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Book Review of The Girls

The Girls
reviewed on + 46 more book reviews


Reading the blurb, you assume this is about a girl joining the Manson Family. And it is. Except of course, all names have been changed so we can pretend that's not what it's about it all. It pretends to be about some other group of people, even though a lot of the details are the same (like Charles/Mitch's attempts to become a professional musician). Ironically, it contains the standard, "This is a work of fiction" disclaimer, saying any resemblance to real people or events is coincidental when it's quite clear it's not coincidence at all. I'm sure there are legal reasons for the choice, but it feels very false. Either write a book about the Manson Family, or change everything. But to use all the exact details except with different names seems odd.

All that aside, the book is disappointing. The author tries too hard to be artistic and in doing so, fails to tell an interesting story.