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A review by emleemay
Marlena by Julie Buntin
4.0
Normally I start my reviews with a quote; a nice little taster of what to expect. But with [b:Marlena|30199414|Marlena|Julie Buntin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1487221159s/30199414.jpg|49155277] it was impossible to isolate just a sentence or two. I copied down whole paragraphs that became extracts until it felt like I would be quoting the entire book. I kept thinking I was done and then realizing the next sentence was equally poignant. If you want something, I'll give you this:
To be honest with you, I wasn't sure about [b:Marlena|30199414|Marlena|Julie Buntin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1487221159s/30199414.jpg|49155277] at first. I've read more than my fair share of these books about teen girls with intoxicating friendships that spiral out of control. Everything from [a:Megan Abbott|29593|Megan Abbott|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1341365230p2/29593.jpg]'s fucked up little world ([b:Dare Me|12982393|Dare Me|Megan Abbott|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1342214694s/12982393.jpg|18141649], [b:The Fever|18656036|The Fever|Megan Abbott|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1381359885s/18656036.jpg|26470722], etc.) to [a:Elliot Wake|15254487|Elliot Wake|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1480863996p2/15254487.jpg]'s [b:Black Iris|18829666|Black Iris|Leah Raeder|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420737066s/18829666.jpg|26771709] to the murderous [b:Boring Girls|22750458|Boring Girls|Sara Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408469857s/22750458.jpg|42295727] to last year's (less impressive, IMO) [b:Girls on Fire|26074200|Girls on Fire|Robin Wasserman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462088432s/26074200.jpg|44608351] .
I come back to this theme because the relationships between teenage girls continue to fascinate me. How close they can become, how intense, and how cruel. The fine line between friendship and vindictive jealousy. I was one not that long ago, but it doesn't make me any closer to figuring them out.
What makes [b:Marlena|30199414|Marlena|Julie Buntin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1487221159s/30199414.jpg|49155277] stand out, for me, what gives the book it's power, is the perspective of an adult woman. The story is narrated in past tense by Cat, as she sits in New York with a successful career and loving boyfriend. The sense that she can't shake off the intensity of this one brief period of her past permeates the novel. Her adult eyes bring maturity to the story, seeing things in hindsight that she never noticed at fifteen. It's incredibly effective, moving, and sad.
We learn almost immediately that Marlena - the friend who took over Cat's fifteen-year-old world - will die. Has died. Cat then proceeds to unveil how the friendship was formed and developed, revealing ever more details about Marlena and the person she was.
These kind of books tend to sit right on the line between pretty and purplish prose - and I think Buntin gets the balance just right. It's evocative, creating that whirlwind feeling of emotion as the story moves along, but grounded in insights about humanity and young women that make the book so much more than just an exercise in pretty metaphors. At one point, Cat recalls about Marlena the “glow to her that lives in lost things” and wonders if it was always really there or if that’s just how we see people who have gone.
It is very interesting to see the contrast between the teenage Cat who puts the wild Marlena on a mental pedestal, and the adult who can see her for what she was: a screwed-up girl. So many writers have created the spirited, fascinating tornado of a girl who drags another into her world, but so few breathe this much humanity into her.
A fantastic, beautiful, thought-provoking book.
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I’ve never believed in the innocent bystander. The act of watching changes what happens. Just because you don’t touch anything doesn’t mean you are exempt. You might be tempted to forgive me for being fifteen, in over my head, for not knowing what to do, for not understanding, yet, the way even the tiniest choices domino, until you’re irretrievably grown up, the person you were always going to be. Or in Marlena’s case, the person you’ll never have a chance to be. The world doesn’t care that you’re just a girl.
Let the record show that I was smarter than I looked. And anyway, I touched.
To be honest with you, I wasn't sure about [b:Marlena|30199414|Marlena|Julie Buntin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1487221159s/30199414.jpg|49155277] at first. I've read more than my fair share of these books about teen girls with intoxicating friendships that spiral out of control. Everything from [a:Megan Abbott|29593|Megan Abbott|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1341365230p2/29593.jpg]'s fucked up little world ([b:Dare Me|12982393|Dare Me|Megan Abbott|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1342214694s/12982393.jpg|18141649], [b:The Fever|18656036|The Fever|Megan Abbott|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1381359885s/18656036.jpg|26470722], etc.) to [a:Elliot Wake|15254487|Elliot Wake|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1480863996p2/15254487.jpg]'s [b:Black Iris|18829666|Black Iris|Leah Raeder|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420737066s/18829666.jpg|26771709] to the murderous [b:Boring Girls|22750458|Boring Girls|Sara Taylor|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1408469857s/22750458.jpg|42295727] to last year's (less impressive, IMO) [b:Girls on Fire|26074200|Girls on Fire|Robin Wasserman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1462088432s/26074200.jpg|44608351] .
I come back to this theme because the relationships between teenage girls continue to fascinate me. How close they can become, how intense, and how cruel. The fine line between friendship and vindictive jealousy. I was one not that long ago, but it doesn't make me any closer to figuring them out.
What makes [b:Marlena|30199414|Marlena|Julie Buntin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1487221159s/30199414.jpg|49155277] stand out, for me, what gives the book it's power, is the perspective of an adult woman. The story is narrated in past tense by Cat, as she sits in New York with a successful career and loving boyfriend. The sense that she can't shake off the intensity of this one brief period of her past permeates the novel. Her adult eyes bring maturity to the story, seeing things in hindsight that she never noticed at fifteen. It's incredibly effective, moving, and sad.
We learn almost immediately that Marlena - the friend who took over Cat's fifteen-year-old world - will die. Has died. Cat then proceeds to unveil how the friendship was formed and developed, revealing ever more details about Marlena and the person she was.
These kind of books tend to sit right on the line between pretty and purplish prose - and I think Buntin gets the balance just right. It's evocative, creating that whirlwind feeling of emotion as the story moves along, but grounded in insights about humanity and young women that make the book so much more than just an exercise in pretty metaphors. At one point, Cat recalls about Marlena the “glow to her that lives in lost things” and wonders if it was always really there or if that’s just how we see people who have gone.
It is very interesting to see the contrast between the teenage Cat who puts the wild Marlena on a mental pedestal, and the adult who can see her for what she was: a screwed-up girl. So many writers have created the spirited, fascinating tornado of a girl who drags another into her world, but so few breathe this much humanity into her.
A fantastic, beautiful, thought-provoking book.
Great loneliness, profound isolation, a cataclysmic, overpowering sense of being misunderstood. When does that kind of deep feeling just stop? Where does it go? At fifteen, the world ended over and over and over again. To be so young is a kind of self-violence. No foresight, an inflated sense of wisdom, and yet you’re still responsible for your mistakes.
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