Review: THE GIRLS by Emma Cline

by Susan Roberts

I was totally mesmerized by The Girls. From the first page until the end, I was in love with the writing and with the pictures that Emma Cline created with her words. Its hard to believe that it's her first book - we can expect to see great things from her in the future.

Yes, this novel is loosely based on the Charles Manson murders of 1969 but it is so much more than that. Evie is a 14 year old girl in 1969 - her parents have gotten a divorce and her mother is dating again and her father has a new girlfriend, her best friend no longer wants to be her friend and she feels like an outsider everywhere in her life. She is totally entranced by Suzanne and the people she meets in a cult near her home. She doesn't see the squalor and the lack of food, instead she feels like she has found a place where she is accepted. As a 14 year old girl, finding love and acceptance is more important than anything else in life. The story is told by present day Evie, looking back on her life and still struggling to find acceptance.

This is a fantastic, beautifully written novel that will stay with the reader long after the book is finished. I predict that it will be a best seller this summer.

Buy The Girls at Amazon

Susan Roberts, reviewer. Susan grew up in the Detroit area but after deciding that city life wasn't for her she moved to North Carolina after college. She and her husband have several acres of land and they enjoy gardening and canning vegetables in the summer. They travel extensively. Susan reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook or Twitter.

Book info:
available formats: ebook and print
published: June 2016 by Random House
ISBN13: 9780812998603
genres: literary fiction, coming of age, psychological
book source: Netgalley




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