Book Review – The Girls

For those who know that this is a novel about the Charles Manson murders, don’t be put off reading this book. And, if you can, forget what you know about them, and take this at face value. Even though there has been a huge amount of hype in that regard, this book is much more than that story.

Debut novelist, famous writer, Emma Cline has created a book of great beauty. She delves into the world of the insecurities, passion and anxieties of teenage girls with a deftness and elegance that astonished me.

The prose is simply delightful, and that is enough reason to read this. But it is the strong visual imagery, the extravagant portrait painted of lives lived not so well, and the reasons why that will stay with me for a very long time.

It would have been interesting to see how well The Girls did without the huge amount of marketing that promoted it. It is good enough to like anyway.

Bev Bouwer
4/5