The Girls in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jun 06, 2016 angeleen rated it liked it

It is a decent book, but the level of hype surrounding it is unwarranted. My favorite part is the way the author understands young women and puts that understanding into words via the thoughts of the main character. I especially liked her thoughts about the girlfriend who is abandoned at the house she's staying at in real time (when she's an older woman). For a book about a murderous cult, there was very little happening. ...more

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Jun 06, 2016 KT rated it really liked it

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Girls is, on its face, the story of a troubled teen who is drawn into a Manson Family-like cult that's on the verge of committing Manson Family-like murders. The lurid subject matter is an obvious draw for readers but underlying that story is a deeper one. "The Girls" aren't just the girls of the cult, but all girls and women and the ways in which society betrays them Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Girls is, on its face, the story of a troubled teen who is drawn into a Manson Family-like cult that's on the verge of committing Manson Family-like murders. The lurid subject matter is an obvious draw for readers but underlying that story is a deeper one. "The Girls" aren't just the girls of the cult, but all girls and women and the ways in which society betrays them.

Evie's first betrayal comes from her own parents. It's the end of the 1960s and a changing society means that adults suddenly have permission to explore things they never had permission for before, but these journeys of self-discovery are self-centered in a way that can leave children out in the cold. Both of Evie's parents are too involved in finding themselves to pay attention to anything she's going through.

On top of that, her only friendship has unraveled in the face of teen drama, undone by girlish crushes and that kind of possessive girl-on-girl friendship that can't admit any outsiders.

Finding herself alone in a time of transition -- her last summer before being sent to boarding school -- it's not a hard decision to hop on board when a pitch black bus full of wild, unknown girls comes along and invites Evie in. They go to The Ranch, run by a man named Russell and Evie finds a place where she feels like she belongs at last.

Being at The Ranch makes her feel like part of a family and like a grown-up. Her drug and sex-filled nights become an adult secret that makes her feel important. The rejections of her friends and family no longer matter because now she's involved in something that feels bigger and cooler. This feeling is so powerful, that even when the facade begins to crumble, revealing something dark and horrible lurking underneath, Evie holds tightly to the illusion, not for love of their leader, Russell, but for her desperate, aching love for Suzanne, one of the other girls.

The story of Evie's amazing/horrible summer is told in flashback, by a now older Evie. She's lived a mostly unremarkable life and ended up living in a borrowed house, trying her best to just disappear. Then the son of the homeowner shows up unannounced with a young girlfriend whose naked desperation to be loved and accepted are immediately recognizable to Evie.

Unfortunately, Evie's efforts and her story is not powerful enough to make a difference. Sasha walks out of her life with the same desperate insecurity with which she came in and what we're left with is a story of girls and women, and the ways they are dismissed and manipulated, as well as the ways they can be complicit in their own plight, turning away from help in their desire to feel wanted and loved, to feel part of something.

It's a rare book that can tell a story from the point of view of a teenage girl and not be pandering. Teenage women are not given much respect in our society but their points of view are no less important than any others. In fact, 14-year-old Evie's voice reveals a lot that is as true now as it was in 1967: "All that time I had spent readying myself, the articles that taught me life was really just a waiting room until someone noticed you--the boys had spent that time becoming themselves." ...more

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Jan 06, 2017 Jen Ifer's Inklings rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2017

I didn't know what to expect when I started this book. Quickly I realized it was based around the Manson murders from the POV of someone just on the outside of the group. It was a fascinating and heartbreaking story. Taking you through the steps of what would lead a young girl into that life and how easy it was to be caught up in the cult of the ranch. ...more

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