Review by emileereadsbooks - All Girls

emileereadsbooks 's review for:

All Girls by Emily Layden

2.5

dark reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Thanks to Goodreads and St. Martins Press for this title I won in a giveaway.

This debut novel walks through a school year at an all girl's boarding school that starts off with a reminder of a sexual abuse scandal that happened there 25 years before. Each of the 9 chapters are perspectives from 9 different students at the school, and after the first few it felt like a lot of storylines to hold and keep track of. Not to mention all the characters and how they puzzle together. I felt like this book kept skimming the surface of something powerful and interesting, but then we would move to the next girl's POV and I was left wanting more of certain storylines.

This book also does something that is a bookish pet peeve of mine, it plays with time in a way that takes away from the plot. It would say for instance: in 30 years she would reflect and then she would understand why this impacted her so deeply. I feel like that is a cop out and a disservice to exploring the feelings of the character in the moment.

This book has been spoken of some as a mystery, and I would say if that's what you are coming to this book looking for, you will be disappointed. I think this book is a mystery in the way every book is a mystery, because you are waiting to find out where the plot goes. This should only be classified as a YA coming of age story.

Content Warnings