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mtherobot 's review for:
Girls Girls Girls
by Shoshana von Blanckensee
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Man, I really thought I was going to love this one. Von Blanckensee sets up some really compelling conflicts for her protagonist: Hannah loves but also feels alienated from her homophobic family, who she ditches in favor of an imagined queer community that she can't quite connect with, and reluctantly takes up sex work under pressure from her girlfriend Sam (a character I can only describe as detestable) and the looming threat of poverty and homelessness. The only people she can really connect with are her grandmother and Sam, but these connections are no relief to her—she can't admit anything to her grandmother, who is dying of cancer , and Sam is controlling, judgemental, a social butterfly and a chronic cheater who takes naturally to everything Hannah struggles with.
But none of those conflicts come to much of anything. Hannah's family and abandoned best friend forgive her easily when she reconnects with them, and she and Sam end the story as best friends again with only the barest acknowledgement of how terrible Sam has been. (Seriously, she does maybe one nice thing the whole book, and it's in the last fifty pages!) Despite everyone's warnings, nothing bad happens to Hannah in the tough neighborhood she lives in, the slum lord she rents from is nice if slightly condescending, and the walk-in closet sized apartment is clean and cozy. Feeling awkward and embarrassed is about as it gets for her stripping, and she conveniently finds a a fulfilling above-minimum-wage job as soon as the escorting situation with butch sugar daddy Chris falls out (and, even more conveniently, this job provides her with the cool gay friends she's been searching for). I'm reminded a little of another ARC I read recently, Woodworking by Emily St James, which I had a similar complaint about. It's hard for me to feel satisfied by a book that brings up all these heavy topics but doesn't dig into them—it just feels a little defanged.
Another aspect that didn't quite sit right with me was the depiction of Chris, who is portrayed as pathetic, even disgusting. Part of the problem is that she's awkward and dishonest and twice Hannah's age, and part of the problem is that she thinks she knows Hannah far more intimately than she really does—but part of the problem, too, is that she's butch and working class and that she struggles with addiction. (To be fair to von Blanckensee, Hannah's eventual love interest is also butch and working class, and she's portrayed very positively though she doesn't take up nearly as much of the narrative as Chris does.)Chris also sexually assaults Hannah, which is not depicted graphically but is dealt with only minimally. She owns up to it and apologizes in a short conversation, and it is mentioned maybe once or twice otherwise. Maybe that wouldn't bother other people, but it did bother me.
Nonetheless, while it was a little disappointing, I did enjoy reading this. The first hundred pages or so (when the aforementioned really compelling conflicts were set up) were really great, and I read the whole thing in maybe two days. I found the prose very smooth, nothing to complain about. Some of the relationships—with April and with Bubbe, for example—were sensitively and movingly handled. And, as with Woodworking, for some people the un-gritty-ness may be a plus. Could be a good read for people who have moved on from purely feel-good YA novels and cozy romance reads but aren't ready for or interested, say, in Michelle Tea or Sarah Schulman.
Anyways, thnx to netgalley and the publishes for the arc! Mwah!
But none of those conflicts come to much of anything. Hannah's family and abandoned best friend forgive her easily when she reconnects with them, and she and Sam end the story as best friends again with only the barest acknowledgement of how terrible Sam has been. (Seriously, she does maybe one nice thing the whole book, and it's in the last fifty pages!) Despite everyone's warnings, nothing bad happens to Hannah in the tough neighborhood she lives in, the slum lord she rents from is nice if slightly condescending, and the walk-in closet sized apartment is clean and cozy. Feeling awkward and embarrassed is about as it gets for her stripping, and she conveniently finds a a fulfilling above-minimum-wage job as soon as the escorting situation with butch sugar daddy Chris falls out (and, even more conveniently, this job provides her with the cool gay friends she's been searching for). I'm reminded a little of another ARC I read recently, Woodworking by Emily St James, which I had a similar complaint about. It's hard for me to feel satisfied by a book that brings up all these heavy topics but doesn't dig into them—it just feels a little defanged.
Another aspect that didn't quite sit right with me was the depiction of Chris, who is portrayed as pathetic, even disgusting. Part of the problem is that she's awkward and dishonest and twice Hannah's age, and part of the problem is that she thinks she knows Hannah far more intimately than she really does—but part of the problem, too, is that she's butch and working class and that she struggles with addiction. (To be fair to von Blanckensee, Hannah's eventual love interest is also butch and working class, and she's portrayed very positively though she doesn't take up nearly as much of the narrative as Chris does.)
Nonetheless, while it was a little disappointing, I did enjoy reading this. The first hundred pages or so (when the aforementioned really compelling conflicts were set up) were really great, and I read the whole thing in maybe two days. I found the prose very smooth, nothing to complain about. Some of the relationships—with April and with Bubbe, for example—were sensitively and movingly handled. And, as with Woodworking, for some people the un-gritty-ness may be a plus. Could be a good read for people who have moved on from purely feel-good YA novels and cozy romance reads but aren't ready for or interested, say, in Michelle Tea or Sarah Schulman.
Anyways, thnx to netgalley and the publishes for the arc! Mwah!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault