Sara Faring

I don’t know what it is with YA and horror, but most the time they are an absolute mess. At least – that’s how I feel about it. The Tenth Girl is no exception to that rule, but I had problems with so much more than the faltering genre fit.

For starters, The Tenth Girl feels like a between-novel as far as target audience goes. It’s a little too ridiculous to appeal to most adult readers, but the language and sexual themes (especially early in the book) are a bit too mature for the show more average YA reader. I feel like The Tenth Girl was plummeted into the YA zone because the publisher felt it would make the most money there when it would really be better suited for something-in-between – after all, the New Adult genre does exist, but the industry still feels determined to make that exclusively about steamy romances.

The characters are another problem. At best they are flat, at worst they are inconsistent and uninteresting. I was never able to really root for any of the characters in this book, because they were utterly forgettable. And it’s really not about relating or not relating to either Mavi or Angel. It’s utter indifference because they aren’t rounded enough to get invested.

But wait! There’s more!

Faring was all over the place with plot. The Tenth Girl is advertised as a YA ghost story and it … is not. It may start out that way, with ghosts and the such, but it quickly starts to jump all over the place and really ends more in science fiction than paranormal fantasy. It was supposed to be a major twist, but it was so out-of-the-blue that it didn’t make sense. It was less a “surprise” and more… simply confusing. Sometimes a really good plot can make up for flaws in character and writing because it keeps you curious as to what is going to happen next… but this one absolutely did not.

Finally, I want to talk about Faring’s writing a bit. When I was researching this author, I found a scattering of reviews talking about racist themes and language in The Tenth Girl. Holy smokes this should be discussed more. Faring comes from Argentinian heritage and as such had an opportunity to share her culture, but instead she’s created a “fantasy” indigenous group that is one letter away from being the real thing. The entire first half of the book and the ghost story portion revolves around a bloody sacrificial ritual which is such a horrifying representation of an indigenous people! It’s mentioned in detail for the first time a few chapters in – so early in the story – and is cringy then… but then Faring repeats the story multiple times as we keep going through The Tenth Girl. This book could have strongly used a sensitivity reader because the premise of the entire first half of the book is based around some very problematic material.

Even beyond problematic themes, her writing isn’t good. It’s so metaphor heavy and a lot of the behaviors and threads don’t make sense. Faring works for Penguin Random House and while I truly hope she didn’t get this published exclusively through having all those connections… I’m struggling to see how such a mediocre book in every sense not only was picked up, but advertised so well. I’m trying to be directly mean to Faring (I actually had the opportunity to meet her at BookCon 2019 and she was absolutely lovely) but this book… it’s not good.

If this book is on your TBR… honestly… you can skip it. There’s nothing particularly redeeming about The Tenth Girl. Those who have been with me for a while know that I try to twist books I don’t like as good for another audience, but The Tenth Girl is utterly mediocre in every way and insulting in others and… I’m struggling to think of an audience for it. If you loved this book, I am so happy for you! But for me… yikes. show less

I'm honestly a little bit amazed that I finished this book, which probably says it all. It was a struggle, to say the least. In the end, the characters and my curiosity about how it would wrap up were enough to keep me wandering forward...but I thought about quitting quite a few times, and I don't expect I'll pick up another book by the author.

The biggest issue for me is the writing. The wordiness and repetition make this book far longer than it needs to be, and the fact that we get the same show more material/scene from both points of view, more than once, is so unnecessary as to be incredibly frustrating. I know some readers complain about a YA tone, but that normally doesn't bother me--here, however, the aggressively YA tone/style of the characters' voices and thoughts made everyone feel a bit over-stylized and immature; considering the characters were meant to be understood as adults, that felt like a bigger and bigger problem as the book unfolded.

I suspect a big draw of this book is the twist, and while I won't get into spoiler territory, I will say that I think I would have seen it coming a mile away if I were from a different demographic or, rather, had different hobbies. Once it was made clear, I admit I felt incredibly disappointed. Part of what drew me to the book was the idea of a 'haunted mansion' as mentioned on the cover, and while I can understand how the marketing team and author might defend that phrasing, I'd say it's misleading at best. By the time the twist came around to disappoint me, I was so far in that I decided not to put the book down and see how it played out, but I can't say I enjoyed it.

All told, it feels like this book was overwritten, and designed around a gimmick/experiment that readers will either love or hate. It obviously wasn't for me, and since the writing also got on my nerves more often than not, I don't see myself picking up another of Faring's books or ever finding cause to recommend this one. show less

4 stars! Much better than the abysmally low Goodreads rating makes it seem. That’s why it’s good to give low rated books a shot if you think they might be up your alley. I ended up really enjoying this one!

For a while I’ve been on the hunt for a book that’s reminiscent of Marisha Pessl’s Night Film. Because so many reviews mentioned how similar White Fox is to Night Film, I was super hopeful that this would be accurate. Happy to report that it is indeed similar in several ways: show more type of story, elements of suspense/horror, mixed media content, film being a significant part of the story, both center around the search for an enigmatic character who has disappeared. Definitely feels like the YA younger cousin of Night Film!

I would have rated it higher, but it has two particular flaws that made it hover around 4 stars for me. The writing style felt choppy at times. Each thought didn’t smoothly follow the one prior to it, which required extra effort for me to decipher connections. Also, the two narrators, (sisters Noni and Tai) sounded too similar, making it confusing to remember which sister was currently narrating. I didn’t mind the extra effort too much, though. But I could see it being frustrating for some readers. show less

This was truly one of the most original stories I've ever read. The story takes place in a remote
South American village in a school for girls that has been closed for sixty years after tragedy struck. It's been re-opened to teach daughters of wealthy families from around the world. The protagonist, Mavi, a young girl fleeing the political uprising in Buenos Aires that took her mother and has left her to fend for herself. She gets a job teaching at this school and she figures it's the show more perfect refuge to escape her past before it catches up with her.
But things aren't all they seem to be. The eclectic faculty, the foreboding director of the school and dire warnings to stay in her room at night all make this story intriguing, terrifying and spellbinding.
I don't know that this story would be great for younger readers as there are very dark topics such as rape, pedophilia, and molestation.
The ending, no spoilers here, totally threw me for a loop. I didn't see that coming at all. It kind of makes me want to re-read the book knowing how it ends. show less