A review by juliannasiegrist
The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

wow I have SO many thoughts about this. first off, I absolutely love the way that lauren beukes made every single character come to life, and I will definitely be reading more of her work. the idea and story behind this book are so intriguing, and I think for me it just didn't feel like it was completely pulled off. I wanted more answers about the house, the objects, why harper was drawn there in the first place, etc. and I feel like the ending was not satisfying in that regard. this was profoundly disturbing to read which was definitely the point, but the brutal and graphic descriptions of the murders were a lot for me to read. I also wanted more time spent on each of the girls and less on kirby and dan's weird / pointless / creepy relationship.