G684 Book Review of The Girls by Emma Cline
Author: Emma Cline
ISBN: 978-0-8129-9860-3
Publisher: Random House Book
Type of book: California, 1960s, teenage angst, looking for love in the wrong places, cult, crime, murder, life, control
Year it was published: 2016
Summary:
Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged—a place where she feels desperate to be accepted. As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence, and to that moment in a girl’s life when everything can go horribly wrong.
Characters:
Main characters include Evie Boyd, a teenage girl who is suffering from issues that other women around her age suffer from and a woman who is looking for love and acceptance in the wrong places. Evie for me is a bit prickly and tended to be unlikable. There is also Suzanne who guides Evie and introduces her to Charles Manson like cult figure as well as someone who seems to have all the answers to life. The men are given very little spotlight and one finds the adulation that women had towards him or them a bit confusing, maybe because Evie acted as more of a bystander rather than someone in the thick of things?
Theme:
Loneliness and isolation can be taken advantage of
Plot:
The story is written in first person narrative from Evie's point of view. Its more focused on the women rather than the men, and it contained quite a lot of truths that I hadn't really considered or thought about. While I was confused about why the young women were enthralled with the Charles Manson-like personality, (unfortunately not much is explored about the cult life) I wasn't confused as to why Evie followed Suzanne and would have continued to follow her. It certainly made me look at the Manson murders in a new way, to be honest.
Author Information:
(From the book)
Emma Cline is from California. Her fiction has appeared in Tin House and The Paris Review. She won the 2014 Paris Review Plimpton Prize for Fiction.
Opinion:
When I won THE GIRLS in 2016, I had no idea what a wonderful and thrilling novel I'd won. I'm only sorry that it took me so long to read the book. Most often when there is focus on a charismatic leader, or the reason that girls get into bad things, its always a male. But what if in this case, its because of a young woman one sees in the park? That is the premise that THE GIRLS operates under. Part psychological thriller part exploration of a Charles Manson type of leader and the girls that made him famous, THE GIRLS also deals with insecurities, with an insatiable longing that Evie Boyd and Suzanne go through when on a cusp of adolescence. THE GIRLS is definitely spell binding and have caught me in a spell that was almost impossible to let go.
I won this at goodreads firstreads
5 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
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