Chilling and Insightful

A breathtaking and insightful account of being young female and the need to be "seen" set within the fictionalised narrative of the horrific murders that took place in 1969

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2 people found this helpful

Thought-provoking

Raises valid questions about gender equality within a well crafted narrative. A bit confusing in some places as the timeline is not chronological, though largely this works well.

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Written beautifully

Emma Cline has a unique ability to transport you from your long commute on the M25 to 1960s California. The way she describes the memories and thoughts of the narrator are encapsulating.
My only reservation is the ending, I did expect more from it but all in all, a brilliant novel.

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Excellent

According to the blurb, The Girls was quite the hit when released a few years ago. At the time I avoided it: books about murder aren’t my thing. This one was inspired by the Manson Family’s crimes, in particular the 1969 murder of Sharon Tate which happened when I was old enough to be aware of it and young enough to be plagued by nightmares.

Anyway, after loving a couple of Cline’s short stories and having completely forgotten what The Girls was about, I bought the audio on a whim. Whoops.

But against all expectations, it was excellent. Rather than glorifying a grisly series of murders, it’s a nuanced study of teenage angst and vulnerability. Evie lives in N California, is 14 and something of an outsider; ‘I was an average girl and that was the biggest disappointment of all.’ After a chance encounter with three girls, she becomes infatuated with them and is drawn into their cult, spiralling into a dream-like existence of sex, drugs and crime. Cline does a brilliant job of balancing Evie’s distaste at the squalid lifestyle with her willingness to embrace it in a desperate need to belong.

’Back then I was so attuned to attention. I dressed to provoke love, hugging my neckline lower, setting a wistful stare on my face whenever I went out in public that implied many deep and promising thoughts, should anyone happen to glance over.’

A secondary timeline introduces Evie in middle-age when she meets a friend’s son and girlfriend. In part it’s a musing on Evie’s adolescence, but more significantly a subtle observation on how the desire to be accepted can lead to manipulation and abuse. The more I’ve reflected on The Girls, the more powerful I’ve found this secondary timeline. Both are heartbreakingly, stomach-churningly relatable, but it’s the relative everydayness of the second one that delivers the gut-punch.

As a word of caution, given the curious Shatner-esque style of narration, I’m hesitant to recommend the audio. There were. Pauses. In the most unlikely places and it was somewhat. Distracting. But it’s entirely possible this is a thing, in the way uptalk emerged in the 80s and is now normalised.

A solid four. Stars.

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Fabulous descriptions about atmospheres and environments.

Such a great story. Slow moving but engaging and interesting. I like how the author uses descriptions of internal monologues to pull us into the view point of the main character.

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emotionally evocative

Where does The Girls rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

at the top

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Evie sitting in the back of the car in the dark with suzzanne

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5 people found this helpful

Dark and enticing

Not what I was expecting but couldn't stop listening. I love the reader's voice and found the story believable and intriguing.

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3 people found this helpful

Underwhelming 'Manson inspired' tale

Lonely and misunderstood teen gets in with a bad crowd in the hippy days and gets led astray. Sadly there's nothing new in the story, the characters or the insight which made for a rather dull listen. The main character is somewhat insipid, dazzled by the hair of a popular girl. I just couldn't get into the mindset of her or the others and it just felt like a cheap imitation of a real life tragedy. An easy listen with a decent narrator but really not worth the effort.

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Fantastic book

Loved everything about this book, the story, the narration. Sad it’s over and will be looking for more from this author.

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The human side...

I thought this was a wonderful book. However, it is not a thriller, or a study of murder. If you want that get Helter-skelter, which is also wonderful.
This is a coming of age book, which just happens to use the (Fictionalised and renamed) Manson family murders as a narrative device to pull you through the book.
It is really about a mother-daughter relationship and then about female friendship, and then ultimately about first love. It handles all the characters believably and their interactions show genuine insight into the human condition.
There is excellent imagery in nearly every paragraph and the prose keeps the story moving at a nice pace.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes good writing as much as they like a good story.

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15 people found this helpful