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A review by battybookworm
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
challenging
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Unfortunately, I kind knew this wasn't going to be a top book for me. The main reason I stuck with it at all was the opening scene with the bee (I had a similar experience at girl scout camp with my peers and a daddy long legs). Beyond that though, I found the focus of this book and the layout off putting. There are elements here that are deeply complex and could be quite interesting. I don't tend to enjoy narratives like this one, somewhat akin to Forrest Gump where they touch on multiple points in history in a sort of cursory way. It feels a bit trite I guess, I don't know.
I will also say, this book is written very specifically in the US and takes a lot of culture and history as a source for its plot. However, the author is not from the US and there were many random wording errors that made it rather disbelievingly placed in the US (some things felt rather obvious like how we say going to the hospital rather than being in hospital, likely could've been edited out at some point). I don't think this is the worst offense in books, but I do think that it allowed the author to sort of surface level many of the characters without giving them backing to actually make sense in the world. This is mostly a racial thing, basically every major character is a POC but it feels silly at the end when this is suddenly revealed.I'm mostly referring to Dan, the Dan reveal annoyed me.
Beyond all that, my favorite part was Kirby and there's a part of me that still wants more of her. I wish the book had given her more time, made her more central. It focused so intently on Harper and his murders when we already kinda had the gist there. Kirby was complex and strange and I never felt like we saw that as internally or fully as we did Harper's getting his rocks off.
I will also say, this book is written very specifically in the US and takes a lot of culture and history as a source for its plot. However, the author is not from the US and there were many random wording errors that made it rather disbelievingly placed in the US (some things felt rather obvious like how we say going to the hospital rather than being in hospital, likely could've been edited out at some point). I don't think this is the worst offense in books, but I do think that it allowed the author to sort of surface level many of the characters without giving them backing to actually make sense in the world. This is mostly a racial thing, basically every major character is a POC but it feels silly at the end when this is suddenly revealed.
Beyond all that, my favorite part was Kirby and there's a part of me that still wants more of her. I wish the book had given her more time, made her more central. It focused so intently on Harper and his murders when we already kinda had the gist there. Kirby was complex and strange and I never felt like we saw that as internally or fully as we did Harper's getting his rocks off.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Drug use, and Abortion
This book depicts multiple graphic murder events in fairly slim but clear detail. If you cannot stomach violence that includes stabbing and gore, I would recommended missing this book.