The Girls

Danielle L. Harris

The Girls is undoubtedly a challenging read

Debut novels like this are rare, indeed. . . . The most remarkable quality of this novel is Cline’s ability to articulate the anxieties of adolescence in language that’s gorgeously poetic without mangling the authenticity of a teenager’s consciousness. The adult’s melancholy reflection and the girl’s swelling impetuousness are flawlessly braided together. . . . For a story that traffics in the lurid notoriety of the Manson murders, The Girls is an extraordinary act of restraint. With the maturity of a writer twice her age, Cline has written a wise novel that’s never showy: a quiet, seething confession of yearning and terror.

Patrick L. Bednar

A book that oozes with gorgeous prose

There is something to be said about a debut novel that tackles some of the most difficult aspects of life in 1969 and the delicately fragile aspects of being a young and impressionable teenage girl.

First and foremost I’m going to address the absolute accuracy of some of the observations that Cline makes about the treatment of women that not only transcends from youth into adulthood, but serves as a commentary on how gender inequality isn’t just a thing of the past.

Specifically, there is one major quote that depicts this for me, “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.” This is so true to the woman’s journey. You are told how to act and how to look based on magazines and television shows (also touched on in the novel), and how you are perceived by society is something you have to accept for what it is.

Chrissy A. Martin

Gripping fictional account of the Manson story

The Girls is undoubtedly a challenging read. Based on the Manson murders, make no mistake, there is a hefty amount of uncomfortable content centering around drug use and sexual encounters (some of which I would clearly label as assault). The fact that the main protagonist Evie is a mere 14 years old, makes it one tough pill to swallow.

Based on several reviews, I was anticipating a dark read full of teenage angst that played on a graphic core in order to up the “wow” factor. I could not have been more wrong. Nor have I ever been happier to be so wrong. The Girls is a shining example of how to utilize first person narration in the most successful ways.

It is the end of the 60’s in Northern California. It is summer, and Evie Boyd feels isolated and out-of-place. Like many teenage girls she just wants to belong. Enter Suzanne. She is care-free and captivating. Immediately drawn to this young stranger, she slowly begins distancing herself from her family and only real friend to spend more time with Suzanne and her friends on the ranch led by the amorous Russell.

Harold L. Hernandez

A compelling yet unsatisfying novel

Most of us who were adults in 1969 when the Manson killings happened have asked ourselves, “How could this happen? How could girls from middle class families fall under the spell of such a crazed psychopath and commit murder for him? Emma Cline’s fictional rendering of this well-known crime is a brilliant attempt to unravel the threads that led to these senseless killings. Cline’s characters are fictional, but are clearly modelled on the girls whose names have become part of criminal legend: Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel, Leslie van Houten etc. The book swtiches back and forth between the present, when one of the girls, now middle-aged and working as a freelance house-sitter, reflects back on the events that led her to becoming involved (if somewhat tangentially) with the family of hippies living on a ramshackle farm in California. We see how a rather overlooked young 14-year old with an absent father and a mother newly navigating the dating world post-divorce, falls under the influence of the charismatic Suzanne, someone she meets randomly at a public festival.

Blanche R. Moore

Good but not worth the hype

“The Girls” tells the story Evie, of a 14-year old girl who becomes involved with a cult-like commune. Most of the commune members are young women, with the exception of a guy called Gus and Russell Hadrick, an older man who is also the group’s charismatic leader. Evie is not a particularly likeable protagonist – but teenagers rarely are, outside of the idealised world of YA. Come to think of it, there are hardly any likeable characters in this novel; maybe Evie’s mother, and Tom, a minor character appearing briefly towards the end.

Malcolm O. Llanas

Emma Cline’s debut is fantastic, her writing so lyrically evocative

Loosely based around the Manson cult, Emma Cline’s The Girls explores the classic 1960’s allure of a hippie life on the edge of society.

Following the life of Evie, we see her as the 14 year old girl longing for a sense of meaning, and we also see her as the older woman living with the reality of her past. How the narrative flipped from past to present was an interesting device but neither was explored in enough detailed.

From the writing I could feel the sunburnt American days, and everything I pictured had an orange yellow film to it, but though it was descriptive and addictive, it only dangled the carrot of a captivating cult story and lacked any real gumption. Tip toeing in and out of the ranch, as Evie is never fully, truly immersed in the group, the narrative felt tepid and neither here nor there speaking only as an outsider.