"It's like that, with all of us here. Sick, strange, and we don't know why. Things bursting out of us, bits missing and pieces sloughing off, and then we harden and smooth over."
I can see why Rory Power's debut novel Wilder Girls is getting serious buzz; it's not just a pretty cover, as it contains an excellent writing style that wavers between flowery prose and captivating horror. In terms of idea and compulsive page-turning, this book deserves all of the stars, but I did find a few points worth mentioning, in case your expectations are not in the right place, as mine clearly were not. All of my criticisms are purely personal preference, so please do not put too much weight in them and instead, use them to decide whether this might be the right book for you.
Friends, I cannot express how much I love the idea behind this story. The feminist YA dystopian theme is taking the world by storm right now, and it's definitely my favorite genre at the moment. We are being blessed with so many unique, inspiring allegories that my heart can hardly handle it, and the author has clearly put her heart, soul, and bottomless well of love and emotion for all females into this novel. I cannot applaud her highly enough for accomplishing such a feat as clearly and intelligently expressing her message in a way that is available to any reader to comprehend. Insert standing ovation.
The plot is relatively straight forward; we're dropped into the setting of Raxter School for Girls, which is off the coast of Maine, roughly 2 years after the Tox has set in. The Tox is an infection that has swept over every living thing on the island, and therefore all inhabitants of said island are quarantined while the CDC and U.S. Navy are trying to figure out a cure. This "Tox" manifests symptoms in a different way for each person, and the flare ups typically come as the seasons change. Sounds excellent, right? It is, but I think the execution of this story is what hindered my full enjoyment, as I was expecting something entirely different.
While I was expecting a brief intro, followed by some action, sleuthing, and major revelations, what I got was more along the lines of a significant info dump in the first 35% of the novel, followed by repetitive scenes of introspection, and under-developed sapphic plot lines. Let me explain: I was hoping more for a sense of "showing" rather than "telling" when it came to the explanation and revelations involving the Tox, but what we get is the first third of the book filling us in on what the characters know so far about the disease. It's not necessarily a flaw, but I did feel more like I was reading a really long prologue waiting for the story to begin, rather than being filled in with pieces throughout the story. There are some really great action scenes, terrifying revelations, and creative plot devices used in this story, but they were overshadowed by multiple scenes of teenage bickering, and perhaps this is where I need to state that I am NOT the intended target audience, and this may be the very type of thing that teens enjoy reading these days. Also, and again to my fault, I somehow had gotten the impression that this book would be featuring a prominent lesbian relationship, and there are a few (it is an island full of only females, after all), but this also felt chalked up to untapped potential by focusing mostly on the "we're dating today, 12 hours later we're broken up" instead of building a swoon-worthy romance with relevant conflict.
This sounds mostly negative, and I truly don't mean for it to, because I did overall enjoy this and count anything 3 stars and up as a positive reading experience, but I just needed to take a moment to place all my thoughts here and sort through them over the next few days. Other reviewers have touched on this, so I feel that I should as well, but the ending leaves much to be desired. I'm not sure if this is a setup for a future series, as there are many, MANY major questions left unanswered, but perhaps what I failed to realize in my reading is that, the point isn't about the who/what/when/where/why/hows surrounding the Tox and what comes next, but simply around the allegories to female struggles today. If so, I highly respect and appreciate what Power has done here, and based on her talented, thoughtful, and unique debut, I would be honored to read another book written by her.
I can see why Rory Power's debut novel Wilder Girls is getting serious buzz; it's not just a pretty cover, as it contains an excellent writing style that wavers between flowery prose and captivating horror. In terms of idea and compulsive page-turning, this book deserves all of the stars, but I did find a few points worth mentioning, in case your expectations are not in the right place, as mine clearly were not. All of my criticisms are purely personal preference, so please do not put too much weight in them and instead, use them to decide whether this might be the right book for you.
Friends, I cannot express how much I love the idea behind this story. The feminist YA dystopian theme is taking the world by storm right now, and it's definitely my favorite genre at the moment. We are being blessed with so many unique, inspiring allegories that my heart can hardly handle it, and the author has clearly put her heart, soul, and bottomless well of love and emotion for all females into this novel. I cannot applaud her highly enough for accomplishing such a feat as clearly and intelligently expressing her message in a way that is available to any reader to comprehend. Insert standing ovation.
The plot is relatively straight forward; we're dropped into the setting of Raxter School for Girls, which is off the coast of Maine, roughly 2 years after the Tox has set in. The Tox is an infection that has swept over every living thing on the island, and therefore all inhabitants of said island are quarantined while the CDC and U.S. Navy are trying to figure out a cure. This "Tox" manifests symptoms in a different way for each person, and the flare ups typically come as the seasons change. Sounds excellent, right? It is, but I think the execution of this story is what hindered my full enjoyment, as I was expecting something entirely different.
While I was expecting a brief intro, followed by some action, sleuthing, and major revelations, what I got was more along the lines of a significant info dump in the first 35% of the novel, followed by repetitive scenes of introspection, and under-developed sapphic plot lines. Let me explain: I was hoping more for a sense of "showing" rather than "telling" when it came to the explanation and revelations involving the Tox, but what we get is the first third of the book filling us in on what the characters know so far about the disease. It's not necessarily a flaw, but I did feel more like I was reading a really long prologue waiting for the story to begin, rather than being filled in with pieces throughout the story. There are some really great action scenes, terrifying revelations, and creative plot devices used in this story, but they were overshadowed by multiple scenes of teenage bickering, and perhaps this is where I need to state that I am NOT the intended target audience, and this may be the very type of thing that teens enjoy reading these days. Also, and again to my fault, I somehow had gotten the impression that this book would be featuring a prominent lesbian relationship, and there are a few (it is an island full of only females, after all), but this also felt chalked up to untapped potential by focusing mostly on the "we're dating today, 12 hours later we're broken up" instead of building a swoon-worthy romance with relevant conflict.
This sounds mostly negative, and I truly don't mean for it to, because I did overall enjoy this and count anything 3 stars and up as a positive reading experience, but I just needed to take a moment to place all my thoughts here and sort through them over the next few days. Other reviewers have touched on this, so I feel that I should as well, but the ending leaves much to be desired. I'm not sure if this is a setup for a future series, as there are many, MANY major questions left unanswered, but perhaps what I failed to realize in my reading is that, the point isn't about the who/what/when/where/why/hows surrounding the Tox and what comes next, but simply around the allegories to female struggles today. If so, I highly respect and appreciate what Power has done here, and based on her talented, thoughtful, and unique debut, I would be honored to read another book written by her.