Reviews

Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy

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areyes10's review

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

h_loudavi5's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

WAIT! Did I go years and years not reading books featuring parthenogenesis and then in the past month I've read two novels about it?!? Life is weird sometimes, maybe not as weird as the life of Josephine Morrow, who is the Girl One referred to in the title. Josephine was the first girl born via "virgin birth" from a group of women living on a commune in the 1970's. These women were determined to have children without the involvement of men. Josephine was the first of 9 girls born here. All of the girls are clones of their mothers. When her mother goes missing, Josephine begins trying to figure out what happened to her and in the course of her investigation talks to some of the other girls and mothers. They uncover forces that seem to be looking to eradicate these girls.

This was an adventure! It was twisty, feminist sci-fi that brings to mind [b:The Handmaid's Tale|38447|The Handmaid's Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1)|Margaret Atwood|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1578028274l/38447._SY75_.jpg|1119185] and other similar works. It's about women who want to prove that they don't need men and some men who don't take kindly to that. It is about fame & privacy. There is so much wrapped up in here. This would make a great book club book. But it isn't too heavy handed and is a fun, thrilling ride of a read.

I listened to the audiobook, which I would recommend!

Thank you to the publisher for the audiobook!

vbuffam's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

timna_wyckoff's review

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2.0

I guess this is 2.5 stars for me? There was potential for a "hard" sci-fi story here--parts of this were well researched, and there are fascinating implications about family that could have really been worked with. But then, it turns out instead to be more of a gang of superheroes getting together against a evil villain? That pivot really didn't work for me.