Hot and Ugly

The Girls by Emma Cline

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had not read anything by Emma Cline before, but judging from the blurb and this book, she is a writer who is on a strong trajectory towards recognition and high sales. 'The Girls' is such a slick clever book. From the start the atmosphere is hot and ugly. A dysfunctional mother and her young teenage daughter face a long baking American summer of not liking each other and having to make do. Their sad back-story gradually unfurls alongside the main cliff-hanger narrative of the novel which follows Evie, the daughter, being seduced into joining an alluring (to her) but deeply disturbing hippie sect.

I am not a fan of gruesome literature, mostly because it can so easily feel gratuitous. Writing that sets out purely to shock is not, to me, great writing. Cline's story however, ingeniously draws you in and sucks you down. The characters are unpleasant, misguided, repellent, but she also shows their humanity and so we care about them. We get hints and glimpses of the horror going on in the cult, but never - until the very end - the full picture. This leaves the imagination jumping, on tenterhooks, filling in the gaps. Indeed, at times it is hard to continue reading because of dread at what might be around the corner; but of course this is Cline's skill, because the hunger for more information is what keeps us turning the pages.

When the denouement finally comes - the full explanation of events - it borders on an anticlimax. To me it also felt, despite the horrific acts humans are capable of, somewhat far-fetched. The vague sense that one had been 'played' crept in, which was why I couldn't bring myself to give 'The Girls' five stars. That said, it is an excellent read and a brilliant book to take to the beach if you want to be kept on your toes as well as entertained.



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