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3.48 AVERAGE
3.48 AVERAGE
I think the book is written very well for a debut. I liked the choppy sentences and literary turn of phrase that the author has. Who else would write a sentence like this: "Its pictures of genitally slick hams, wreathed in pineapple" when talking about pictures of food in McCall's magazine? I never thought of pictures of food in a magazine looking like genitals. Huh.
So much of it is from the POV of the older woman looking back on her life. And even the parts about her teenage life don't seem realistic to me--I don't think a naive 14-year-old would think like her. It's a slow read--it took me all week when I usually read quickly. Part of that is because I didn't like the main character--she's weak and the reader totally gets why she's sucked into a cult. Even as an adult, she says things like "I had no power" and she takes underage kids out to a bar and still thinks it's cool to buy them alcohol. I just don't get it.
I usually enjoy gross and sexy books, but this one has a 10-year-old girl dropping acid and threesomes between teen girls and fat men. All the men in this book want to seduce young teen girls.
Could I recommend this to a teenager? Nope, unless I magically meet someone like Serena van der Woodsen of Gossip Girls--weary, bitchy, and rich(y). This is another adult title that I think is for city women who ride subways (like [b:White is for Witching|6277227|White is for Witching|Helen Oyeyemi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328020246s/6277227.jpg|6460728]), and not so much for Midwestern small town folks.
So much of it is from the POV of the older woman looking back on her life. And even the parts about her teenage life don't seem realistic to me--I don't think a naive 14-year-old would think like her. It's a slow read--it took me all week when I usually read quickly. Part of that is because I didn't like the main character--she's weak and the reader totally gets why she's sucked into a cult. Even as an adult, she says things like "I had no power" and she takes underage kids out to a bar and still thinks it's cool to buy them alcohol. I just don't get it.
I usually enjoy gross and sexy books, but this one has a 10-year-old girl dropping acid and threesomes between teen girls and fat men. All the men in this book want to seduce young teen girls.
Could I recommend this to a teenager? Nope, unless I magically meet someone like Serena van der Woodsen of Gossip Girls--weary, bitchy, and rich(y). This is another adult title that I think is for city women who ride subways (like [b:White is for Witching|6277227|White is for Witching|Helen Oyeyemi|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328020246s/6277227.jpg|6460728]), and not so much for Midwestern small town folks.
There is something about books that involve violent crime in California that I just like. It's probably in large part due to growing up in southern California and my love of true crime, but when someone picks apart the dark corners the sunshine doesn't reach I dig it. So I liked this book.
It's a fictionalized look at a girl's run-in with a Manson-esque figure and his cohort during a summer in the main character's early teens. The book mainly focuses on her relationship with the women around her, hence the title, and some of the reflections on women's existence felt acutely accurate. Really good!
It's a fictionalized look at a girl's run-in with a Manson-esque figure and his cohort during a summer in the main character's early teens. The book mainly focuses on her relationship with the women around her, hence the title, and some of the reflections on women's existence felt acutely accurate. Really good!
It was a slog. I couldn't finish it. What a disappointment. It's not even that it's the worst book I've ever read. But it's certainly one of the biggest let downs.
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is my first five star rating ever, and I don’t even hesitate to give it such high of a rating. This was one of those “oh my god I can not put this down” books. The author depicts that awkward stage of female adolescence SO well, truly hitting all the marks of girlhood. You can physically feel the desires that the main character (Evie) felt that left her so susceptible to joining a cult.
The way it’s told through Evie’s voice really shows how she got into the cult and the excuses she made to justify everything she saw around her. It is AMAZING. I couldn’t put the book down. It does have a unique writing style in the sense that it’s told “in her head” if that makes sense. I’d say maybe 20-30% of the book is dialogue and interactions with other characters, and the majority of the book is her thoughts and her recollection of events. I’d say that it wasn’t really a plot twist per se, but I didn’t really expect the ending until like 40 pages before it happened. And the way some of these cult members are depicted at the beginning of the story vs the end, you can physically see the way that the main character’s feelings around the cult change. Nothing is explicitly said, everything is about really analyzing what she is thinking and what she is telling us, and the difference between the two. It was such an amazing read!!!!!! I really recommend it
The way it’s told through Evie’s voice really shows how she got into the cult and the excuses she made to justify everything she saw around her. It is AMAZING. I couldn’t put the book down. It does have a unique writing style in the sense that it’s told “in her head” if that makes sense. I’d say maybe 20-30% of the book is dialogue and interactions with other characters, and the majority of the book is her thoughts and her recollection of events. I’d say that it wasn’t really a plot twist per se, but I didn’t really expect the ending until like 40 pages before it happened. And the way some of these cult members are depicted at the beginning of the story vs the end, you can physically see the way that the main character’s feelings around the cult change. Nothing is explicitly said, everything is about really analyzing what she is thinking and what she is telling us, and the difference between the two. It was such an amazing read!!!!!! I really recommend it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault
Pierde mucho al final.
Al principio se plantea muy bien y tiene una historia solida que te atrae pero luego se pierde el hilo y el tema inicial.
Al principio se plantea muy bien y tiene una historia solida que te atrae pero luego se pierde el hilo y el tema inicial.
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes