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

4.0

I picked up an arc of Condie’s latest this week at the ALA conference. When one of the PRH folks told me that several of her coworkers had read it and had different interpretations of the ending— and then that Condie’s agent told them they were all wrong— I was intrigued. The story opens with July realizing that everyone in her town has disappeared. Even birds and pets are inexplicably gone. But slowly, July starts seeing evidence that there may be at least one other person remaining— objects subtly moved, cryptic messages where she doesn’t remember seeing them before. The story alternates between “now” and “once” as layers are slowly peeled back on events in July’s life before she finds herself completely alone. The ending, as promised, is open to different opinions of what just happened. Stark and unsettling.