REVIEW: The Girls

“That was part of being a girl–you were resigned to whatever feedback you’d get. If you got mad, you were crazy, and if you didn’t react, you were a bitch. The only thing you could do was smile from the corner they’d backed you into. Implicate yourself in the joke even if the joke was always on you.”

Why Did I Read This Book?

I remember being on holiday a few years back and EVERYONE around the pool was reading The Girls. No lie. Ever since then, it has been patiently waiting on my TBR list. Now that I have all the time in the world, I thought it would be a better time than ever to tick this one off the list.

What Did I Think?

Don’t hate me…I didn’t like it. I feel so bad that I must be the only person I know that didn’t enjoy this book. Hate me all you want but it’s the truth. For some bizarre reason I thought this book was about something completely different. So when I started reading this book, I just couldn’t get rid of my expectations. 

I didn’t hate all of it, there are some parts that are really thrilling and it is written so well. There are some real honest moments of what it’s like to be female, especially in the 1970s. If you’re looking for some great quotes about the struggles of being a woman in a male-dominated society, then this book is what you need. I did find myself nodding along to some of Emma Cline’s wisdom throughout the book.

“They didn’t have very far to fall—I knew just being a girl in the world handicapped your ability to believe yourself.”

The cult story was something that just wasn’t for me. Although I do like weird and wonderful books that discuss all sorts of topics, I just didn’t like this one and for me it did feel a tiny bit unrealistic. I couldn’t really relate to the protagonist. I found that her narrative was boring and rather one-dimensional. She didn’t really offer anything to the story, just told us everybody else’s, so I just couldn’t feel any connection to her. 

There is a real horrendous murder scene at the end which left me a little shaken up a while after reading it but other than that, nothing else in the book is worth mentioning. I did enjoy how well it was written as the scenes were very descriptive and I could imagine what the characters and the ranch looked like but I just couldn’t relate to the narrator and therefore, it just wasn’t for me.

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