Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Τα κορίτσια by Emma Cline

11 reviews

sallyrooneystanclub's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I find it strange just how closely the story follows the Manson family yet leaves out some of the more unique elements of what really happenend and how Mansons own motivations and cult techniques. It therefore lacks a  nuanced explantion or reflection on why many young people in particular young girls tortured and murdered people in the real Manson family. This feels a dis service to those murdered and their friends and family. I would have preferred it if it had taken more artistic licences to explore the themes it explored, how evie got involved more time to explore how it has impacted. It needed more depth otherwise it's borders on futher exploitation of the suffering of their victims.

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delaneybarry's review against another edition

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adventurous reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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mickraine's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75


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jkull_10's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5


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knikchevich's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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issyd23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Like a more interesting version of Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 4⭐️

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thisbookrox's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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helenamichelle's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5


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grboph's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was the first book I finished in 2022, and it was a very good one!! I have been very fascinated with cults recently, and this was a good deviation from a lot of the nonfiction things I have been using to learn about them (the cult in this book is clearly based on the Manson Family). Emma Cline is a wonderful writer, and it is somewhat hard to believe that this was the first book she ever wrote. I found Evie to be a very interesting character, and I think she had a good arc. The thing I liked the most about this book was that Evie felt very relatable, which was nice for me since I hadn't really encountered many teenage-girl characters like that in adult novels before. Then that scared me a little because I realized that maybe I could have fallen into something like Evie did if I had found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time when I was that age. I don't know if this was something Cline did on purpose, but either way, it made the book all the more thought-provoking. Overall, The Girls was a unique and engaging book and I enjoyed every second I spent reading it. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in cults or the 1960s as a time period, or anyone looking to read a unique story of any kind.

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samflowerv6's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

gritty and disturbing which is what the author was going for. accurate representation of attention seeking behaviors in young girls and how that can impact their relationships with men.

“That was part of being a girl--you were resigned to whatever feedback you'd get. If you got mad, you were crazy, and if you didn't react, you were a bitch. The only thing you could do was smile from the corner they'd backed you into. Implicate yourself in the joke even if the joke was always on you.” 

“That was our mistake, I think. One of many mistakes. To believe that boys were acting with a logic that we could someday understand. To believe that their actions had any meaning beyond thoughtless impulse. We were like conspiracy theorists, seeing portent and intention in every detail, wishing desperately that we mattered enough to be the object of planning and speculation. But they were just boys. Silly and young and straightforward; they weren't hiding anything.” 

“So much of desire, at that age, was a willful act. Trying so hard to slur the rough, disappointing edges of boys into the shape of someone we could love. We spoke of our desperate need for them with rote and familiar words, like we were reading lines from a play. Later I would see this: how impersonal and grasping our love was, pinging around the universe, hoping for a host to give form to our wishes.” 

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