The Girls tells the story of a teenage girl named Evie, in 1969 who gets herself involved with a cult of girls all following one man. Evie has many problems at home, her parents have divorced, and since then her mother has changed a lot. They start to butt heads, which causes Evie to adventure on her own.

Before Cline’s book, I had never read anything else based on this time period. I had never been drawn to it before, but I have always been interested in serial killers and cults. So with the mention of this novel being loosely based on the Manson cult, I knew it was going to be a book for me.

Going back and forth between past Evie, at about 14 years old, and to present 40-year-old, Evie was interesting to read. Both of these time periods gave readers a look into how the past had changed her as a person. As a young girl she followed a lot. She met Suzanne, and almost immediately Elise became immersed into their cult.

Cline is so descriptive with her writing, it was fun to picture the place where Russell and his girls were living throughout the book. I obviously didn’t grow up in the late 60’s, early 70’s, but I have seen enough pictures, and movies to get a sense of what farms would look like.

I know the whole point of the novel is that it is based around the girl who is apart of Manson’s cult, but who was not apart of the murders, and did not get involved. But, I found myself disappointed at the end of the novel. Most of the book, Evie became one of the cult members, she was fully involved with them, so by the end, when she was all of the sudden talking about what was going on, or what happened from a far. I do understand why that happened, but I guess I just wanted her to be completely with them until the last page.

I could not stop turning pages while reading. I had to know what was going on with Evie, and the girls. I found myself increasingly intrigued by the scenes Evie had with the men. I don’t read those kinds of things often, but the description and Evie’s reaction had me thinking I was a fly on the wall, and that is the kind of feeling I like to have while reading. I enjoy feeling like everything I’m reading is happening right next to me.