Scan barcode
A review by kelseyoulater
Girlhood by Cat Clarke
3.0
Originally reviewed on thebasicbookbitch
Harper, the protagonist of Girlhood lost her twin sister to anorexia. Shortly after her twins death Harper heads to boarding school in an attempt to start fresh and get over her grief. She makes a great group of friends there but she feels like they don't fully understand her. It's now the start of the new school year and with that brings a new student, Kirsty.
Kirsty and Harper instantly strike a friendship, especially after Harper finds out that Kirsty has also been through the tragedy of losing a sister and she finally feels like she has found someone who really gets her, but as the story progresses it seems that Kirsty is not all she says she is. Her behaviour becomes borderline obsessive and certain parts of her life story don't add up.
Girlhood for me has all the makings of a great story, it's set in a boarding school in Scotland (LOVE) and Kirsty could've been a great antagonist, however this book pitches itself as a thriller, and whilst there are a few elements that allude to the sense of a thriller, nothing is really taken that far which made this feel a little flat. It seems like Girlhood gets a bit confused about what it's aim is plot wise halfway through and ends up being a story about toxic friendship with a bit of a mystery thrown in as an afterthought. All this confusion over what the book is trying to achieve is what let me down.
Another point that made Girlhood less enjoyable for me was the main character Harper. To be completely honest I found her quite unlikeable, and at times slightly unrealistic as a character. She made some really stupid decisions and was oblivious to certain things and it seemed to be this way just so the plot could progress in the way Cat wanted it to rather than having to write a more complex character.
Whilst this review does sound quite negative, I actually flew through this book and it had great representation in it of race and a mix of sexual preferences. It's not a bad book by any means which is why I gave it a 6, but I feel like it had so much potential that it did not reach.
Harper, the protagonist of Girlhood lost her twin sister to anorexia. Shortly after her twins death Harper heads to boarding school in an attempt to start fresh and get over her grief. She makes a great group of friends there but she feels like they don't fully understand her. It's now the start of the new school year and with that brings a new student, Kirsty.
Kirsty and Harper instantly strike a friendship, especially after Harper finds out that Kirsty has also been through the tragedy of losing a sister and she finally feels like she has found someone who really gets her, but as the story progresses it seems that Kirsty is not all she says she is. Her behaviour becomes borderline obsessive and certain parts of her life story don't add up.
Girlhood for me has all the makings of a great story, it's set in a boarding school in Scotland (LOVE) and Kirsty could've been a great antagonist, however this book pitches itself as a thriller, and whilst there are a few elements that allude to the sense of a thriller, nothing is really taken that far which made this feel a little flat. It seems like Girlhood gets a bit confused about what it's aim is plot wise halfway through and ends up being a story about toxic friendship with a bit of a mystery thrown in as an afterthought. All this confusion over what the book is trying to achieve is what let me down.
Another point that made Girlhood less enjoyable for me was the main character Harper. To be completely honest I found her quite unlikeable, and at times slightly unrealistic as a character. She made some really stupid decisions and was oblivious to certain things and it seemed to be this way just so the plot could progress in the way Cat wanted it to rather than having to write a more complex character.
Whilst this review does sound quite negative, I actually flew through this book and it had great representation in it of race and a mix of sexual preferences. It's not a bad book by any means which is why I gave it a 6, but I feel like it had so much potential that it did not reach.