Book #41: The Girls (Emma Cline)
Number of pages: 355
This book is set mainly in 1969, when the narrator, 14 year-old Evie, spots a group of mysterious girls foraging for food in a restaurant dumpster. She soon ends up meeting one of them, Suzanne, who is attempting to steal toilet paper from a convenience store.
When Suzanne is thrown out, Evie offers to steal some toilet paper for her (in the end, she is too scared and buys it anyway); this soon leads to Suzanne introducing herself to the other girls and a man called Russell who they are living in a commune with. Russell is an aspiring musician, who spends a lot of his time having sex with the girls, or getting them to perform sex acts on each other (this book gets very explicit at times).
It should hopefully be easy enough to tell that this commune is a Charles Manson-esque cult, and based on the fact that Manson instigated the notorious Aquarius murders, that things are likely to not end well.
This book was very enjoyable to read; although the plot didn't really move forward quickly, with several descriptions of what Russell gets the girls to do, I really enjoyed reading the depiction of Evie's strained relationship with her mother, who seems to be constantly with a new boyfriend.
The last chapters were really gripping, and I found the writing compelling. There was a really good final scene, all about Evie letting her imagination run away with her.
This is also Emma Cline's first novel, and it makes a fantastic debut.
Next book: Living in the F.O.G. (Mike Evans)