Reading Skywards – Your Friendly Bookshelf

INFORMATION ABOUT THIS BOOK
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 2016
Format:  Hardcover, Paperback, audiobook, and ebook
Print length ‏ : ‎ 368 pages
Genre:  Literary Fiction, Coming of Age Fiction

MY PERSONAL OPINION OF “THE GIRS”

The subject was fascinating, about Evie, who by chance meets Susan (a member of the Manson Family), and how her perception of the commune was, and how much she wanted to be part of this “family”. The story goes back into her own upbringing and her interaction with the commune. We also see from her own perception as an adult.

The book was okay at best. The subject is intriguing, and I think that there will never be enough books about this subject, but the plot lost me at times. It was too childish, but serious at the same time. I read it through an audiobook, and it was easy to follow. The narrator was clear, and the timelines were clearly defined. Not a book I would recommend, unless you really want to know about what entices teenagers or young adults to join a cult.

PREMISE OF THE BOOK AS FOUND IN AMAZON / GOODREADS:

Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon. Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged—a place where she feels desperate to be accepted. As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence.

MY RATING: 3.7

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Emma Cline is from California. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, Granta, and The Paris Review, and she was the winner of the 2014 Plimpton Prize from The Paris Review. Her novel The Girls was a finalist for the First Novel Prize, a National Book Critics Circle Award, and the LA Times Book Prize, and was the winner of the Shirley Jackson Award. In 2017, Granta named her one of the Best Young American Novelists. Her story collection Daddy will be published September 2020.

Bibliography:

• The Guest: a novel
• Switzy: a novel
• Daddy: stories