The Girls, book review. (Emma Cline)

I've seen this book widely publicised in the press and in bookshops since its release and lots of Bookstagrammers seem to like it so I thought it was about time I dipped my toe in the water.

The writing style is right up my street with plenty of detail (sometimes a little too much) but the loss in momentum when the descriptions go off point is easily forgiven as you become increasingly immersed in the Californian summer of 1969.

You feel the sweat ooze from Evie Boyd's pores, the smell of garbage on Suzanne's clothes, the heat of the campfire as Russell strums his guitar but most of all you feel Evie's uneasiness as she gradually succumbs to her new surroundings.

The other girls are all older than Evie but she wants to be them, be liked by them, especially Suzanne, and so she goes to the ranch where Russell promises sex, drugs and a surreal, almost naturist lifestyle where rules are in short supply.

There's a record deal on the horizon, freedoms that fourteen-year-old Evie wouldn't have dreamt of in her previous life - where she hung out with the plump girl and did things that 'normal' fourteen-year-olds did.

At the ranch people just come and go; they steal food from dumpsters and borrow cars that aren't theirs. Their clothes are pooled and so, before the week is out Evie finds herself transformed. The drinks flow, drugs are shared and she is farmed out for sex, accompanying the indomitable Suzanne to Mitch's house - Mitch being the man promising the record deal.

For the most part, I found this book quite good, but what I do take umbrage with is the use of a fourteen-year-old protagonist.

The other girls are mostly eighteen so I saw no reason for Evie to be so young, other than for shock value, and the events in the book are shocking enough.
The other let down for me was (spoiler alert, spoiler alert) that the main event, the mass murder that is alluded to throughout the book, doesn't even involve Evie. What the hell!!

I wanted her to be in the thick of it, growing a conscience and trying to stop it or relishing in the slaughter, for Suzanne to save her maybe or take the hit because Evie was so young, what I didn't want was a flashback of the trial transcripts and a bit of hearsay.

So, The Girls is beautifully written and memorable but lets you down at the end.

Three stars.