael graduated high school and left home, truth telling-in job interviews, on dates, in social interactions-slowly lost its luster.

When the only woman who ever appreciated his honesty brought this radical approach to truth into their relationship, Michael decided it was time to embrace the power of lying. To Be Honest is a quirky, tender, and wry story of a man discovering what it means and how it feels to lie in one’s daily life.

About the Author

Michael Leviton is a writer, musician, photographer, and storyteller. He is the host of the storytelling series and podcast The Tell. He has worked as a screenwriter and contributed music to television shows, including HBO's Bored to Death.

Industry Reviews

"I couldn't put this book down. Wait—that's a lie; I had to sleep and stuff. But the truth is that To Be Honest is astonishing, funny (both ha-ha and peculiar), and heartbreakingly touching. Michael Leviton has written such an unflinching look at what it means to tell the truth and to love that you can't read it without performing an inventory of all the lies you ever told or received, in the name of being human."
Faith Salie, author of Approval Junkie

"WTF. That's all I can say about To Be Honest. I mean. What. The. Fun. To Be Honest reads like a case study in interpersonal horror. I cringed and laughed alternately. Eek. What fun!"
Harrison Scott Key, Thurber Prize-winning author of The World's Largest Man: A Memoir

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