Reviews with content warning for Ableism - Girls Burn Brighter

Rao really makes you choose your own ending, as she gives you pieces of the setting and atmosphere that are so similar that make you believe that it is possible that it actually will turn out ok for Savitha and Poornima. It still isn't definite closure, you still end the book unsure that they are back together. I'm still asking the question: will they be ok?

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howwoolatthemoon's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

3.5

WHEW. That was rough. Well written, some beautiful stuff, but also a whole lot of darkness. Bad things happen. Bad. And I'm not sure the ending was worth the slog through the difficult events.

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alicelalicon's review against another edition

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emotional sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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lilymouse's review

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

This was absolutely breathtaking. You can feel every emotion that these girls feel, and the twists, turns, and journeys these girls go on take you in such a bittersweet ride. Also,

THAT ENDING OH MY GOD

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morganperks's review

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dark emotional sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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nytephoenyx's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This book is absolutely heart-wrenching.

It contains a beautiful friendship, but it contains even more horrible people. There is so much pain written into this book, so many things happened that should not happen. Girls Burn Brightermakes you fall in love with Poornima and Savitha and then shows what the world does to women, to Indian women, to poor women, to strong-willed woman. The world, in case you have forgotten, is a dark and cruel place and so many people are selfish animals.

So while I didn’t enjoy reading Girls Burn Brighter for all the pain and rage it left me with, I deeply, deeply appreciated this book. It’s a character-driven novel about two young women who meet as teenagers and are separated by cruelty and happenstance. Rao takes her time in the beginning, luring the reader into a false sense of security where you know life’s difficult, but there is hope for a happy ending. Then it’s all downhill from there. In this way, Girls Burn Brighter is both a journey and a reminder that more often than not, endings are sadder than we want and the journeys are difficult and we are so privileged to be reading this book and not going through life in the same way as these young women.

Girls Burn Brighter left me with a lot to think about.

There are all sorts of traumatic events in this pages of the book, so before picking it up, make sure to check for content warnings. Off the top of my head, there is rape, sexual assault, human trafficking, prostitution, kidnapping, slavery (of a sort), physical abuse, emotional abuse… Girls Burn Brighter is filled with different levels of trauma and it is really important to check in with yourself and come prepared, otherwise I can see how this book could be triggering.

It’s a book I couldn’t put down – both because of the story and because I think Soneela Nankani did an excellent job reading it. You are brought so easily into the world, especially through Savitha’s POV where there is so much joy in both food and textiles. The writing is excellent – this is a sparkling debut novel and puts Rao on my “To Watch” list. The writing is lyrical but direct, and the story is an important one.

It’s not the type of book that’s going to leave you feeling good, but it’s a powerful, emotional story and I highly recommend it.

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emilyhays's review

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This book is so horrible in its content in every way. But the way it's done is so fantastic. The writing injects hope into the narrative in a way that makes you not want to get your hopes up, because everytime it feels like something is going to be okay, it's not. This is about to girls in a small village in India and the way they are treated there, and even when apart, the hope they find in their relationship to keep stoking the fire within them to keep going, to find a way out. It is wonderful and yet so awful.

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