The Girls

I ordered this item after hearing about it from many sources, and hearing many recommendations for it. I thought that the subject matter was very intriguing, especially given the notoriety of the Manson murders, and the books fictionalized approach to a similar group. I thought that the authors language was descriptive, often times I felt like I was with Evie at events, or feeling the things she felt. I also felt that it was a great perspective through the eyes of someone who was young and impressionable, but also a bit jaded from things that happened in her own life. Having not lived through that time period, I found the book to be interesting and thought provoking, with a character that was complex enough to want to see what happens at the end. I confess I did not always like the main character, but I felt you didn't have to like her to understand what was going on, and why she made the choices she did. Overall it was a good book, I didn't give it 5 stars as I felt that the end wasn't to my liking, and there were parts that I didn't think had great transitions between past and present- but I did enjoy the read.

page de couverture abîmée ,collante

This book tells the story of an ordinary (though well-off) sixties teenager dealing with the usual teenage dramas and the breakup of her parents# marriage, before getting involved with a hippie cult that ultimately turns murderous. I really loved how it created a sense of time and place. Reading it, you could really feel the heat of the California summer and smell the scent of incense. Both the normal, staid middle-class life and the counter-culture were nicely portrayed. It was all very atmospheric. There was a phase a few years ago where every other book with a female protagonist and a dark edge was compared to Gone Girl. I thought that in most cases, this missed the fact that the best thing about Gone Girl wasn't the twisty plot, but the clever passages ruminating on life, women, and relationships, which few of its imitators pulled off. Here, there are some similarly clever and relatable pieces of writing about being a teenage girl, which I really enjoyed. The ending (cult goes on a murder spree) is revealed in the opening chapter, so most of the drama is based less around what's going to happen, more about how and why. I really enjoyed the journey and the sense of someone being sucked into something. Despite relatively little happening until the final drama, the focus on characters and relationships and things slowly taking a turn for the worse really sucked me in. If I'm honest though, I found it slightly hard to suspend belief enough to believe that someone as normal as the narrator could get sucked in to the cult so quickly and so deeply, or that the core cult members, who seemed a but odd rather than totally twisted, could commit such gruesome, cold-blooded murders. It didn't detract from my enjoyment of the story, but I'd have liked just a bit more explanation and build up. Every so often, the narrative switched from the sixties to the present day, with the main character still scarred by her experiences and living a lonely life. These sections mostly focus on her meeting a teenage girl who's been sucked into a borderline-abusive relationship rather than a cult, but who reminds her of her younger self. This part wasn't bad, but I didn't find it as compelling as the main story and didn't feel it added much value. I was very caught up in the book as I went along, and I think that if I'd reviewed it as soon as I'd finished, I'd have given it five stars, but a week or two later, it hasn't stuck in my mind in the way my all-time favourites do and I'm a little more conscious of its minor flaws. It's a high four stars though, and I'd definitely recommend this. One final thought - the behaviour of the cult is one thing, but was how sexually active the main character was in her normal life (with her friend's brother for example) realistic for a middle-class fourteen year old in the sixties? This is probably just me being painfully millennial and naive, so I'd welcome views from those who lived through the period.

"I looked up because of the laughter, and kept looking because of the girls". Con esta línea inicia el libro de Emma Cline, el cual prometía mucho, influido creo por todo el bombo y publicidad alrededor de él. Está más enfocado en el crecimiento y madurez de una adolescente ("We all want to be seen") que en el ficticio asesinato masivo. En general, el libro es entretenido, y tiene pasajes interesantes, pero definitivamente esperaba más, mucho más. No tiene ni la narración más fluida ni es de esos textos que no puedes soltar por que quieres saber qué va a suceder.

This book snaps you out of all the sugarcoated dreams . Dreams of meeting your Prince Charming , saving the damsel in distress . It states the hard reality , all the suffering , manipulation . Never read something like this which is so spine chilling and true . Love this book .