A review by lacanadienneinreads
The Girls by Emma Cline

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

2.0

I'm interested in history, true crime, and literary fiction with interiority as a focus, so I wanted to like this book. In theory, an exploration of the trauma and complexity of a girl lured by her own reckless youth, naivety, into a dangerous cult is an interesting read. But I just didn't care for The Girls. Evie is a petulant child, turned traumatized adult in arrested development. The wordy and overly descriptive prose felt incongruous with the other snipits of voice of the protagonist/narrator. Although the dynamic of childhood friends lost through petty adolescence and the "do I want her or her want to be with her" questions of feminine homoerotic love were compelling, I they were not enough to capture me. Cline's description of teenage angst and rebellion did not resonate with me in what felt like the intended way. The book seemed to offer that the mundane indignities and frustrations of life could lead us, like they did Evie, astray. 
There are arguments to be made for the book's merits. But I did not enjoy myself. 
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