A review by heatherer
The Burning Girl by Claire Messud

2.0

I was hoping waiting a few days would make me feel better about this book, but I’m actually increasingly coming to dislike it. I’d give it 2.5 stars if I could because it pulls one in well enough. But it is somewhere between nihilism (there is no meaning) and existentialism (meaning is what we make of it) in its conclusions and I find there’s very little in it that I want to continue reflecting on. Further, I find the characters besides Julia (the protagonist) a bit hard to believe - they’re one-dimensional and just plain odd at that. And what gives with the author’s tendency to describe people’s appearance by their breasts?! It was a quick read, but I would not recommend on the whole.