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All Girls
by Emily Layden
All Girls by Emily Layden (Advance Readers’ Edition)
This novel takes place over one school year at an elite all girls’ boarding high school in New England. Allegations of sexual misconduct at the school (which took place years prior) have recently come to light, and that story plays in the background as the students navigate their own friendships and romantic relationships. Each chapter features a different student narrator.
This book was very good, but it falls short of great. It’s well-written and the characters are real and captivating. The main problem is that there are too many of them, and it’s not easy to keep track. I was able to do so by flipping back and forth in the print copy, but it might be pretty difficult to follow over audio.
As soon as I fell in love with a character or became invested in a storyline, we’ve moved on, so I wish we had more time with these characters or revisited them after their initial chapters.
I did really appreciate that we’re seeing everything that’s happening through the eyes of teenagers – any glimpses we get of the grownups are either through conversations with the students or in emails and news articles at the ends of certain chapters. The world created is specific to these young women.
It would be easy to read the back of this book or a plot summary and think this is a thriller or a mystery. It’s absolutely not. There are hints of a mystery, but overall it’s a character study of a diverse group of young women who are coming-of-age and trying to understand their own agency.
I won this copy in a Goodreads giveaway! Thanks Goodreads!
Content Warnings: sexual violence, minimization of sexual violence, self-harm, victim-blaming, skin picking, mental illness, cheating, racial microaggressions, underage drinking and drug use.
This novel takes place over one school year at an elite all girls’ boarding high school in New England. Allegations of sexual misconduct at the school (which took place years prior) have recently come to light, and that story plays in the background as the students navigate their own friendships and romantic relationships. Each chapter features a different student narrator.
This book was very good, but it falls short of great. It’s well-written and the characters are real and captivating. The main problem is that there are too many of them, and it’s not easy to keep track. I was able to do so by flipping back and forth in the print copy, but it might be pretty difficult to follow over audio.
As soon as I fell in love with a character or became invested in a storyline, we’ve moved on, so I wish we had more time with these characters or revisited them after their initial chapters.
I did really appreciate that we’re seeing everything that’s happening through the eyes of teenagers – any glimpses we get of the grownups are either through conversations with the students or in emails and news articles at the ends of certain chapters. The world created is specific to these young women.
It would be easy to read the back of this book or a plot summary and think this is a thriller or a mystery. It’s absolutely not. There are hints of a mystery, but overall it’s a character study of a diverse group of young women who are coming-of-age and trying to understand their own agency.
I won this copy in a Goodreads giveaway! Thanks Goodreads!
Content Warnings: sexual violence, minimization of sexual violence, self-harm, victim-blaming, skin picking, mental illness, cheating, racial microaggressions, underage drinking and drug use.