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2.73 AVERAGE
2.73 AVERAGE
Okay I’m giving this 3 stars because, honestly, I’m anywhere between 1.5-4 stars. Arc provided by the publisher. Audiobook arc provided by Macmillan Audio.
Immediate thoughts:
This book is beautifully written. The whole atmosphere, in its dark, lush descriptions, was the perfect backdrop for a ghost story. The ties with Argentina and its culture were unique to what I’ve seen in YA, and I loved how the author wove that in with the story.
The Tenth Girl has a very large cast of characters, and while sometimes confusing, overall they worked for me. This isn’t a fast-paced book, but the characters keep it moving and maintain the mystery well.
Soooo....
Here’s the problem: the end. I was ENRAGED by the “twist” in this book. So much so, I almost stopped reading it. This book is being touted as a historical horror fantasy and the end is anything but that. It was incredibly disappointing.
And that’s it. It was okay. The first half was even good. But the end of this will likely have me upset for days.
As for the audiobook: I looooved the narrators for this one! Frankie Corzo and Mark Sunderland were wonderful as dual narrators. I highly recommend this one via audio, if you’re interested!
Immediate thoughts:
This book is beautifully written. The whole atmosphere, in its dark, lush descriptions, was the perfect backdrop for a ghost story. The ties with Argentina and its culture were unique to what I’ve seen in YA, and I loved how the author wove that in with the story.
The Tenth Girl has a very large cast of characters, and while sometimes confusing, overall they worked for me. This isn’t a fast-paced book, but the characters keep it moving and maintain the mystery well.
Soooo....
Here’s the problem: the end. I was ENRAGED by the “twist” in this book. So much so, I almost stopped reading it. This book is being touted as a historical horror fantasy and the end is anything but that. It was incredibly disappointing.
And that’s it. It was okay. The first half was even good. But the end of this will likely have me upset for days.
As for the audiobook: I looooved the narrators for this one! Frankie Corzo and Mark Sunderland were wonderful as dual narrators. I highly recommend this one via audio, if you’re interested!
I really enjoyed the book in the beginning, it was interesting. Then it felt like it kept dragging on and on. So I couldn’t wait for it to end. Then the end threw me for a loop, I didn’t expect that turn. This book definitely could have cut some parts out, that I didn’t see as necessary. But you should still give it a try, and see for yourself.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
After the big reveal by two of the main villainous women in the book, I stopped reading. There's a lot wrong with the book from the start, but I wanted to finish so I was more informed (made my bed, now have to lay in it kind of thing). But, well, I gave up. I am less informed than someone who has read it all the way, so grain of salt and all that. Though the first point does not need any information at all: the story is wholly insensitive to indigenous existence, voice, and rights. This is evident from the renaming of an indigenous group (for what reason? not to offend?) effectively erasing them from existence to the lack of sensitivity the characters to the ignorance and out-right offensive attitudes towards these imaginary indigenous peoples. The problem extends beyond the evil, privileged descendants of colonizers who don't care about anyone and therefore are ignorant and racist, when the main character is half-indigenous herself and has been raised by a well educated, leftie mother. Still, no joy. Not a word of discontent or a question when something ignorant is said about the said "tribe." In the end, neither the story, nor the characters question, resist, or expand on the supposed history of these peoples. Very maddening. (Perhaps the author is trying to make this point, that Argentinians are not questioning their own ignorance and racism, etc. But I would suggest including at least one character who voices discontent to drive the point across next time.)
The other maddening thing is that though the girls report men touching them at night and even after Mavi and Yesi witness this, they STILL don't believe anyone there could do it, no, not him, can't imagine... Really? Nobody, none of the faculty can even imagine anyone doing this to girls? And what is the action: he'll stay in his room. Wow. (Granted, the person who makes this decision really doesn't care. She's bonkers. But the others seem to be fine with this decision as well. None suggest reporting the incidents, calling the police, something, anything!)
The third maddening thing is that the girls are not sent away when they get sick or doctors are not called in. It's Patagonia, not the Moon! Doctors exist. It's not that remote that for months you can't get anyone. So the administration's bad decisions are clear, and the other teachers don't take action, because...? They are young and inexperienced? I don't know. It seems hard to blame everything on the fact that they are young and inexperienced, no?
Despite the location (Patagonia) and the apparent history there, neither of these aspects are well developed. We keep hearing the same repetitive phrases as descriptions: Patagonia is the rock, the ice, and the history is a horrible curse, people trying to take back their land from colonizers. Beyond that, there isn't much. Some supposed indigenous tales sprinkled here and there don't do much in this regard either.
The colonizers, the owner of the school, her son, and her maid are portrayed as totally stiff, evil, sadistic: in short, unbelievable. The teachers are trembling children when faced with these three, for no good reason, especially the older, more seasoned teachers. The girls almost seem stronger and smarter than everyone there, which makes no real sense. There's a hint of blackmail, that administration on purpose chose some teachers who wouldn't want to make a fuss, but this thread is not well developed to really show us whatever dilemmas the teachers would be facing.
There's potential for real conflict, which never materializes in a real way. The main character, Mavi, is on the run from being disappeared by the Argentinian government. The hostility she'd receive from at least the three evil ones who know her origins, if not everyone else who would or did find out anyway, would be much more than depicted here. Her background is treated like an inconvenience, yet historically it was much more dividing and incisive than that. Girls would be calling their daddies, other teachers would be keeping their distance, etc. None of that. Everyone, it seems, is just very accepting here in this school for the super elite and rich. Right... The only hostility comes from the girls, who at worst call her a peasant.
The big reveal by two of the three evil people (the third, the son, is possessed by Angel, a much nicer, yet dead man, so he's not evil, not really) comes all at once in long monologs. Why they bother to enlighten us is a mystery. Why they care to even talk to the weak, scared teachers is a bigger mystery. Still, a reveal can be exciting. Except, long before the reveal, the reader knows what's going on. It's obvious. There are some mysterious bits, like who the ghostly little girl is or who the tenth girl is, etc., but the rest is pretty obvious. And it's this rest that's revealed, anyway. We still don't know who the tenth girl is, though we have a few running hypotheses.
Overall, the writing was beautiful in places, and trying hard in others. The beautiful bits were sometimes disturbed by very modern, very millennial dialog or thought patterns, which took away from the full effect. Very little of Patagonia's amazing beauty was shown, making me think that this could have been anywhere remote and rural and would have been fine, as most of the book is concerned with the inside of the house.
Perhaps Angel's story is the most interesting in the whole book, but it's definitely in the back burner, even though he's one of the two narrators. His interactions with Charon are interesting, yet limited. Yesi's character is a complete unknown, her relationship with Mavi awkward and bizarre, though they're supposed to be best buddies.
The house is meant to be a character in the story. It's scary. It's old. It's full of secrets. I liked the hidden passages, landings and doors that didn't connect, etc. Some of the description was repetitive. For example, the word sconce is repeated over and over again without any qualifiers or further descriptions, as if we now learned this new word and are going to use it for every light fixture on the wall and it'll be enough.
Overall, the story and the plot fell short in several aspects. Characters were mostly unchanged (by 3/4ths of the book) despite living through rather disturbing events (or some minor characters were possessed/went crazy). I would have liked to know what happened to Angel, but I couldn't read another 150 pages just to find that out.
The other maddening thing is that though the girls report men touching them at night and even after Mavi and Yesi witness this, they STILL don't believe anyone there could do it, no, not him, can't imagine... Really? Nobody, none of the faculty can even imagine anyone doing this to girls? And what is the action: he'll stay in his room. Wow. (Granted, the person who makes this decision really doesn't care. She's bonkers. But the others seem to be fine with this decision as well. None suggest reporting the incidents, calling the police, something, anything!)
The third maddening thing is that the girls are not sent away when they get sick or doctors are not called in. It's Patagonia, not the Moon! Doctors exist. It's not that remote that for months you can't get anyone. So the administration's bad decisions are clear, and the other teachers don't take action, because...? They are young and inexperienced? I don't know. It seems hard to blame everything on the fact that they are young and inexperienced, no?
Despite the location (Patagonia) and the apparent history there, neither of these aspects are well developed. We keep hearing the same repetitive phrases as descriptions: Patagonia is the rock, the ice, and the history is a horrible curse, people trying to take back their land from colonizers. Beyond that, there isn't much. Some supposed indigenous tales sprinkled here and there don't do much in this regard either.
The colonizers, the owner of the school, her son, and her maid are portrayed as totally stiff, evil, sadistic: in short, unbelievable. The teachers are trembling children when faced with these three, for no good reason, especially the older, more seasoned teachers. The girls almost seem stronger and smarter than everyone there, which makes no real sense. There's a hint of blackmail, that administration on purpose chose some teachers who wouldn't want to make a fuss, but this thread is not well developed to really show us whatever dilemmas the teachers would be facing.
There's potential for real conflict, which never materializes in a real way. The main character, Mavi, is on the run from being disappeared by the Argentinian government. The hostility she'd receive from at least the three evil ones who know her origins, if not everyone else who would or did find out anyway, would be much more than depicted here. Her background is treated like an inconvenience, yet historically it was much more dividing and incisive than that. Girls would be calling their daddies, other teachers would be keeping their distance, etc. None of that. Everyone, it seems, is just very accepting here in this school for the super elite and rich. Right... The only hostility comes from the girls, who at worst call her a peasant.
The big reveal by two of the three evil people (the third, the son, is possessed by Angel, a much nicer, yet dead man, so he's not evil, not really) comes all at once in long monologs. Why they bother to enlighten us is a mystery. Why they care to even talk to the weak, scared teachers is a bigger mystery. Still, a reveal can be exciting. Except, long before the reveal, the reader knows what's going on. It's obvious. There are some mysterious bits, like who the ghostly little girl is or who the tenth girl is, etc., but the rest is pretty obvious. And it's this rest that's revealed, anyway. We still don't know who the tenth girl is, though we have a few running hypotheses.
Overall, the writing was beautiful in places, and trying hard in others. The beautiful bits were sometimes disturbed by very modern, very millennial dialog or thought patterns, which took away from the full effect. Very little of Patagonia's amazing beauty was shown, making me think that this could have been anywhere remote and rural and would have been fine, as most of the book is concerned with the inside of the house.
Perhaps Angel's story is the most interesting in the whole book, but it's definitely in the back burner, even though he's one of the two narrators. His interactions with Charon are interesting, yet limited. Yesi's character is a complete unknown, her relationship with Mavi awkward and bizarre, though they're supposed to be best buddies.
The house is meant to be a character in the story. It's scary. It's old. It's full of secrets. I liked the hidden passages, landings and doors that didn't connect, etc. Some of the description was repetitive. For example, the word sconce is repeated over and over again without any qualifiers or further descriptions, as if we now learned this new word and are going to use it for every light fixture on the wall and it'll be enough.
Overall, the story and the plot fell short in several aspects. Characters were mostly unchanged (by 3/4ths of the book) despite living through rather disturbing events (or some minor characters were possessed/went crazy). I would have liked to know what happened to Angel, but I couldn't read another 150 pages just to find that out.
2.5/5 stars.
But isn’t it kind of beautiful to experience primal fear? To feel your pulse quicken because a pile of well-laid stones catch shadows and carry sound in unusual ways? How often are we so bored and anesthetized by our routines—in our safe surroundings—that we lose all sense of what’s magical about our existence?”
In some ways this book contained beautiful and thought provoking ideas. It had this fluidity of motion going from an upward to downward path. I loved its questioning nature about our fear and how it can define us, how we can play with fantasies rather than face our reality, and how we construct these labyrinth's within our own minds as a way to escape or embrace what we fear and love most about ourselves and the multitudes in which we contain.
I decided to read this book because of its premise, but sadly, I don't think this book was for me as its plot-twist while evident looking back throughout the narrative just didn't work for me. It felt like I had been lied to during the gripping summary on the back of the book. I understand why it doesn't say it is what it is (a science fiction based novel) as that would ruin the plot-twist. I also understand why the author chose to tell the story as she did and I have nothing against that. It was wonderfully written and asked some deep questions that relate to our current society. It's just wasn't what I was expecting and not a favorite genre of mine. Plus, after the plot-twist was revealed, I just didn't care anymore.
But isn’t it kind of beautiful to experience primal fear? To feel your pulse quicken because a pile of well-laid stones catch shadows and carry sound in unusual ways? How often are we so bored and anesthetized by our routines—in our safe surroundings—that we lose all sense of what’s magical about our existence?”
In some ways this book contained beautiful and thought provoking ideas. It had this fluidity of motion going from an upward to downward path. I loved its questioning nature about our fear and how it can define us, how we can play with fantasies rather than face our reality, and how we construct these labyrinth's within our own minds as a way to escape or embrace what we fear and love most about ourselves and the multitudes in which we contain.
I decided to read this book because of its premise, but sadly, I don't think this book was for me as its plot-twist while evident looking back throughout the narrative just didn't work for me. It felt like I had been lied to during the gripping summary on the back of the book. I understand why it doesn't say it is what it is (a science fiction based novel) as that would ruin the plot-twist. I also understand why the author chose to tell the story as she did and I have nothing against that. It was wonderfully written and asked some deep questions that relate to our current society. It's just wasn't what I was expecting and not a favorite genre of mine. Plus, after the plot-twist was revealed, I just didn't care anymore.
I come down on the side of liking this one but it's definitely not what I thought it would be or what I get the impression a lot of people think it's going to be.
It will be interesting to see people's reactions on this one once it releases. The writing and ideas area strong. The main character Mavi is great but I think it's going to be a very divisive read for people. Because while I did like it I can also easily see why people might not.
It will be interesting to see people's reactions on this one once it releases. The writing and ideas area strong. The main character Mavi is great but I think it's going to be a very divisive read for people. Because while I did like it I can also easily see why people might not.
DNF at 40%
I hoped this book would focus more on the girls, their dynamics, and Mavi's relationship with them in a setting that was so secretive and hostile. I was nearly halfway through and threads of a plot were KIND OF starting to emerge, maybe. The aspects I found most interesting (the titular tenth girl, above all) still remained mostly in the background. I didn't realize the novel would be told in alternating pov's and I just did not care about the ghost's pov at all. I often found him snobby and immature. None of his escapades felt terribly relevant, and I skimmed a lot of the explanations on rules of the afterlife.
It felt like characterization was getting lost in the shuffle because the story was trying to set up so many different things very slowly. And I couldn't even tell which elements would turn into the main plot. I was intrigued by the Mavi, and it felt like there was a voice buried somewhere in there that could've been defined and distinct. But we only got to know her background and feelings in small pieces at a time. I even kept forgetting her name while I was reading it. I just didn't have the patience.
It sounded so good on paper. A gothic novel set in Latin America?? I was so ready. But it could've done with significantly more refining. It all felt cluttered and languid. The 180 pages I read could've been distilled down to 50 for all the important stuff that took place.
I hoped this book would focus more on the girls, their dynamics, and Mavi's relationship with them in a setting that was so secretive and hostile. I was nearly halfway through and threads of a plot were KIND OF starting to emerge, maybe. The aspects I found most interesting (the titular tenth girl, above all) still remained mostly in the background. I didn't realize the novel would be told in alternating pov's and I just did not care about the ghost's pov at all. I often found him snobby and immature. None of his escapades felt terribly relevant, and I skimmed a lot of the explanations on rules of the afterlife.
It felt like characterization was getting lost in the shuffle because the story was trying to set up so many different things very slowly. And I couldn't even tell which elements would turn into the main plot. I was intrigued by the Mavi, and it felt like there was a voice buried somewhere in there that could've been defined and distinct. But we only got to know her background and feelings in small pieces at a time. I even kept forgetting her name while I was reading it. I just didn't have the patience.
It sounded so good on paper. A gothic novel set in Latin America?? I was so ready. But it could've done with significantly more refining. It all felt cluttered and languid. The 180 pages I read could've been distilled down to 50 for all the important stuff that took place.
This book had a twist! I hesitate to put it in the horror category, but there are definite spooky/creepy elements.