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A review by stephbakerbooks
The Eighth Girl by Maxine Mei-Fung Chung
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Okay, I don’t know what I really expected with this book, but nothing that happened was what I expected. I think my main issue with it was that it was doing too much in one story so nothing got the right amount of attention it needed.
We get two first-person POVs, from Alexa and her therapist, Daniel. I would’ve liked it better if Daniel’s chapters were just gone...I never understood why his POV was included! To me, they didn’t add anything to the story, and he was kinda creepy anyway. Alexa was a much more interesting character and I would’ve rather just stayed in her head. I loved learning about her different personalities and seeing how they interacted with each other—that was the best part of this book.
The plot...was intense. This was a lot darker than I was expecting—be wary of the content warnings below. I’m not sure if it was all just for shock value or what, but a lot of it seemed unnecessary to me. Maybe it’s just not my kind of book.
Short chapters made for a quick read and I suppose it did entertain me...but I’m just left wondering what my takeaway from this book should be beyond an icky feeling.
(My initial take on this was three stars but I’ve decided to change it to two...)
We get two first-person POVs, from Alexa and her therapist, Daniel. I would’ve liked it better if Daniel’s chapters were just gone...I never understood why his POV was included! To me, they didn’t add anything to the story, and he was kinda creepy anyway. Alexa was a much more interesting character and I would’ve rather just stayed in her head. I loved learning about her different personalities and seeing how they interacted with each other—that was the best part of this book.
The plot...was intense. This was a lot darker than I was expecting—be wary of the content warnings below. I’m not sure if it was all just for shock value or what, but a lot of it seemed unnecessary to me. Maybe it’s just not my kind of book.
Short chapters made for a quick read and I suppose it did entertain me...but I’m just left wondering what my takeaway from this book should be beyond an icky feeling.
(My initial take on this was three stars but I’ve decided to change it to two...)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Trafficking, Suicide attempt, and Death of parent
Moderate: Grief