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3.5 AVERAGE
3.5 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide, Pregnancy
Her father dead and her mother incarcerated, Lex Gracie is Girl A, the girl who found a way to escape her family’s house of horrors, rescue her siblings and end the years of torture going on behind closed doors. The story unfolds through Lex’s eyes, told part by part in flashbacks back and forth from present day to past, after her mother dies and she is made the primary executor. Old wounds begin to reopen fast.
Girl A is a very interesting book but I do think it was mismarketed as a thriller, which might account for the number of lower reviews. It’s much more of a psychological drama and focuses less on the horrors of Lex’s childhood, and more on her attempts to rebuild her life and turn things around.
I struggled with the first half of the book, and settled with the second half because it doesn’t feel like a fiction novel. It feels more like a character study, psychology notes on how abused children might attempt to move on with their lives. I’m aware that the author took inspiration from the Turpin family case, and intended to use this true crime to inspire her fiction, but it doesn’t read like she quite got where she wanted to go. Instead, she has just copy and pasted elements of the case into her story to the point where it feels like a watered-down rip off.
Contrary to other reviews I’ve read, I didn’t think that the timeline jumps were confusing at all. In fact I really enjoyed Dean’s writing style, I felt that once I understood how she was laying out the story, it was quite easy to follow. I knew that I would be getting mirrored flashbacks, that Lex’s past and present would continuously be intertwining. I would like to think this was a stylistic choice, telling the reader that the two would never be separated and that truth, as simple as it is, is a truth that a great deal of abuse survivors have to come to terms with. We can move on, but we can never forget or pretend that it didn’t change who we are down to the bone.
Dean has created some very real, deep characters, highlighting some very controversial and nuanced thought processes within them, and has a clever way of showing that even victims can be abusers. This is by far my favourite thing about this book: for all it was promised to be that it isn’t, it’s incredibly smart.
Personally I would have liked more focus on Lex’s childhood, because I felt that too much was left to the imagination. I understand that this book touches on some delicate topics and that this wouldn’t be for everyone, but with it being a work of fiction and not actually a psychological study, I’d have enjoyed more description and dramatics. Call it trauma porn if you will, but it needn’t have ever gone too far to have saved this piece of work from the ‘meh’ reactions. I would have just liked to know more about what went on in the house and in the minds of each member of the family. There was a great deal of alluding, and a great lack of everything else. I don't know if this was supposed to be the case or if the author was afraid of going into too much detail because of the content. If this was the case, I don't think she should have written a book like this at all.
Unfortunately, overall I just didn’t really connect with this one. It wasn’t bad, but it was too slow, very little happens throughout to the point that much of it becomes repetitive, and the ending was predictable and underwhelming, with too many loose ends and questions left unanswered.
Girl A is a very interesting book but I do think it was mismarketed as a thriller, which might account for the number of lower reviews. It’s much more of a psychological drama and focuses less on the horrors of Lex’s childhood, and more on her attempts to rebuild her life and turn things around.
I struggled with the first half of the book, and settled with the second half because it doesn’t feel like a fiction novel. It feels more like a character study, psychology notes on how abused children might attempt to move on with their lives. I’m aware that the author took inspiration from the Turpin family case, and intended to use this true crime to inspire her fiction, but it doesn’t read like she quite got where she wanted to go. Instead, she has just copy and pasted elements of the case into her story to the point where it feels like a watered-down rip off.
Contrary to other reviews I’ve read, I didn’t think that the timeline jumps were confusing at all. In fact I really enjoyed Dean’s writing style, I felt that once I understood how she was laying out the story, it was quite easy to follow. I knew that I would be getting mirrored flashbacks, that Lex’s past and present would continuously be intertwining. I would like to think this was a stylistic choice, telling the reader that the two would never be separated and that truth, as simple as it is, is a truth that a great deal of abuse survivors have to come to terms with. We can move on, but we can never forget or pretend that it didn’t change who we are down to the bone.
Dean has created some very real, deep characters, highlighting some very controversial and nuanced thought processes within them, and has a clever way of showing that even victims can be abusers. This is by far my favourite thing about this book: for all it was promised to be that it isn’t, it’s incredibly smart.
Personally I would have liked more focus on Lex’s childhood, because I felt that too much was left to the imagination. I understand that this book touches on some delicate topics and that this wouldn’t be for everyone, but with it being a work of fiction and not actually a psychological study, I’d have enjoyed more description and dramatics. Call it trauma porn if you will, but it needn’t have ever gone too far to have saved this piece of work from the ‘meh’ reactions. I would have just liked to know more about what went on in the house and in the minds of each member of the family. There was a great deal of alluding, and a great lack of everything else. I don't know if this was supposed to be the case or if the author was afraid of going into too much detail because of the content. If this was the case, I don't think she should have written a book like this at all.
Unfortunately, overall I just didn’t really connect with this one. It wasn’t bad, but it was too slow, very little happens throughout to the point that much of it becomes repetitive, and the ending was predictable and underwhelming, with too many loose ends and questions left unanswered.
dark
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It's possible that I'm in some sort of a reading slump at the moment but I just got a bit bored of this one and had to dnf. I got halfway through but I just can't read anymore.
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was a tough book to read, but I read it for book club. The topic is very dark, however, the way the author wrote made it very difficult to feel any emotion about the events (is this bad of me?). There are SO MANY characters and the paragraphs time-hop so much that I didn't know what was what and who was who for an unsettling length of the book. The second half does read a bit smoother (once you're better acclimated) and offers a slight suspenseful twist.
I love book club because I read books that I definitely wouldn't have read without the commitment to others, but this one was a bit of a chore for me.
I love book club because I read books that I definitely wouldn't have read without the commitment to others, but this one was a bit of a chore for me.
It was overall just kind of… boring? I think the narrative structure didn’t work for me.
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Child abuse.
Survival.
Survival.
Another almost DNF...was not the kind of book for me. Timeline jumped all over the place unexpectedly and without warning. Graphic - but that's a given considering the context.
Was overall a very sad read.
Was overall a very sad read.