Download The Girls PDF
The Girls
What They Said About This The Girls Book (Reviews):
Emily May
Writes about Download The Girls PDFI very rarely put aside books after reading just a prologue and one chapter, but I cannot make myself suffer through any more of this. My stomach was coiling with dread each time I even thought about pushing through another 300+ pages of this overwritten prose.I'm sure a certain type of reader will love this, but that reader is not me. Out of curiosity, though, what's with the Manson-related stories? I just finished , and now we have this book, which is based on the Manson cult and tells how Evie Boyd gets drawn into it. Did I miss something? | | | | |
Debbie
Writes about Reading The Girls BookHoly moly, I LOVED this one! My first 5-star book this year!I'm a sucker for a female narrator talking about what she had to have, what she didn't get, what she really meant, what she should have done. I like all that talking in the head. I make it sound sort of light and funny but there is nothing light or funny about 14-year-old Evie. She seems to be living a typically boring life when she sees a girl in the park…and an obsession begins. Her ordinary life hits the extraordinary, and pow, right in the kisser.I worried that this would be just another teenage-girl-angst book. It was so not that (I say in my best valley-girl voice). This is a tale of big-time obsession, not your humdrum harmless crush. Just Evie’s bad luck, really: the crowd is bad and her age works against her. Can Evie help it that her cerebral cortex isn't developed well enough for her to even have a chance of sensing danger or making good decisions? Her moral compass isn't showing a clear direction yet; she doesn't have a clue how dangerous or wrong it all is. Evie tells two stories—one about what is happening to her right now and one about what happened to her back then. The back and forth is seamless and works well. What also works well is the tension. We can see the train wreck about to happen, but Evie cannot. Her innocence and her vulnerability are palpable; you want to reach into the story and shake her. Or chain her to the bedpost until she’s legal.The language is to die for—lots of cool imagery and nice sophisticated sentences. And though I would say this is a cerebral read, it’s also accessible. There’s not a whole lot of action, but it’s not slow. It’s super profound and really good at getting inside a 14-year-old’s head. And let’s not forget the setting: this was my time (chamomile tea and long flowered skirts included), and the author has it down perfectly. As with so many others, my horror at the Manson murders also includes a morbid fascination, so I was glued to the page trying to understand how a control freak becomes charismatic and succeeds in putting people into trances. One thing I wasn’t crazy about is the fact that all men are pretty much portrayed as obscene; I’m thinking this might bug guy readers.This book still has me thinking about What Ifs, even though I read it weeks ago. I’m certain that the What Ifs are still haunting Evie too (it’s a pretty good book if I’m acting like Evie is a real person!). She has been to the other side, and like others who have been there, she forever after will be just going through the motions, a heavy cloud following above her. Yep, this is one dark book—it’s at times pretty creepy and disturbing. Fear, desire, vulnerability, idol worship, loneliness, danger, mind-fucking—all are part of the darkness.This book reminded me a bit of two other favorites, (strong tone and imagery) and (girl obsession, first-person narration, cerebral). I just loved this book’s language, imagery, psychological insight, soul. I’m super impressed by this debut—I will wait eagerly for Cline’s next book.Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.P.S. I’m all messed up about this being called historical fiction! Historical fiction is supposed to be pre-1950s, right? Historical fiction is not supposed to EVER be happening during my lifetime! I mean, come on, lol! What are these young whippersnapper genre-namers thinking?
Justin
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFI'm turning a corner here, Goodreaders. The old me would rate this book two stars and spend some time telling you how awful the book is and all the reasons I couldn't stand it, etc. But, that's the old me. I'm turning a corner. Turning over a new leaf. Doing a 180. Whatever. At least for this review. People I know, love, and respect really, really like this book. I completely get it, too. I absolutely understand how you could read this book and think it's amazing and get all caught up in the story and the characters and be transported back to that crazy time in our nation's history. I just didn't connect with this book at any point, ever. I wanted to. I felt like I should have. I just didn't. I read it, never really cared, got to the end, shrugged, got off the couch, and made myself a sandwich. The sandwich thing happens after I finish every book, not just bad ones, and especially not just this one. Sometimes it's cereal or maybe an apple, but who really cares about my post-reading eating habits that may or may not be really a thing anyway?Feel free to message me for more info. I read Helter Skelter in high school and that book was... way too long for a high school kid to read. I mean, it was a great read, fascinating, unbelievable, hard to even rationalize that it was a real event. Crazy. This stupid book... Wait, I'm turning a corner...This book took real events, changed the characters names, and did nothing creative outside of that. It was fine, I guess. It's not worth whatever advance she got from Random House, and it's not worth the attention it's getting. It's not written very well, often comes across as too pretentious and trying too hard to be awesome, and ultimately forgettable. Sorry... I'm trying to change....Hang on...But, people like it and that's great. Sometimes books don't grab me the same way, and The Girls and I had a bad first date and still tried to make it work. It was doomed from the start, but I read it, it was short, and I can now move on to other books. Have a good night everyone.
Chelsea Humphrey
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFDate Read: 06/14/16Pub Date: 06/14/164.5 stars (rounded to 5 on GR)I’m going to admit that this book was way deeper and more intellectual than I initially expected it to be. For some reason I was thinking this would be a thriller or mystery of sorts, and I guess it was in some aspects, but it was so much more than that and I’m really glad I was wrong about this one. I had a difficult time believing this was a debut novel as it was so well written; I can see why Random House has pegged this as one of their top books of Summer 2016. I’ll address it right off the bat; I’ve read multiple reviews stating they DNF because of there the top prose with which this was written. I get it; it put me off a bit in the beginning as well, but I’m glad I stuck with it as that tapered off mostly once I got about 15-20% into the book.This is one of those books that the summary basically tells you the whole synopsis in a nutshell; there really aren’t any surprises here, just the building knot in your stomach as you slowly approach the grotesque ending. I read a lot of books, namely psychological suspense/thriller, so I come across a good bit of violence and graphic content. The interesting thing about this book is how overall it isn’t extremely graphic in the sense of descriptions of violence; a good bit of this is left to your imagination and THAT is what was so disturbing to me.There were a a few sections that read a bit slow and that is why I didn’t give this the full 5 STARS; the pacing is very steady and not to be rushed. I would not recommend this as a quick, light read (it is about a violent murder involving members of a dangerous cult- think Charles Manson meets ) but it was a very interesting interpretation of the 1960’s and what all was going on in this time period. I think I would have liked a little more of Russell’s character but I understand why she left him as mysterious and vague, even following the conclusion.I’m glad I picked this one up; I haven’t read anything in the realm of historical fiction in a hot second and it was satisfying to travel back to a time that my parents were a part of before I was even a blip on their radar. While a heavy read in all aspects, a worthwhile read.
Maxwell
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFis definitely the "it" book of the summer. Everyone's talking about it. Rumor has it the debut author got a $2 million advance. It's edgy and risqué and unapologetic. Maybe the hype killed it for other people. And maybe their dislike of it saved me from going in with high expectations. Because I ended up really enjoying this one. The writing is superb. There's no doubt that Emma Cline can set a scene really well. And the narration has a self-reflective quality to it that I really enjoy in first person stories.Perhaps all that beautiful prose hangs on a pretty thin plot, ripped right out of the headlines of the 1960's. But it's compulsively readable, engaging and ultimately pretty satisfying. And fair warning, it has some pretty adult stuff, so I wouldn't recommend this for younger readers or people who are averse to that kind of content.
Deanna
Writes about Reading The Girls BookI really enjoyed this book by Emma Cline. I wasn't sure when I picked it up what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. This is my second try at reviewing this after accidentally deleting everything I had typed. I almost always type in a document. Then I can save if I have to go do something else or accidentally hit the backspace button (which I'm constantly doing). Oh well, it happens. Now let's try this again....It's the start of summer in Northern California and Evie Boyd, an average teenager is a bit lonely and bored. Her parents are splitting up, she's fighting with one of her only friends and feels like no one understands her. However, that all changes after she meets a wild and fun group of girls in the park who seem to be all about having fun and being free. She can sense an undercurrent of danger and it only makes her want to belong to this group even more. It's not long before Evie starts to pull away from her mother, spending more time with the group especially Suzanne. Suzanne is an older girl that Evie is completely enamored with. “No one had ever looked at me before Suzanne, not really, so she became my definition. Her gaze softening my centre so easily that even photographs of her seemed aimed at me, ignited with private meaning.” But Evie is quickly becoming obsessed. Especially once she's been to the ranch and meets the larger than life Russell. Evie desperately wants to stay on the ranch. She feels like no one else understands her like these people do, especially Suzanne. But Evie doesn't realize how quickly things can change and soon comes the time where everything changes...in what seems like the blink of an eye.I really didn't know how I was going to feel about this book. I really felt like it snuck up on me. There wasn't non-stop action, but there didn't need to be. The writing was great and I really liked how the story was laid out. We hear about Evie's life both back then and now. We see how it all plays out and it's fascinating. This is a well-written, intoxicating book that I won't soon forget. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and Emma Cline for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.
Kelly (and the Book Boar)
Writes about Reading The Girls BookFind all of my reviews at: Tons of my friends received an ARC of and my feed has been filled for months with updates/reviews detailing all of the awesome they were all experiencing . . . Thanks for the warm welcome, John McClane, but I have a feeling you (along with everyone else) will soon be changing your tune. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, where should I begin?????? Maybe with . . . Wait, that’s a lie. I know what I expected . . . If I’m presented with a synopsis that tells me I’m going to be reading a fictional take on the ladies behind the Manson Murders, I expect something twisted that would pull a real mindfuckeroo. I wanted to meet girls like these . . . . What I got instead? A poor-little-rich-girl lead along with a supporting cast of characters who couldn't even be considered cardboard cutouts. They were more like shadows with zero dimension. And the story itself? happened until the 90% mark which left a angry Mitchell who looked a little something like this . . . (My cell phone camera broke so I had to improvise. Donations for a replacement are gladly accepted.)This just did not work for me at all. I hated the writing style, I like stories that are fresh and if you’re going to fictionalize one of the most famous events in U.S. history at least mix things up a teeny little bit (and I mean more than famous dude who was supposed to be the target of the murder being a musician rather than Roman Polanski or the female victim actually having a child instead of being pregnant), and most importantly THE MAIN CHARACTER SHOULD ACTUALLY BE A PART OF THE EFFING EVENT and not just tell us about Save me your trolling because my “friends” already beat you to it by saying they were going to have this sent to my house for not drinking the Cline Kool-Aid . . . JERKS! is the only one of my friends who read this right like me. She is now my favorite, so there.
Delee
Writes about Download The Girls PDF1969 California-14-year-old Evie is bored and disillusioned with her life. She has recently had a falling out with her only friend Connie, and her parents have decided to part ways. As luck would have it her grandmother left behind money from her Hollywood starlet days...and Evie's loopy, hippy, mother is able to live well because of it...but shy, lost, Evie- wants more...she desperately wants to connect with someone...anyone. So she doesn't feel so misunderstood and alone.While out and about she spots Suzanne, a strange and intriguing girl- and Evie makes a point of bumping into her here and there...and soon enough "fate" steps in and Suzanne spots Evie too......and introduces her to a place like no other she has ever known.When Evie arrives at the ranch- she is absolutely blown away... These people see her...they know her...they get her- and when she meets their charismatic leader- Russell- she knows this is the place she wants to be.As her relationship with her mother becomes more strained, Evie spends more time with her new circle of friends....and the more smitten she becomes- not with Russell...but with Suzanne....The more rules she breaks and the more blind she is to the things happening around her. Things she doesn't want to see...Her new "peace and love" family is about to cross a line- and if she isn't careful- take her down with them.THE GIRLS (based on Charles Manson and his followers) is so much better than I expected. With a new author- there is always a chance that one will be disappointed ...not this time. This debut novel is amaaaaaaazing....and if what I read is true- Emma Cline signed a three book deal...so there are two more on the way!!! Groooooovy Baby.
Karen
Writes about Download The Girls PDFGreat book. Took me right back to 1969. Evie was 14, I was 11, and I had a lot of the same stuff going on at home as she did. Her home life, and I think her loss of her best friend sent her searching for the feelings of inclusiveness, etc. that she found with this clan in the in the park and then onto the ranch. This was based loosely on The Manson clan. Evie tells her story from 1969 and from today as an adult. Another great debut novel..
Elyse
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFSeductive from the start...mesmerizing writing and storytelling!!!!At 14, Evie's parents have recently divorced. Her father has a new girlfriend, and her mother is dating a variety of men. Early into the story, she remembers a cocktail party her parents had thrown, ( the year before they split). The guests were her father's friends mostly. Her mother wasn't very social and hovered around the buffet table trying desperately to seek approval for the food she had preparedEvie felt embarrassed that her mother asked her how she looked. She was clear - and clear her mother was clear - that her father fucked anything he could. Neither parent was paying any attention to Evie. Her best friend wasn't either. The only woman at that party who looked exciting was her dad's girlfriend. She was sexy with cool clothes. Evie knew she should hate her dad for cheating..but Evie began to fantasize about her father with his girlfriend naked together..."with her throat circled by a ribbon, lying on some carpet in some too-small Palo Alto apartment". We not only could see the longing Evie has for attention...but love no longer feels safe to her. She was angry at her mother - that her dad left....Being 14, angry, and lonely, can lead one down a dangerous path. The year is also 1969...the cornerstone for drugs, sex, and rock-in-roll. Evie gets mixed up with a cult - a singer-songwriter alluring leader. Later he manipulates his followers into a dark world of violence.Having grown up in the Bay Area, I'm familiar with the Charles Manson and Sharon Tate story which this novel is loosely based on...but the books strength ( besides fresh, intimate, and addictive), is the authors ability to understand teen chaotic years of vulnerability. The author points to the fact that Evie did not know when things exactly went wrong in her life...( yet she had a close idea). I took value from Evie's unspoken words - her inner thoughts just before she joined the cult. It's not that we haven't read about angry -sad 'coming-of-age' girls before...but Emma Cline touches on areas where many books don't go. Emma Cline shows gutless courage - I LOVE THIS BOOK!Thank you Random House, Netgalley, and Emma Cline!!!
Katie
Writes about Reading The Girls BookAs I’m sure everyone knows The Girls is about (despite disclaimers) the Manson murders. Personally I think this would have been a better novel (though probably a less commercially successful one) had she invented her own cult because Cline always seemed to me, understandably, out of her depth when dealing with the inner springs of the Manson cult. It was an odd choice to base this novel so closely on the Manson cult and yet at the same time coyly change names and a few insignificant details. Much of the novel’s failings though are contained in that contradiction, that failure of nerve. It’s often going to feel a bit forced and awkward when an imaginary character is drafted into an historical event and for me that awkwardness eventually marred what was promising to be a truly splendid book. Cline sets up the novel brilliantly. Most of the best writing in this book is about adolescent female insecurity. She’s fabulous at identifying those needy vacuums in which self-destructive behaviour can take root. Evie, the heroine, has an absent father and a mother who has reverted to adolescent insecurities herself in her search for love. Evie has no role models in her life. Young boys provide no solution – “We believed that boys were acting with a logic that we could someday understand. To believe that their actions had any meaning beyond thoughtless impulse. We were like conspiracy theorists, seeing portent and intention in every detail, wishing desperately that we mattered enough to be the object of planning and speculation. But they were just boys. Silly and young and straightforward; they weren't hiding anything.” Then she meets Suzanne, a glamorous older female who seems self-possessed and capable of imparting the trick to Evie. “It was an age when I’d immediately scan and rank other girls, keeping up a constant tally of how I fell short.” The evolution of her relationship with Suzanne, the gaping hole in her life Suzanne fills, is done brilliantly. Suzanne will eventually take Evie to the ranch. It’s odd to say that this is when the novel became less compelling for me because obviously this is when the tension should have been cranked up several notches. But Cline’s Evie is never taken in by the commune. She has the detachment of the author. From the start she sees Russell, the Manson figure, as a rather unremarkable middle aged man. Cline barely allows him any charisma. It’s like Cline fears going anywhere near him and so doesn’t. He will remain unexplored throughout the novel. Strangely she even largely ignores Suzanne’s adulation of him and so even that is not any kind of felt tension in the novel. Most of the key Manson material is told not shown. And as a result neither Cline nor her narrator Evie ever enters into the spirit of the cult. She remains a critical bystander, like the reader. Evie’s main reason for being there is her huge girl crush on Suzanne. Here Cline is in her element. When she’s writing about stuff she knows about she’s brilliant. “No one had ever looked at me before Suzanne, not really, so she became my definition. Her gaze softening my centre so easily that even photographs of her seemed aimed at me, ignited with private meaning.” The writing begins to suffer when Cline is dependent on research. Cline deals with her obvious difficulty of writing about life at the ranch by constantly removing Evie who, rather unaccountably, keeps returning home for lengthy periods. In this way Cline doesn’t have to write about the period in which everything went dark. Rather vapid transitional passages of menacing prose are called upon to do the job – “The presence of death seemed to colour everything, like an odourless mist that filled the car and pressed against the windows, a mist we inhaled and exhaled and that shaped every word we spoke.” When Cline is out of her depth her prose, superbly eloquent when she knows what she’s talking about, becomes clichéd and generic. Also even Evie’s relationship with Suzanne begins to elude Cline and so her transition from free spirited wild child to psycho killer is left shadowy at best. It’s a massive jump to suggest there’s some kind of inevitable connection between a young female’s conditioned desperation for attention and love and becoming a cold blooded child killer, rather like someone using Hitler to dramatise the danger of eating disorders. It has become clear by now that the Manson murders are the selling point of this book, rather than the heart and soul of it. Some of the reviews praise this novel for its power to disturb but this is material that will disturb no matter how well or badly it’s narrated so I’m not sure it’s power to disturb is really much of an achievement. Personally I look forward to her next book when there isn’t perhaps so much commercial pressure on her because Emma Cline is a brilliant young writer and there’s lots of fabulous writing in this book; unfortunately it didn’t quite work for me as a novel. I realise this sounds a bit negative. Truth is, I thought this was absolutely brilliant to begin with (I'd give five stars to the first fifty pages) but then felt a bit let down by Cline’s decision to opt for sensationalism rather than trust in her immense talent as a writer. Maybe this is what a young writer has to do nowadays to get published.
Stephanie
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFEvie is struggling to understand how she fits in with the world and is dealing with her parent's recent divorce and her mother's dating. Then, she gets in an argument with her best friend and has nobody to turn to or spend time with. Along comes Suzanne and a busload of her cult group and they drive off to the ranch (a la Charles Manson). I don't want to spoil the plot for anyone, so I will leave it at that. * Well-written and colorful prose, without being too detailed.* The perspective of varying points in time, where Evie was looking back on her teenage years.* Excellent cover art!!!* Some great quotes - particularly around the inequality of the genders.* No connection with the characters. Felt that Evie was spoiled and self-absorbed.* Took quite awhile in the book for anything much to happen.* The parallel story in current times could have been more robust in details. Was disappointed that over time, Evie didn't seem to evolve. While this wasn't one of my favorites, I do recommend this book to readers interested in Historical or Women's fiction, specifically a coming of age story with a cult twist from the late 1960's. is very well written and most of my Goodreads friends enjoyed this book more than I did.
Carol
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFundefined
Brandi
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFI wanted to love this story. But after trying mulitple times, I think I need to put it down. The premise of this one was very intriguing, unfortunately, while I can appreciate the writing style, it simply isn't working for me. Overly poetic and wordy, I just can't anymore.Maybe I'm not in the right frame of mind, perhaps my IQ has dropped a bit after hitting thirty, but seriously, this one was just giving me a headache.
Jen
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFBe prepared to be disturbed.It's 1969 - a cultural revolution is taking place involving drugs, sex, free love and rock n roll. It's also a dark period when a charismatic Charles Manson lures in young girls who are desperately seeking attention and wanting to feel part of something, as warped as it may be, into a brainwashed world of deceit, poverty, sex, drugs and murder.Evie, now in her 50's, is reflecting back on the days when she was 14 and became part of the cult whose horrific crimes left a mark on American history. That summer, having developed a girl crush on a member, brought her onto the fringe of the sordid Manson group and a time in her life she will never be able to put behind her.Cline's writing is superb for a debut. This is one read that will sit uncomfortably with me even as a work of fiction. Solid 4 ⭐️
Shelby *trains flying monkeys*
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFDamn, this is a great book. (I'm using several quotes from the book just because this Emma Cline can write her ass off.)Evie Boyd, is fourteen years old in the sixties. Her parents recently divorced and her dad is living in a small apartment with a much younger woman and her mom is trying out finding herself and trying out for a new husband. So Evie disagrees with her best friend and is just lost. Until she meets Suzanne. Suzanne is cool and otherworldly, she talks about the farm that she and others live on as if it's heaven on earth..and she talks about Russell. Evie starts hanging out at the ranch more and more..falling more in love with not Russell but Suzanne. Evie knows Suzanne isn't necessarily a good person but she is compelled to still seek her attention and approval..and when she is around him Russell's also. It's hard to wrap your mind around how people can have that much control of someone but this book does it brilliantly.Cline takes you into the group as that fourteen year old and the thing is?!?! This book doesn't move super fast and have something happening every minute and I still could not put it down. The whole creepy feeling that you knew was building just gripped me and I need a beer now. I need a beer anyways but still.The only thing about this book is the fact now that I'm pissed because it's over. ETA: I just saw that the film rights to this book went nuts before it's release..I'm ordering a hard copy. Because fangirl.I saw pop up on my feed and it was freaking awesome and reminded me "Hey ding dong, you have that book." Thanks Shayne!
Jessica
Writes about Reading The Girls BookTwo stars might be a little harsh? Should I give it three? I don't know, I'm on the fence, maybe I'm just feeling burned by all the hype surrounding this book. Its $2 million dollar price tag built the hype, and I really did look forward to reading it. I was so excited to get approved on Netgalley. It just did nothing for me, for two reasons:1. It's really overwritten. There are a few turns of phrase, but Cline really overdoes it. She uses the verb four separate times to describe someone taking something, she describes a meal as , the narrator could hear someone's silence. It's too much, and it started to feel like it was more about style than substance -- a style that I found grating. 2. I felt like the narrative was ultimately lacking in depth, which is surprising to me given that many reviews seemed to praise its nuance, its perceptiveness. I only skimmed most of the reviews, because I really did want to form my own opinion, but those were the adjectives that stick out in my head. And to those review-headline writers, I say: .Emma Cline does a couple of things well: she sets a very evocative scene (1969 Haight) and she does a good job laying out why our narrator, Evie, would be drawn to the Manson-eque cult. She has a falling out with her only friend, and feels alienated from her peers. She feels unloved by the boys she develops crushes on. Her practically absent father has left for a twenty-something woman and her mother is more interested in dating than mothering. Evie is lonely, insecure, and desperate for attention. It makes sense that she would get drawn in by Suzanne, a slightly older teen who dangles approval in front of Evie like a carrot. In that regard, yes, the book is perceptive. But it stops short in a lot of other ways. There's very little examination of the cult leader, the other members, life in the cult itself, and the crime they ultimately commit that summer. I know that Cline really wanted to focus on Evie, but she's not really an cult insider, absent when the crime is ordered and carried out and so it kind of felt like it came out of nowhere to me. Except for the fact that I pictured the cult leader as Charles Manson, I didn't feel like I understood why he'd order this crime and I didn't understand why the girls would obey. It felt a little more like, "Well of course that's going to happen, this a cult. That's what cults do." As though the reader's existing knowledge of the inspiration was enough development. I was similarly frustrated by the lack of examination regarding the "after" for Evie. Only the briefest of glimpses are given into what she did after the cult, and I finished the book feeling like this big thing had happened but I had no idea how it really altered the course of her life. There's a thread of the narrative that takes place in the relative present-day, in which Evie is crashing in a friend's home and is surprised by the friend's son and the son's girlfriend. Very little comes of this exchange, except maybe to highlight how paranoid Evie remains. But you could also easily construct the argument that she would have been that way even if she'd never met Suzanne. I desperately wanted something to happen here, and was very disappointed when it went nowhere. Honestly? To me, this felt like half of a pretty good novel that could have used a slightly more aggressive editor. The writing needed to be brought back down to Earth, but Cline needed someone to tell her to just keep the story going. The NetGalley I received was just 220 pages, though I think the print edition clocks in around 350 (not really sure how that works). If ever there were a novel that could have used an extra 100 pages, it was this one.
Esil
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFA very solid 4 stars. The Girls is loosely based on the Charles Manson cult group and murders in the US in 1969. The story is told from Evie's perspective in two timelines -- at age 14 when she collided with the group and in her later adult years as she thinks back on that part of her life. Emma Cline -- a debut novelist -- does a great job getting into Evie's head -- depicting what could possibly attract a 14 year old to such a squalid and miserable group. Although she comes from a relatively wealthy background, there is a lot missing in Evie's life -- like parents who give a sh*t, and who might help Evie find a moral compass and a sense of boundaries. It's also interesting to see what happens to adult Evie -- she seems to have found footing on more solid ground, but she is still very much defined by her past. If you choose to read The Girls, don't expect a light read -- I felt like it took me to some pretty bleak places and head spaces -- feelings that I'm having trouble shaking -- and there's not much in the way of redemption by the end. Cline is very talented, and I would definitely look out for her next book. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an opportunity to read an advance copy.
Kelli
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFWhaaaaaat happened?! Everybody loves this book. EV-ERY-BO-DY...except me, apparently. I waited a little over a week to write this review and I can add forgettable to the list of adjectives I would use to describe this. Though quite well-written, the story really lost momentum and felt unoriginal. I was bored and pretty grossed out. 2 stars.
Melanie
Writes about Download The Girls PDF“I don’t know which is more amazing, Emma Cline’s understanding of human beings or her mastery of language.”—Mark Haddon, New York Times bestselling author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-TimeI don't want to be here...But this is so well written...But I don't want to be here.But this is so well written.This was roughly the ongoing internal dialogue taking place in my head while reading "The Girls".I have always found certain subject matters difficult to handle. They seem to trigger something in my gut that is akin to raw, prehistoric fear. They make me nauseous. Random and irrational acts of violence, violence towards children, extreme cruelty, rape. To name a few. I could never get past the first five minutes of "A Clockwork Orange". Yes, I know. And I think Kubrick is a genius. I still can't get myself to read "A Little Life". I haven't fully given up on it. One day.The Charles Manson killings are another example of something I cannot stomach. The visual imagining of those events is a place I do not want to visit if I can help it. So a novel loosely based around them is not friendly territory for me. And yet. This novel is irresistible for its extraordinary craft. The prose is nervous and electric, the sentences crisp and crystalline. You can almost taste the rot and the waste in this summer from hell. The young (and old) narrator's voice is something to behold. Haunting. Fragile. Her senses in full bloom. Her awakening to the world potent and fascinating. Her presence is undeniable. She carries the story with an uncanny sense of innocence and gloom.Emma Cline is an amazing new voice on the literary scene and I will follow her works with keen interest. But I really, really didn't want to be here.
Dan Schwent
Writes about Download The Girls PDFWhen Evie Boyd's parents get divorced, she falls in with a bad group of girls, all following a would-be musician named Russel. Evie finds herself drawn to their lifestyle of living free and doing drugs, and particularly finds herself drawn to Suzanne. Will Evie come to her senses before she goes down a road she can never come back from?The Girls is a story inspired by the infamous murder of Sharon Tate by followers of Charles Manson. Instead of a gore-strewn crime book, it's more about one girl's fall from grace after falling in with a cult. Evie Boyd is only fourteen when she meets The Girls and winds up living at the ranch. Her fascination with Suzanne leads her down a grim path, a path with murder at its end.Anyone with a passing familiarity with Charles Manson knows where the book is heading from the start and Evie, in the framing thread, hints at it pretty heavily. Knowing there's going to be a horrible crash doesn't make it any easier to turn away from an impending car crash.Emma Cline writes with literary flourish, painting an interesting picture of a girl who wants to belong and wants to be loved. Watching her get ensnared in the spider's web was a little painful at times. In the end, she has the right choice chosen for her but never seems to get her life back on track after that.I'm not really sure how to rate this book. While it's generally well written, it feels over-written at times for what it is. Overall, The Girls is a good read but I don't think it's going to set the world on fire. It's a solid three out of five stars. Of the 1,244 books put out this year with the world "Girl" in the title, it's definitely in the top 50.
Wayne Barrett
Writes about Reading The Girls BookWhen I first saw a review for this book I thought it was about The Charles Manson Family. It is not, but in essence, it is almost exactly the same story. Only names have been altered and events slightly altered as well. Still, it piqued my interest enough that I wanted to read it because of a story my mom told me just this year. And I will get to that later.I thought this was a great book. If I could find a weakness it would be that there are a few times that the story lagged. But even those lags gave more anticipation to the build up of the climax. Emma let me know what was coming. She dangled it before me with an expertise tease. And even though I knew what was coming the punch was overwhelming. I can see where some might not agree with me, but the reason the build up and the ending worked so well for me is because of the creative, powerful writing of the author. Obviously, stating that the story is a parallel to the Manson story, it's not hard to figure out the plot-line. What stood out in this story was one particular girl, Evie Boyd and her journey from the life of an average 14 year old girl into the environs of a charismatic leader whose downward spiral is poisoning the group and leading them on a path of murder and self destruction. I felt like this book relayed the perspective of a young woman in a way that I have never read before. I raised three daughters and was always open and close to them all, but let's face it, I'm a man. There are some things in which I will never be able to relate. It's like someone who has never had a bad headache telling a migraine sufferer that they understand. No, you don't!There were some other things about this story that drew me in in a personal way. For one thing, I was born and raised around Bakersfield California ( the city mentioned at the end of the book where Helen makes her confession). It is a desert area that sits at the bottom of I-5, also known as the Grapevine. It was an area the Manson family journeyed through during their nomadic travels. When the Tate, LaBianca murders took place, it seemed close to home, so I still remember fear running through the locals. Doors and windows were locked and us kids were watched extra close. And then there's the story my mom told me while I was there earlier this year to bury my dad. My mom and dad had been divorced for a long time. They separated about a year before the murders. When I went through my dads belongings I came across a photograph of my cousin (who is also serving a life sentence for murder) standing next to Charles Manson. the picture intrigued me, so I took it to moms house to show her and that was when she told me about her encounter. Like many of us adults, we forget that there are a lot of things our kids don't know about or remember that are common memories to us.My mom worked at a little restaurant called The Ranch House which sits at the bottom of The Grapevine. It's one of those places where, if you don't stop, you won't see another for many miles. It was a popular stopping place for people coming to and from L.A. I remember my mom taking me with her a few times and I ran around the place like I was at home. One couple that stopped in about once a week on their way to and from doing business, and my mom and the other employees knew them well because of their frequent stops, were the LaBiancas. Mom told me that one day a man and some girls came in and they stood out to her because they seemed happy, singing, dancing and because they were obviously hippies. Not that being hippies bothered my mom. After all, my mom and dad were hippies. She said that they seemed friendly and that when they were leaving, the man paused at the door with a couple of the girls talking with them. He left and then the girls approached my mom and asked her to come with them. Of course she declined. She had two small children at home.Mom said she remembered hearing that they captured the murderers from the Tate-LaBianca case and that as soon as she saw their picture on the news she said "Oh, my god, those were the people who came into the Ranch House and invited me to go with them." She said there was no mistaking Charles Mansons face as the man who had come in with the girls that day. I've wondered since she told me about the encounter, even more so now that I've read this book, what went through my moms mind when those care-free people asked her to leave her job and come fly with them. Mom was a newly divorced, beautiful young woman... and yes, she was a partying girl in a 60's era. We all have our strengths and our weaknesses. I could imagine the weakness of temptation tugging at the part of my mom that wanted to be set free and live wild. But mom was strong. I can only begin to guess at what all she sacrificed because she had two kids depending on her. She was strong. Because she was a girl. I love you mom.
Dannii Elle
Writes about Reading The Girls BookI received this book on a read to review basis from NetGalley. Thanks to the author, Emma Cline, and the publisher, Random House, for this opportunity.This is historical fiction at its finest! This book aroused not just a keen sense of character and setting with its evocative imagery and poignant writing, but an entire era; an entire generation of people that are now almost lost to the world!This is the story of the dark underworld of the 'swinging 60s', so revered in both memory and passed down recollection. This is the story of what happens when freedom is brought to a world with little conception of what can happen when that freedom is tested to its limits. This is the story of Evie Boyd: representative of a generation of those who slipped through the gaps.The dark, disturbing and often sexual undertones of this book were penned with such a grace and beauty as to bring light to what would otherwise be an amphibological read. This compelled me from the beginning and that had as much to do with the fast-paced plot and flawed, yet real, character creation as it was to do with the allure of the writing that I felt reverberate in my heart with each well-placed phrase. This book is a heart-wrenching story, no denying, but there was beauty present in amongst the bitterness and chaos. There was, although ill-gained and perilous, the joy experienced at the first taste of freedom. The allure of female friendship, both obsessive and life-saving, were explored. Relationships, in their conception and elimination, were often linked to the birth and death of another. Joy and pain, disaster and success - all emotions are inexplicably linked to their binary here as none can exist in its extremes without the presence of its other. For each shadowy corner of history this book excavated, it did so with a light that illuminated the darkness within. The unfathomable depths this book dives to is beyond my feeble powers to put into words. It is as dark as it is beautiful and as powerful as it is sublime. The term unputdownable finally has its definition.
Jan
Writes about Download The Girls PDFDamn! This book is truly in a class of it's own-grabbed me right from the start and didn't let go until the last page was devoured.Emma Cline did something that few authors can do: She completely transported me to a time and place that I thought I knew about, but obviously didn't have a clue...Just read some of the descriptive ways Cline was able to paint her pictures, get you to feel what the era was like back then.This is just small taste of the descriptive writing style that held me mesmerized. These characters truly came to life for me in a way that surprised me. I really didn't like any of them-these wayward and lost souls. But I did come to understand them. How they thought they had the world all figured out. How they felt they had control over their lives, only to be the sheep that were manipulated and taken advantage of. The intentional similarities to the Manson case (both in characters and storyline) were creepy good, adding an extra dimension of anticipation as to how the story would end. This book is going to stay with me for a long time. I highly recommend to ALL my Goodreads friends-this is one you need to experience, even if it does mean stepping outside your genre.My thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Jennifer
Writes about Reading The Girls Bookis a standalone literary/historical fiction novel written by . This is her debut and it is incredible. This book...I got it and it got me. The writing, the absolute spot on way she shows how it feels to be an adolescent girl - the exhausting intensity of it all, the incessant need for validation and to belong, the 1960's and it's reputation for extremes. It's so well-done. This dark coming-of-age story is told in the past/present perspective of main character: Evie Boyd. She is a middle-aged woman reflecting on her fourteen-year-old self and the people and events of that time that she allowed to shape her. In an author interview found here , Ms. Cline discusses her inspiration for Evie's character. As the title suggests, this book is more about the girls than anything else, but the culture, characters, and events reminiscent of the notorious Charles Manson provide the backdrop and tone for this story. is haunting, disturbingly sexual, and just as complicated as adolescence itself. I recommend it.
Ron Charles
Writes about Download The Girls PDFThe hubbub around “The Girls” threatens to trample what’s so deeply affecting about it.The noise started in 2014 when an unknown 25-year-old writer named Emma Cline sold her debut novel about the Manson family murders for a reported $2 million as part of a three-book deal.It’s not about the money, of course. Except that it is.An advance that kooky along with a subject that sensational virtually guarantees at-home features (), gentle Q&As () and prominent reviews in all the right places (). But beyond the glitter and gore, is the novel itself really that good?Prepare to swallow your skepticism.First, though. . . .
Perry
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFThis book was well-written, perfectly-structured, and the protagonist and her love interest were drawn out with brio. To preface my thoughts on the novel as a guy, I first say that if a novel contains verisimilitude to the human condition, I do not have a problem if it negatively depicts a certain religion, race, gender or disability. It is art reflecting life so I hesitate to criticize painting good and evil into it or anyone or anything with it.Moreover, I have numerous significant problems with my gender generally, particularly compared to the opposite. I need not list them: any character defect that pops in your head, rest assured I agree. I say all this with utmost sincerity. There's no doubt the protagonist Evie Boyd, at a very impressionable age of 14, had negative experiences with men and the only love of her life was a 19-year-old girl. I can understand her hatred of men. But, Geez Louise, that appears , either in her long ago past, recent past or currently . I do not recall a book so negative toward ALL men other than , with which I of course had no problem given its dystopian setting of a world ruled by despotic sexist men; yet even there Offred's husband was shown in a kind light. Not so in , not one man or boy is not wicked or weak, even the baby boy is bad. I'll quote one passage that came in the book's last 10 pages, in which the became clear to me: I don't have a problem with the number of male monsters in this book. Frankly, my issue was not obviated until near the end in the above-quoted. At that point, I saw that not only did Ms. Cline use all the negative stereotypes (in itself, no big deal), but the entire tenor of the novel is an outright hatred of men as evil incarnate. Even this wouldn't put me off but for the fact that her casting (or any author's casting) all of a kind or type as culprits within the novel. That, as someone who spent at least 10 hours reading and another hour writing about this book, I cannot forgive. As such, I'm knocking down to 3.3 stars, a story I'd otherwise give 4.1 stars. Unlike other reviewers, it doesn't bother me that parts are over-written as tends to happen with newly-bronzed MFAs, or that the publisher probably overpaid (IMO, that's the publisher's problem, not the reader's).
Jenny (Reading Envy)
Writes about Reading The Girls BookI started this book and found myself putting it aside for other reads pretty frequently. I think if it had just been a library book I would have returned it without finishing but I paid money for this! So I went ahead and finished.This is one of the hyped books of summer, and was my June pick for the Book of the Month subscription service that I decided to do for three months (and won't probably be renewing). I found it to be more of a light summer beach read. But even in that context I have complaints. The central character is not central in the events of the book, the big news that the story is supposed to reveal more and more of. She is more of a partial observer, and too young to fully understand. She is taken advantage of, for money, food, and sex (in fact she is sexually assaulted)... as "fun" as an unreliable narrator is, I never felt close to the meat/heart of the story. Instead the novel reads like a bunch of vignettes of drug addicts and one egomaniac, but only the boring parts - when they're hanging out and eating rotting food and dealing with leaky roofs and clogged toilets. I kept expecting more drama and excitement, or maybe some insight into what is supposed to be a Charles Manson like cult. I am not charmed.
Larry Hoffer
Writes about Read Online The Girls Book PDFFull disclosure: I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review. Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House for making it available!There are times in our lives when we feel a powerful need to belong, to be part of something we view as bigger and more important than us. We are desperate to feel a kinship, perhaps even a spark of attraction, and these feelings are what make us feel special, make us feel worthy.Fourteen-year-old Evie knows that desire all too well. Growing up in late-1960s California, living with her needy, insecure, lonely mother after her parents' divorce, she feels as if she is biding her time the summer before being sent to boarding school. She is bored with her one real friend, longing to be desired, to be a part of something more exciting than her humdrum existence.And then one day she sees them—a group of teenage girls in a park. To Evie they seem carefree, sophisticated, and utterly enticing, especially the apparent leader of the group, the magnetic Suzanne. It's not long before Evie finds herself pulled into the group, members of a cult who live an impoverished, commune-type existence in a dilapidated ranch up in the California hills, shepherded by a charismatic yet unstable leader, Russell, who can convince people to give the cult money, food, vehicles, drugs—anything they seem to need.For Edie, who grew up a child of some privilege, the squalor and chaos of the ranch is fascinating. She tries to make herself an integral part of the community, but even bringing them money from time to time, doesn't quite help her fit in with everyone. Yet as she becomes somewhat of a pet to Russell from time to time, it is Suzanne to whom she is drawn the most. Yet as things on the ranch begin spiraling out of control, Evie still wants to belong, even if it means being a part of something dangerous, something she doesn't quite understand."There are those survivors of disasters whose accounts never begin with the tornado warning or the captain announcing engine failure, but always much earlier in the timeline: an insistence that they noticed a strange quality to the sunlight that morning or excessive static in their sheets. A meaningless fight with a boyfriend. As if the presentiment of catastrophe wove itself into everything that came before. Did I miss some sign? Some internal twinge?"This is a fascinating, disturbing story that is so well-told by Emma Cline. She truly captures Evie's nearly all-encompassing need to belong and feel wanted, and reading this book you can understand why someone like her might be willing to do something completely out of character simply to be a part of the action. Evie is a vivid character, although most of the characters around her aren't drawn as fully—you understand Suzanne's magnetism but not what makes her tick, and Russell, while fascinating, seems like a shadowy Mansonesque figure who surfaces from time to time. is a story about the loss of innocence and the way we sometimes glamorize those who fascinate us despite their actual behaviors. The book has a strong sense of time and place, and there is a pervasive sense of doom that hangs over the book. It's definitely one of those can't-look, can't-look-away stories where you want to know what comes next but don't want to see what comes next.See all of my reviews at .
Diane S ☔
Writes about Download The Girls PDF3.5 There is no doubt that this book is extremely well written, well plotted by an author very familiar with the Manson murders and his cult. As always I try to understand why these people, in this case mostly young women, would ever have joined this group and lived as they did. This author comes closest to making me understand, in one part her character Evie, our main narrator, mentions how living on the ranch, the break in reality basically skewed their thoughts, not a direct quote but a paraphrase. I can see that happening but still do not understand why a fourteen year old girl, raised in a decent non abusive home would have liked living like they did, despite her attraction to Suzanne. Can understand the initial appeal and the curiosity but not the staying and the doing of things she did. I liked that the author centered her story around the girls in this group but I have to say I didn't like any of them, none of these characters. Not just the ranch people but the others in their lives.But while I admire this writers story telling ability I finished this feeling disgusted or to use a childish word, very icky. I guess reading something like this it would not be quite right to feel any other way. So, in essence the author has done a very good job by making is see into the mindset of a young girl in way over her head. ARC from publisher.
Tidak ada komentar: