A review by whatsophreadnext
Girl A, by Abigail Dean
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Girl A is a fictionalised version of biographies I feel I've read a handful of times. We tackle child abuse justified by organised religion, and the author handles it incredible sensitively.
However, this book was not the thriller that I was anticipating from other reviews and hype on social media. This was far more reflective, diving into the psyche of the children involved, rather than any kind of mystery that I assumed we would build a picture of. Instead, the picture we got was a vague meandering around the subject matter. In addition, the chapters were far too long without anything really happening, and the timeline jumps were not cohesive. I completely forgot who was who with the ever-growing cast of characters; I'm not entirely sure who I was supposed to be rooting for by the end of it.
The concept was fantastic, but the story just fell flat for me. Perhaps this is because I was expecting something different from the book, or perhaps it was the writing style. My experience with this book may also be hampered by listening to it on audio rather than physically reading it. There were times I wish I could have flicked back to work out who was who, but instead I persevered and ending up getting lost.
However, this book was not the thriller that I was anticipating from other reviews and hype on social media. This was far more reflective, diving into the psyche of the children involved, rather than any kind of mystery that I assumed we would build a picture of. Instead, the picture we got was a vague meandering around the subject matter. In addition, the chapters were far too long without anything really happening, and the timeline jumps were not cohesive. I completely forgot who was who with the ever-growing cast of characters; I'm not entirely sure who I was supposed to be rooting for by the end of it.
The concept was fantastic, but the story just fell flat for me. Perhaps this is because I was expecting something different from the book, or perhaps it was the writing style. My experience with this book may also be hampered by listening to it on audio rather than physically reading it. There were times I wish I could have flicked back to work out who was who, but instead I persevered and ending up getting lost.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, and Physical abuse