A review by piperhudsburn
What Girls Are Made Of by Elana K. Arnold

4.0

"Our girls are both the platter and the meal, and we eat them up--we eat their meat, we lap up their sweetness, we covet and control and consume.”

Last year, I had to write a long paper on the plays of Hrosvitha and depictions of saints and holy woman in the 10th Century. It was so interesting to see how women were viewed during that time. In What Girls Are Made Of, through redrawn tales about female saints and body parts, we learn not much has changed.

The main character- Nina Faye- is a thinker. She thinks hard on the nature of love and death, her parents' relationship, and her place- as a woman in the world. While the plot of the story was easy to follow, it was her observations that kept me reading. I have seen people describe this book as gross or discomforting and I admit I disagree. Nina's thoughts are personal yet very common. Her experiences with abortion, sex, and affection were realistic and thought provoking.

“That's who unconditional love is for - dogs and their masters, fools and their gods.”

In the past view years it has been "on trend" to write about "dangerous" teenage girls who are unafraid to explore their sexuality, rebel against their suburban town's established order, and piss off their superiors. I appreciated how Nina's revolution was more subtle here. Instead of changing her world, she changes her mind, and readers will fair better for it.

While the book is far too short, it is still an interesting discussion on the pros and cons of growing up in California, hagiography, and the choice to have an abortion. I look forward to more books by Arnold in the future.