By The Girls was an interesting read. I wasn’t sure what to expect going into it; I knew that it was loosely based on the Manson cult and I was interested in it because the psychology of cults really intrigues me, and I also really enjoy reading about the hippie era.
About the Book
Title: The Girls
Author: Emma Cline
Published: 2016
Genre: contemporary fiction, literary fiction
My Rating: 4/5 stars
Synopsis (from Goodreads)
Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged—a place where she feels desperate to be accepted. As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence, and to that moment in a girl’s life when everything can go horribly wrong.
My Thoughts
Overall I enjoyed this book, though I wish there had been a little bit more in the way of exploring those two aspects that drew me into the book. Evie was not that interesting of a character. She was drawn to the cult mostly because she had a crush on one of the other girls in the group and she was quite wishy washy and didn’t have much of an independent will. The writing in the book was very good but at times fell into the trap of purple prose (I remember some phrases I highlighted because I found them so funny, e.g. “burly joint”, “sexual droop”, “*furry* and pungent marijuana”, and my favorite, “the jumpiness of a penis in my fist” THE WHAT)
I thought that overall it was a unique and enjoyable read and the premise of a character looking back on her teenage years when she got involved in a cult that later was involved in a series of murders was very intriguing
Have you read The Girls by Emma Cline? If so, what did you think of it? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!
If you liked this post, consider subscribing to Frappes & Fiction. I post about the books I read (even if they’re not fiction), the books I think YOU should read, and anything else on my mind.
Frappes and Fiction 