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A review by paulabrandon
The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel
1.0
Lane Roanoke was sent to live with her grandparents as a teen after her mother committed suicide. She became best friends with her cousin, Allegra. But dirty family secrets had her running away when she was 16. Over ten years later, she's called back by her grandfather after Allegra goes missing. Lane dutifully returns to find out what happened to Allegra, but must also face the horrible secrets that made her run away in the first place.
This was awful.
Awful, awful, awful.
It was garbage. It really was.
Early on, we learn that Lane's grandfather is some sort of sick serial pervert that has sex with any female he's related to. His sisters, his cousins, his daughters, and even his granddaughter, Allegra. So then we get loooong flashbacks to Lane's years spent growing up with Allegra as we move towards a revelation that we already know is coming: Allegra was sleeping with her grandfather/father. However, most of these flashbacks actually focus on Lane's toxic relationship with town bad boy, Cooper.
Although Lane was never actually abused by her grandfather/father herself, she has spent the ten years since leaving Roanoke a complete mess. What I couldn't get my head around was why Lane couldn't go to the authorities about her grandfather's proclivities. She was already leaving Roanoke. She wasn't under any threat of being kicked out by telling the truth. Even when she's back, she never once tells Tommy, a close friend AND A POLICE OFFICER that Allegra was having a sexual relationship with her father/grandfather.
And why the everloving fuck would she even stay in the house in the first place, knowing what went on there and never doing a single fucking thing about it? Sure, go back to your hometown in solidarity with your cousin that you didn't bother keeping in touch with for a decade, but do you really need to stay in the house of the father/grandfather you know has been committing incest for as long as he's been able to get it up??? None of the actions taken by Lane make any sense, and only paint her as being a morose, self-absorbed moron.
Now, I can see what the author was trying to do with Lane. She was supposed to be "complex". No, your protagonist doesn't need to be likeable in order to enjoy a book. (Though, to be honest, it helps.) But Lane's life is made up entirely of toxic relationships and it got very, very wearying to read about. It was so hard to get on Lane's side because she was such a miserable bitch, and there was so much she could have easily done to stop what was going on at Roanoke. She never once lifted a finger to improve her life, and for 90% of the novel, she didn't grow or have any sort of arc. She just kept on being a miserable bitch.
All the characters were awful. I didn't understand everybody's devotion to Allegra, who was a conniving, manipulative bitch herself. My stomach turned at the romaticisation of the incest inflicted on several of the characters. I was bored by the over-focus on Lane's toxic relationship with Cooper. A very significant portion of the book is taken up with their hate-fucking.
The mystery behind what happened to Allegra is secondary to all the toxic relationships everybody has with everybody else, in particular, Lane's relationship with Cooper. None of Lane's actions made sense. She could easily have stopped what was going on at Roanoke! She had already left! The book is extraordinarily slow-paced, and even though I skim-read several portions of it, it still took me over a week to finish it. It's the sort of book that makes me want to go back and reassess all the other books I've given 1 star to, because they were undoubtedly better than this rubbish.
This was awful.
Awful, awful, awful.
It was garbage. It really was.
Early on, we learn that Lane's grandfather is some sort of sick serial pervert that has sex with any female he's related to. His sisters, his cousins, his daughters, and even his granddaughter, Allegra. So then we get loooong flashbacks to Lane's years spent growing up with Allegra as we move towards a revelation that we already know is coming: Allegra was sleeping with her grandfather/father. However, most of these flashbacks actually focus on Lane's toxic relationship with town bad boy, Cooper.
Although Lane was never actually abused by her grandfather/father herself, she has spent the ten years since leaving Roanoke a complete mess. What I couldn't get my head around was why Lane couldn't go to the authorities about her grandfather's proclivities. She was already leaving Roanoke. She wasn't under any threat of being kicked out by telling the truth. Even when she's back, she never once tells Tommy, a close friend AND A POLICE OFFICER that Allegra was having a sexual relationship with her father/grandfather.
And why the everloving fuck would she even stay in the house in the first place, knowing what went on there and never doing a single fucking thing about it? Sure, go back to your hometown in solidarity with your cousin that you didn't bother keeping in touch with for a decade, but do you really need to stay in the house of the father/grandfather you know has been committing incest for as long as he's been able to get it up??? None of the actions taken by Lane make any sense, and only paint her as being a morose, self-absorbed moron.
Now, I can see what the author was trying to do with Lane. She was supposed to be "complex". No, your protagonist doesn't need to be likeable in order to enjoy a book. (Though, to be honest, it helps.) But Lane's life is made up entirely of toxic relationships and it got very, very wearying to read about. It was so hard to get on Lane's side because she was such a miserable bitch, and there was so much she could have easily done to stop what was going on at Roanoke. She never once lifted a finger to improve her life, and for 90% of the novel, she didn't grow or have any sort of arc. She just kept on being a miserable bitch.
All the characters were awful. I didn't understand everybody's devotion to Allegra, who was a conniving, manipulative bitch herself. My stomach turned at the romaticisation of the incest inflicted on several of the characters. I was bored by the over-focus on Lane's toxic relationship with Cooper. A very significant portion of the book is taken up with their hate-fucking.
The mystery behind what happened to Allegra is secondary to all the toxic relationships everybody has with everybody else, in particular, Lane's relationship with Cooper. None of Lane's actions made sense. She could easily have stopped what was going on at Roanoke! She had already left! The book is extraordinarily slow-paced, and even though I skim-read several portions of it, it still took me over a week to finish it. It's the sort of book that makes me want to go back and reassess all the other books I've given 1 star to, because they were undoubtedly better than this rubbish.