Kirsten Krauth

“I’m just a girl, Take a good look at me. Just your typical prototype” – Just a Girl by No Doubt.

just_a_girl tells the story of Layla, a fourteen year old girl navigating the waters of adulthood and a budding sexuality. The novel is told from the three different perspectives, Layla, her religious mother Margot, and Tadashi, a stranger on a train. Through these three different sets of eyes we begin to see the complexities of growing up beginning to form.

This novel is marketed as “Puberty Blues for the digital age, [or] Lolita with a webcam”, a description that I’m not too pleased about but I can see where it comes from. just_a_girl (also Layla’s screen name) serves as a psychological look into a teenager’s life in a world that that forces her to grow up far too quickly. It is that type of thought provoking novel that gives you far more questions than answers.

What I loved about this book is the way that Kirsten Krauth looks at the life of a teenager girl but never blames or suggests that her problems are the cause of one thing. Can we blame the internet for the struggles that Layla faces? Maybe, but it is not the sole cause. We could accuse her mother for being ignorant and too focused on religion but then what teenager wants to share that much detail with their parents? I could go on; there are so many little defining factors that make up this struggle.

just_a_girl is a novel that explores different facets of growing up, isolation, loneliness, friendship, love, relationships, religion, sex and the digital world. Layla feels like she has to navigate through life on her own and the reader gets to watch this progress from three different points of view. The three narratives all bring balance and complement each other; With Layla we have a sense of confusion and urgency, Margot provides some ignorance and concern towards her daughter in a stream of consciousness, while Tadashi has a gentle, quiet observation of what he sees happening.

The raw emotion that Kirsten Krauth invests into her debut novel is the real reason just_a_girl works. There is something real and honest with everything that is going on within the pages. This is both scary and uncomfortable but it raises so many important questions. I won’t list some of the questions I asked, it is something that each reader needs to discover for themselves.

Layla struggles to navigate her life, trying to make a connection is such great topic to explore and Krauth did it so well. I was very impressed with this novel, even if I would never associate it with Lolita; I think the two novels are vastly different and comparing to a masterpiece just isn’t fair to a debut author. I could stick all the standard ‘dark’, ‘gritty’ or ‘transgressive’ labels to just_a_girl but I would rather say that is thought provoking and asks some very important questions. It is nice to see a contemporary Australian debut take a risk and pull it off, I highly recommend just_a_girl.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2014/08/23/just_a_girl-by-kirsten-krauth/… (more)

Confronting, engrossing and provocative but sometimes funny coming-of-age story about a young teenager traversing the complicated online world, testing her wings, taking risks, and thinking she's more in control than she really is. Her story is set against those of her loving but self-absorbed anxious mother, and a lonely man who acquires a sex doll for company. For my full review, please see Whispering Gums: rel="nofollow" target="_top">http://whisperinggums.com/2014/04/16/kirsten-krauth-just_a_girl-review/… (more)

just_a_girl is like no other book I've ever read. Written by Australian author Kirsten Krauth, it's been described as: "Lolita with a webcam" or "Puberty Blues for the digital age," and now that I've read it, I'd have to agree.

Set in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney, just_a_girl is about fourteen year-old Layla, her religious mother Margot and a stranger on the train, Tadashi.

Layla is provocative, daring, reckless and a tease. (The scene involving a Chup a Chup on a train has haunted me, and I don't think I'll ever look at one the same way). At times I didn't like Layla's provocative and promiscuous behaviour and at other times she made me laugh out loud or hot under the collar. She was both naive and mature at the same time, and the writing in her chapters was fast-paced and chock full of YA language.

Contrastly, Layla's mother Margot has no idea what her daughter is up to, and is primarily occupied with her Church and pastor. Her sentences are long and wistful, and it's clear she hasn't recovered from her divorce after learning her husband was gay.

Tadashi has seen Layla on the train, and the reader is given a glimpse of his lonely and solitary life. We soon learn that he is purchasing a companion doll (or Love Doll) from Japan to have a relationship with. The chapters narrated by Tadashi were fascinating, and I could easily have spent the entire novel with him on his personal journey.

Not since reading Tim Winton last year, have I come across an author so eager to break the usual rules regarding dialogue and grammar, but Krauth does it successfully in just_a_girl, and it works.

Unlike other novels, just_a_girl doesn't seem to be heading towards a point in time or a particular event. The author switches between the lives and perspectives of the three protagonists with seemingly no overarching plot set to crash together. There is an overlap of consequences between Layla and her mother, and Layla and Tadashi at the end, but I'll leave that to the reader to discover on their own.

just_a_girl is confronting and shocking and contains teenage sexual activity. If I had a teenage daughter I'd be terrified after reading this debut novel from Kirsten Krauth, but perhaps that's the point.

I'm also running a giveaway until 10 March, for your chance to WIN an autographed copy of just_a_girl, click here: http://www.carpelibrum.net/2014/03/review-giveaway-justagirl-kirsten-krauth.html… (more)

just_a_girl is the screen name of the precocious and provocative fourteen year old Layla. For Layla, school is uninteresting, her mum is lame, her father absent and she amuses herself by exploring her budding sexuality with her boyfriend, random strangers and a much older man she identifies as Mr C.

Layla's behaviour can be confronting but it is characterised by the expected turmoil of adolescence as she explores versions of herself and tries to make sense of the power she both has, and lacks. This unusual novel is described as a 'Puberty Blues for the digital age' and there is some truth to that. Layla submits to Davo's casual misogyny, agrees to meet a much older stranger in a hotel and records a lascivious video for Mr. C which she posts on YouTube yet she is deeply distressed by her boss's groping. just_a_girl highlights the trials of sexual awakening for Layla in the modern age and illustrates her ambiguity towards sexual activity and what it means in the context of her relationships with men and herself.

But just_a_girl is divided into three narratives, that of Layla and also her mother, Margot, and Tadashi, a lonely Japanese man who crosses paths with Layla on her daily train journey, whose accounts emphasise Krauth's themes of isolation and disconnection.

Since her husband left after confessing his homosexuality a decade before, Margot has suffered bouts of depression and her self esteem has never recovered. In recent years the evangelism of the Riverlay church and its charismatic pastor has offered her a refuge but also kept her from facing her issues. Margot's italicised narrative reveals her loneliness, her disconnection from her daughter and her own sexual confusion as she develops a crush on Pastor Bevan.

Tadashi is a young Japanese man, alone since the death of his mother and too shy to seek the relationship he desperately wants. He turns to the net and purchases a Japanese Love doll - a lifelike mannequin he names Mika, as a companion, a 'girl' that looks vaguely like Layla who he sees on his daily train journey.
Honestly, while I understand the thematic connection, I think the book could have done without Tadashi's storyline. In and of itself it's an interesting vignette and would make a fine short story on the themes, but I feel it distracts from, rather than enhances, Layla and Margot's stories.

Though teenage Layla is the primary narrator this book is intended for an adult audience and I would recommend it particularly for the parents of pre teen and teenage girls curious, or concerned, about the ways in which their daughter relates to today's world. just_a_girl is an honest, gritty and thought provoking story about sex, power, loneliness and the desire to connect meaningfully with another soul.… (more)