A review by thenovelmaura
The Only Girl in Town by Ally Condie

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

3.0

I've seen several other reviews for this book that summed up my thoughts pretty well, to the point where I'm not sure if my review will be valuable at all! I liked the feeling of being unsettled for most of the story. This book was suspenseful and I remember flying through its short chapters. On the other hand, the chapters are so short that I think the characters and content of the flashbacks ended up being underdeveloped (despite the "normal" number of pages). As for the ending,
I usually like open-ended books but this was more of an abrupt letdown than a graceful, ambiguous conclusion.


I also agree with the critiques that readers should be warned that this story is an allegory for depression rather than "loneliness." It is heavy and I could see how this could send someone into a spiral if they're not expecting to engage with this kind of content. It is a hard one to rate but (as a long ago Matched series fan) I do applaud Condie for going out of her normal dystopian genre with this one.
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