I’ve always been fascinated by stories about intense, usually unhealthy friendships. I’m not really sure why; my best guess is that I went through a period in late elementary/early middle school where I had a total friend-crush on a girl who proceeded to ditch me as soon as she found some newer, cooler friends and I like reliving that memory because I’m a masochist. Or something like that. I remember coming across the movie Thirteen on YouTube when I was in high school (I’m sure it’s been taken down by now) and feeling both repulsed and intrigued by the way Nikki Reed’s character manipulates and torments her “best friend,” who is obviously infatuated with her rebellious persona.
So when I happened upon The Girls at my local library, I knew I had to give it a try. Not just because of the promise of dysfunctional friendships, but because it centers around a Manson-like cult in the 1960s. I’m also fascinated by murderous cults (yes, I realize how that must sound. Please bear with me). The idea of a whole group of people falling so deeply under one charismatic person’s sway that they would literally commit murder is…well, bizarre. And yet it’s happened so many times throughout history (Nazis, y’all). I would imagine most people like to think of themselves as being fairly independent and free-spirited and individual (I know I sure do), but at the end of the day, human beings can be the packiest pack animals in the world.
Anyway, that’s enough pseudo-philosophical rambling for today. I have a book to review. This book definitely satisfied my cravings for messed-up friendships and creepy-cult psychology (this is a good thing, by the way). The story is narrated by Evie Boyd, a lonely teenager living with her divorced and clueless mother and trying to navigate the perils and pitfalls of adolescence more or less on her own. She ends up falling in with Suzanne, a mysterious and alluring older girl who is one of many young women living on an abandoned ranch with Russell, a mystic prophet, freer of souls, and aspiring musician. Evie is quickly seduced into Suzanne’s weird, unstable world. The novel revolves around her trying to find her footing in both that world and the real one, all while coming to terms with her growing romantic/sexual attraction to Suzanne.
I don’t want to spoil the book, but I will say that the climax is truly gut-wrenching, and the ending is less than satisfying (though that’s obviously intentional). There’s no happy ending for poor Evie, and that hurts. Yeah, she makes some pretty bad decisions. Yeah, she’s kind of a brat at times. But aren’t we all? Especially at fourteen? There’s a little bit of Evie in all of us, and I think that’s what made the ending so painful for me. It’s not a bad ending necessarily, but neither is it a happy one. It’s just mediocre, which is probably more realistic. Life doesn’t just end after something significant happens. It keeps going, and sometimes it’s kind of blah.
My favorite part of the book is when Evie returns to the ranch after spending a few weeks with her father and his girlfriend. She’s been away for a while, and she notices things: Russell’s sideburns are drawn on with makeup. The songs he composes and sings by the fire are actually really embarrassingly terrible. The ranch is full of junk and garbage. The children are running around naked and neglected. The food is scarce, and the girls are literally starving. The spell is broken just a little bit, and it makes Evie angry. She feels disappointed and longs to believe that Russell really is a genius, that the ranch really is the Fairyland is previously was to her. I liked this part because I shared her disappointment to some extent. Evie’s first encounter with the ranch is made to seem dreamy and otherworldly, and the reader shares in that sense of excitement at her discovery. Her disillusionment is a letdown for us as well.
My biggest reason for recommending The Girls is the fact that it really drew me in. There are some books that are good, and you like them, but they don’t really make you feel anything. You read them, you put them down, and you don’t really think about them too much afterwards. The Girls isn’t like that. It made me feel Evie’s sadness, ennui, and longing even after I was finished with it, and that’s probably the best thing I could ask for in a book.
Quills and Needles 