The Girls (2016)

On a warm August night in 1969, the news of a series of murders in California flashed on my small television screen. At first the news reported that perhaps it was a hate crime involving the Black Panther but that was Charles Manson's idea.

This fictional account of the Manson family told by a former cult member who escaped the trance of another psychopath who ordered the murder of a famous musician similar to Dennis Wilson of the Beach Boys. The girls of Russell's Ranch are also social outcasts who are easily manipulated into committing murder and being sexual objects. The Age of Aquarius created a runway society who enabled men to control poor self loathing woman for their own purposes. ( )

I heard a lot of hype about this book and I also wanted to really enjoy it. When I started it, I was entertained. But eventually it just dragged on and on. The chapters about her present life were probably my least favorite. She was just so sad, pathetic and depressing it really ruined it. I guess she wasn't trying to paint a pretty picture of the experience and wanted to show how badly it scarred her for life. Halfway through I was begging for it to finally get to the point, and then it did and it was underwhelming. Maybe I'm not sympathetic enough to the narrators experiences, or maybe I was more interested in the gruesome murder promised all through the story, only to have it be swept over in maybe one chapter.

Bottom line, I should've liked a book like this but it just didn't do it for me. I might revisit the author again though. I prefer rating out of 10, so I'd give this one about a 5/10. ( )

The premise is hardly original, but this take on Charles Manson - or, more specifically, the story of a girl drawn into a cult member's orbit - is written with such skill that any misgivings melt away within a few pages. The story builds, inevitably, to The Murders and keeps the reader guessing over the narrator's involvement right to the last minute. I'll definitely be looking out for more from Cline. ( )

I hadn't even heard of the Charlie Manson story before I read this book, which is loosely based on that horror. The writing was lucid, and the story evocative without being overly dramatic. Ok, perhaps a little. In its own way, it questions the nature of attachment, and that perennial question: How evil can we be? Would we really do what the lost girls in this book did? ( )

Good summer read!!! ( )