[Books] The Girls by Emma Cline Book Review @ ★Alive★

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Rowan Blanchard aka the role model給這本書的副標題是 ”Sisterhood is the original cult” （姊妹之間的情誼是最根本的信仰）所以我就決定看了:)

這本書其實是根據美國1960年代的曼森殺人案而改編的，Russell的原型就是Charles Manson然後其他人是他的追隨者。（Charles Manson被稱為最危險的殺手，是魔鬼的化身，他建立了邪教組織曼森家庭，成員由他的追隨者組成。）

#introduction

Northern California, during the violent end of the 1960s. At the start of summer, a lonely and thoughtful teenager, Evie Boyd, sees a group of girls in the park, and is immediately caught by their freedom, their careless dress, their dangerous aura of abandon.

Soon, Evie is in thrall to Suzanne, a mesmerizing older girl, and is drawn into the circle of a soon-to-be infamous cult and the man who is its charismatic leader. Hidden in the hills, their sprawling ranch is eerie and run down, but to Evie, it is exotic, thrilling, charged—a place where she feels desperate to be accepted.

As she spends more time away from her mother and the rhythms of her daily life, and as her obsession with Suzanne intensifies, Evie does not realize she is coming closer and closer to unthinkable violence, and to that moment in a girl’s life when everything can go horribly wrong. ( source: goodreads)

事情發生在暴力的1960年代後期，北加州。暑假的前幾天，一位孤單的青少女Evie Boyd在公園裡看見了一群女孩，她立刻被女孩們不拘小節的打扮和危險、放縱的氛圍吸引。

不久後，一位年紀比Evie大又令人捉摸不定的Suzanne讓Evie加入了這個很快就變得惡名昭彰的團體，她也認識了那名領導者---一位很有魅力的男人。他們的牧場蔓延在山丘背後，既怪誕又像廢墟，但對Evie來說那個地方新鮮且令人感到興奮，那是一個她迫切的想被接受的地方。

隨著她花越多時間遠離母親和她的日常生活、對Suzanne的迷戀越來越強烈，Evie並不明白她離這樣意想不到的暴力情節還有那個將會顛覆她認知的一切，使每一件事情都超出控制範圍的時間點越來越近。

（請原諒我crappy和粗糙的翻譯）

#characters

Evie Boyd

14歲的女生，最好的朋友原本是Connie但是在認識Suzanne和其他女生後便漸漸和Connie疏遠。她的外婆是一名演員，爸媽離婚，媽媽和她靠著外婆的遺產過生活，爸爸和年輕他好幾歲的女朋友搬走了。Evie是唯一沒被發現，也是唯一沒有殺過人的成員。在事情發生過後她被其實不知情的母親送到寄宿學校遠離「那些不良的影響」。

Connie

Evie從前最好的朋友，會跟Evie一起按照雜誌上的步驟保養還有為開學做準備，後來和帶著牙套的乖乖牌May成為朋友。

Peter

Connie的哥哥，吸毒成癮，差點和Evie發生性關係。

Jean

Evie的媽媽，在離婚後四個月沒吃過肉但是當她想說服Evie讓她男友住進家裡時卻煮了肉丸子。

Suzanne Parker

團體中跟Russell最親近的信徒，極度瘋狂，據說是最殘忍的殺手，好像殺戮是她的天性。Suzanne也是Evie會加入最大的原因；知道Evie非常迷戀她；在大家前往Mitch的家的路上把Evie趕下車。

Russell

團體中的領導人，用毒品、性和音樂控制女孩們。Russell對女孩們而言是像神一般的存在，她們狂熱的愛著他。他和Guy還有女孩們在牧場裡過著放蕩不羈的生活，他告訴女孩們每個人都值得被愛，但他不喜歡女孩們太靠近小孩，特別是她們自己的小孩。

Guy

類似Russell的副手，常常擔任女孩們的司機，開著一輛黑色的改裝過校車。

Mitch

和Russell合作的歌手，大宅的主人，不是六個受害者當中的其中一個，因為他剛好離開去洛杉磯工作。

Donna

Donna是最乏味的一個，手法又慢又粗糙。

Helen

綁著麻花辮，常常表現得像小嬰兒，但是她負責把人釘住。

#quotes

好多quotes但是不能畫書啊啊啊啊！！！Goodreads上的頁面已經變成我最喜歡的網頁lol（點這裡前往網路上最神奇地方）

“That was part of being a girl--you were resigned to whatever feedback you'd get. If you got mad, you were crazy, and if you didn't react, you were a bitch. The only thing you could do was smile from the corner they'd backed you into.”

“The ways your desire could humiliate you.”

“Mitch studied me with a questioning, smug smile. Men did it so easily, that immediate parceling of value. And how they seemed to want you to collude on your own judgement.”

“You wanted things and you couldn't help it, because there was only your life, only yourself to wake up with, and how could you ever tell yourself what you wanted was wrong?”

“How they told me I was having fun all the time, and there was no way to explain that I wasn’t.”

“How sad it was to realize that sometimes you never got there. That sometimes you lived a whole life skittering across the surface as the years passed, unblessed.”

“Girls are the only ones who can really give each other close attention, the kind we equate with being loved. They noticed what we want noticed.”

“Maybe I should have been frightened of him. This older man who saw that I was alone, who felt like I owed him something, which was the worst thing a man like that could feel.”

“That’s how badly people wanted it—to know that their lives had happened, that the person they once had been still existed inside of them.”

#really short review

Emma Cline 用大膽、直白地方式描寫了在girlhood裡發生的事----那些當你看著一個女孩不曾想過她可能有過的念頭，那是私人且親密地；sisterhood是書中最大的重點，那是Evie會加入Suzanne還有其他女生會加入團體的原因，她想要得到Suzanne的認同，她知道Suzanne不是一個好人，但她在Suzanne身上看到了自己永遠不會成為的樣子，那個她想要成為的樣子。