These Girls by: Sarah Pekkanen (2012)
Publisher: Washington Square Press
317 pages
Genre: Fiction
Summary: Three girls, three different personal issues, three different lives intersect in New York and a friendship is born. Cate just got a promotion and is trying to figure out the ropes. Renee, Cate’s roommate, is hoping for a promotion to beauty editor, but the pressure builds and she begins taking diet pills. Then Abby enters into their lives, she is running away from some of her own personal demons. In the process of trying to figure out their lives they form a strong friendship and confront their demons together.
My Review
This is a wonderfully written story of friendship and family. This book did an amazing job at approaching subjects that many don’t like to talk about in public because it makes them uncomfortable.
The setting was enjoyable and new to me. Renee and Cate work at a woman’s magazine called Gloss. I really enjoyed seeing some behind the scene happenings at a magazine. Many times I felt like I was there in New York with these three girls, and I always enjoy a novel where I get sucked into its pages.
Simply put, this is a complex novel. Although there are many hard subject matters that are brought to light all are done well and not pushy. Some of the subjects that are artfully approached in this novel include beauty standards, gender in the workplace, the complexities of families, secrets, friendship, romantic relationships and more that I don’t want to say because it will give away some of the plot.
Each character was well crafted and full of secrets. I could relate in some degree to each character even though I don’t have personal experience with some of the subject matter. I could feel what these characters were feeling. When I first started reading the book I thought that maybe Pekkanen was revealing the character’s inner secrets too quickly, which would have been a big turn off for me, but I turned out to be wrong. There were still plenty of surprises as the novel progressed.
Lately I have been doing a lot of funny light reading. This was a big difference and I was slightly worried how I would respond to this huge jump in genre. Usually I have to be in a certain mood to read a heavy book like this, but I ended up really enjoying it. Plus, even though it hits on touchy subjects, there are still quite a few laughs from the main characters.
If the mood strikes you, or even if it doesn’t, you should read this one. It does a really good job at approaching tough subjects, and even though some of the characters make frustrating choices, I still really liked them.
Rating: 4/5 BUY These Girls
I think it's great that this is a book about girlish bonding and female friendships because so often (especially in the real world), that's not the case. I'm so sick of the cattiness and gossip, and it sounds like this book highlights a real support network between the girls and that's super classy. Great review, Kay!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more. There are so many books and tv shows (and in real life) where there is mostly just cattiness and gossip and not a lot of real female friendships, with everyone getting along. It was a very nice and different book.
DeleteThanks for reading!
Not really related to this review -- Love the new background! I saw this one on Shabby blogs and thought it would be awesome for a writer. Though the book does sound good, too :)
ReplyDeleteThanks and thanks for the inspiration to change up my blog a little. :)
DeleteI had never heard of this one, so thanks for putting it on my radar! I like it when there are lots of complex characters and situations, so this sounds great for me!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm with you on the heavy subjects--sometimes I'm a bit worried to read a book with lots of heaviness, but I often end up enjoying it anyway! Great review!