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beautifullybookishbethany 's review for:
The Tenth Girl
by Sara Faring
I suspect that the The Tenth Girl is going to be a very polarizing book. There is a twist at the end I did not expect, and I think some readers will dislike that twist, while others will love it. Unfortunately, I can't really tell you what factors might make you likely to appreciate what this book is doing without spoiling things! If you really want to know, there will be a spoilery section below where I get into what the twist is, what it means, and why I think it is so smart and thematically brilliant.
For now, what I can say is that this debut novel is being billed as a gothic thriller set at a girls boarding school in 1970's Argentina. I really loved it, but I don't know that this is something that will necessarily work for typical readers of mysteries or thrillers. For some it will, but I think to really appreciate what this book is doing, you need a particular set of reference points. Ones which I had, but other reviewers I know did not. But again, spoilers!
In general, I can say that this book is atmospheric, creepy, engaging, and includes some horror elements. It follows a young teacher beginning at a girls boarding school in Patagonia, in a house built by colonizers on land that formerly belonged to the Zapuche, an indigenous people in Argentina. The book is own voices for the Latinx representation and includes actual mythology from the Zapuche, a real life group. It is also peppered with stories from the author's family members, recalled from living under oppressive rule in 1970's Argentina. That mythology is rich and unusual, which makes this book feel quite unique and gives voice to a group of people not previously known widely.
The teacher is trying to escape the Argentinian government, but it seems that she may have gotten herself into an even more dangerous, disturbing situation, where "The Others" present an ominous force. There are going to be a whole bunch of content warnings listed below as well, so recognize that this is quite a dark and violent book.
That said, I'm going to move on to talking about why I think this book is doing something important and why I love it more the more I reflect on it, but also why this may not be the book for everyone.
The big twist we find out at the end, is that the school is not real. It is a virtual reality RPG video game that allows players (the Others) to upload their consciousness to a closed system where they interact with AI NPCs (non-player characters) and earn points by haunting and possessing them. So here is the thing: some readers are going to hate this and feel like it's a cheap attempt at a sci-fi'ish twist that wasn't well-planned. I would beg to strongly disagree, BUT I do think that to appreciate the brilliance of what the author has done here, you really need to have some experience playing RPG video games and have some familiarity with discussions of morality and ethics taking place in the gaming world. Both of which I have!
As soon as I realized what was going on, a whole lot of things clicked into place for me. The school is basically set up like a horror RPG and a lot of the things that feel strange through the story, make perfect sense given that context. The way the house changes, the dangerous and hidden paths to make it to new, important locations, the fact that the Others ganged up on Angel at one point etc. Even the way that the prologue is written reads like a video game intro setting the stage. I think the author must be very familiar with these sorts of gameified experiences, and quite intentionally build the house to reflect that.
What I love is, because you don't know from the beginning that this is a VR game, you have the chance to be horrified at what is happening to the characters. There are great discussions about the morality of the choices made by the Others as part of the gaming experience (this is something Angel wrestles with frequently) and near the end, Mavi (the teacher) even asks the very pertinent question of why anyone would create a loop entirely based on the torture and trauma of women and girls. This book takes a pretty strong stance on significant philosophical issues discussed in the gaming community.
Does it matter if you make moral choices in a game? Is it okay to use a game as a place to let loose dark urges? RPG's typically allow for a range of choices, moral, violent, and otherwise, and those decisions impact your character in various ways. Personally, I have always followed a pretty strict code of in-game ethics when I play as a character, but others feel it is fine to murder, torture, sexually assault, engage in infidelity etc. because it doesn't matter if it's a game. This book engages with those questions in a powerful way, adding to that the increased stakes given the advance of artificial intelligence (AI) and specifically, engages in the ways that parts of the gaming world promote toxic masculinity and the normalization of violence (sexual and otherwise), particularly in gendered ways.
Okay! So half of this review and discussion includes spoilers, but I thought it was really important to talk about what this book is doing and why I find a lot of value in it. The one thing I can say more generally, is that part of what it does is tackle toxic masculinity and the ways that can present in aspects of Millennial culture. Sorry if that is vague but I think it is the best I can do without spoilers! I know this won't be the book for everyone, but I definitely think there is an audience for it and I think it is a fantastic debut.
Content warnings in this book include violence, death, depictions of blood, dark magic, possession, spirits/ghosts, torture, sexual assault, violence towards children, pedophilia. Maybe more, but those are some big ones!
For now, what I can say is that this debut novel is being billed as a gothic thriller set at a girls boarding school in 1970's Argentina. I really loved it, but I don't know that this is something that will necessarily work for typical readers of mysteries or thrillers. For some it will, but I think to really appreciate what this book is doing, you need a particular set of reference points. Ones which I had, but other reviewers I know did not. But again, spoilers!
In general, I can say that this book is atmospheric, creepy, engaging, and includes some horror elements. It follows a young teacher beginning at a girls boarding school in Patagonia, in a house built by colonizers on land that formerly belonged to the Zapuche, an indigenous people in Argentina. The book is own voices for the Latinx representation and includes actual mythology from the Zapuche, a real life group. It is also peppered with stories from the author's family members, recalled from living under oppressive rule in 1970's Argentina. That mythology is rich and unusual, which makes this book feel quite unique and gives voice to a group of people not previously known widely.
The teacher is trying to escape the Argentinian government, but it seems that she may have gotten herself into an even more dangerous, disturbing situation, where "The Others" present an ominous force. There are going to be a whole bunch of content warnings listed below as well, so recognize that this is quite a dark and violent book.
That said, I'm going to move on to talking about why I think this book is doing something important and why I love it more the more I reflect on it, but also why this may not be the book for everyone.
As soon as I realized what was going on, a whole lot of things clicked into place for me. The school is basically set up like a horror RPG and a lot of the things that feel strange through the story, make perfect sense given that context. The way the house changes, the dangerous and hidden paths to make it to new, important locations, the fact that the Others ganged up on Angel at one point etc. Even the way that the prologue is written reads like a video game intro setting the stage. I think the author must be very familiar with these sorts of gameified experiences, and quite intentionally build the house to reflect that.
What I love is, because you don't know from the beginning that this is a VR game, you have the chance to be horrified at what is happening to the characters. There are great discussions about the morality of the choices made by the Others as part of the gaming experience (this is something Angel wrestles with frequently) and near the end, Mavi (the teacher) even asks the very pertinent question of why anyone would create a loop entirely based on the torture and trauma of women and girls. This book takes a pretty strong stance on significant philosophical issues discussed in the gaming community.
Does it matter if you make moral choices in a game? Is it okay to use a game as a place to let loose dark urges? RPG's typically allow for a range of choices, moral, violent, and otherwise, and those decisions impact your character in various ways. Personally, I have always followed a pretty strict code of in-game ethics when I play as a character, but others feel it is fine to murder, torture, sexually assault, engage in infidelity etc. because it doesn't matter if it's a game. This book engages with those questions in a powerful way, adding to that the increased stakes given the advance of artificial intelligence (AI) and specifically, engages in the ways that parts of the gaming world promote toxic masculinity and the normalization of violence (sexual and otherwise), particularly in gendered ways.
Okay! So half of this review and discussion includes spoilers, but I thought it was really important to talk about what this book is doing and why I find a lot of value in it. The one thing I can say more generally, is that part of what it does is tackle toxic masculinity and the ways that can present in aspects of Millennial culture. Sorry if that is vague but I think it is the best I can do without spoilers! I know this won't be the book for everyone, but I definitely think there is an audience for it and I think it is a fantastic debut.
Content warnings in this book include violence, death, depictions of blood, dark magic, possession, spirits/ghosts, torture, sexual assault, violence towards children, pedophilia. Maybe more, but those are some big ones!