The Girls

I really wanted to like this. It kept my attention for the most part but it read like a book I’ve read many times before. There is no real growth, the character remains traumatized and acting as an outsider, with no real thoughts or emotions to drive them to self discovery. There is no grand finale, no unveiling of truth, just a character who recounts a time in their life that has shaped their every move and decision without any resolve or true opinions of their own. I thought the book anticlimactic, with the ending written as if the author had no more ways to exploit their character and decided to just end in a sad little paragraph that truly was neither here nor there.

She took you through the raw thoughts and rocky emotions of a young girl: easily influenced, and the tunnel vision of your own ego. Just to end up in a fate that somehow never was your own.

I absolutely LOVE this book. Nice chill read that gets you hooked.

I think this book is amazing. Super easy read, hard to put down, captivating, intriguing, disturbing, and just overall a great story.

Incredibly well written it just pulls you right in there. You can relate with the protagonist on so many levels. Beautifully descriptive and cathartic

Finished it in one plane ride. Super quick read.

“—but the familiarity of the Day was disturbed by the oath the girls cut across regular world. Sleek and thoughtless as sharks breaching the water” This book is disturbing. Take a teenager in the 60s with all the “angst” and trauma from a contentious divorce; add angry and lonely parents, and the loose, angry, flowing morality of California in that decade. Evie Boyd is attracted to a group of women clustered around a charismatic leader and splits her summer between her mother’s home- and new partner and Russell’s “ranch”. Neither is the best place for her to be, but both effect her. Told from older Evie’s point of view, Emma Cline pulls out all the stops:the good, the bad, the horror and the attraction of “different” that will inform the reader and pull them into a believable tale much as an observer to a train wreck. Triggers of sex and drugs. I simply could not stop reading this.

Didn’t like the writing or the story. I don’t understand why it got so many positive reviews

The Girls was about a cult movement run by a man named Russell in 1969. For about two years Russel began collecting followers preaching about love and political truths. Evie’s character was in thrall by Suzanne, a girl not much older than herself. She was envious of Suzanne, her ability to be unbothered by what others thought of her. Unlike Evie who was raised a good girl to be polite and well mannered. These girls were expressive and disorderly. Evie’s parents were divorced. Her mother busy dating allowing Evie freedom to spend her summer with her friend. Her relationship with her mother was strained. Evie wanted attention, recognition, love, and comfort, but her mother was too focused on dating. At fourteen, Evie was evolving from childhood into adulthood. During one summer before boarding school, she experimented with sex, drugs, and alcohol. Evie had issues with trying to find herself thereby relying on observing the behaviors of other girls. She adapted to their behaviors mimicking the things she felt she needed to. The Girls was character driven and written from Evie’s perspective. This was a coming of age story about Evie and several other girls. This was Evie’s recounting of events that took place before Russell was discovered. The pace was slow with Evie recounting the times she visited with Suzanne. It was a tiresome read of which I grew bored so I began skimming. One word continued to plague my mind while Evie was recounting her childhood which was latchkey kids. All too often kids were left to their own demises. This story was a recapping of those households that failed to provide a safe haven of love. I must heed a warning about this book by mentioning that there were some scenes that included sex with minors as well as sexual molestation. The story was executed into four parts sharing Evie’s childhood summer. The past was marked by the year 1969, the only indication Evie was talking about the past. I kept waiting for some brilliant discovery instead I felt the ending was anti-climatic.

Great writer! Reads like non fiction. The pictures painted with words: sad, beautiful, and sometimes horrifying Captivating read!