Girls on Fire

Whilst it is way to early to do an in depth review of Girls on Fire, having finished it yesterday it is impossible for me to do anything other than tell you just a little about the reading experience. When 2016 is upon us and May approaches, which will be sooner than you think, I shall be talking a lot about this one and writing a much longer article about this whole wonderful, heartbreaking, intensely authentic piece of storytelling genius. Liz is about to get fanatical.

It is powerful, hard hitting, so full of beautiful and yes often unrelentingly emotional language, the very definition of words having power. It sucked me in and stole my soul. On the list of reads I’ll never forget this just went somewhere near the top of the pile.

I will read it again. And my “Quotes” book in which I keep a note of all the quotes from books that speak to me hard in the moment has over 3 pages added to it from this novel alone. So, you know. There it is.

Incredibly insightful, a novel that fills all the senses, I have never read a book quite like it and possibly never will again.

Highly Recommended in every way possible. If you are the type of reader that feels every moment of the good ones you’d better hold onto your hats and be prepared.

I have no words. I am completely speechless.

If you told me that there was a book that dealt with the topics that this one did in such a defined, effortless and fluent way I would have flat out refused to believe you. But here I am, attempting to recover from the technicolor wheel of emotions this book put me through feeling gobsmacked, but this book did exactly that. In fact, it did more than that.

"Shay was a gateway drug, a cheap glue-sniffing high on the pathway to transcendence."

Let's just start off with how much I loved the way in which Wasserman managed to show Dex and Lacey's relationship and every single high and low of it. It wasn't just 'happy' and 'sad', it was every feeling in between and he put those feelings across beautifully. I don't think I've read a book before where I've managed to empathize with a character so well because of the emotional descriptions. This was such a complex relationship yet, as a reader, it was so easy to get right into it's core. I did also desperately want to scream at the girls, their actions just jarring me when they were doing something bad or melting my heart when they were so deliciously close to one another. (One of my favourite moments must have been when Lacey immediately took Dex to the beach after finding out she'd never been before).

"Dex's mother knew what it was to lose herself in someone brighter, to be trapped by the gravitational field of another sun. She knew what happened when it emerged that the sun was only a lightbulb, and what happened when the lightbulb went out."

It's not just Dex and Lacey's relationship that was so intricately detailed to us. The complexity of Nikki, Craig's and Lacey's relationship was so strong and mysterious that my hands refused to put the book down, every time I felt that there was going to be a reveal about what their secret was I continuously left holding my breath. And the sections detailing the parents relationship continued to split open the heart of the book and I could not get enough of seeing everything from everyone's point of view.

"You were supposed to be a person who did not drink, did no smoke, did not snort or shoot up or, God forbid, eat some unpasteurized cheese."

Another thing you can't help but appreciate is the format of the story. It's shared between Dex's narration, Lacey's reveal to Dex and 'them', a part shared out between other characters of the story (namely the parents). This format made Girls On Fire so much more engaging and binding, again helping us get to grips with whats going on and helping us get even deeper into each characters mind.

"Boys weren't supposed to be vulnerable; it overturned the natural order of things, a boy falling prey to pain."

This book also puts across some really major points, looking it into feminism and how women were/are treated compared to men (it was set in the 1990's). I think there's just one extract that perfectly sums up gender everything to do with equality:

"What it would be like to be one of them. To have power to be seen, be heard, be dudes rather than sluts, the jocks or geeks or bros or nice guys or boys-will-be-boys or whatever we wanted instead of quantum leaping between good girl and whore. To be default, not the exception. To be in control, to seize control, simply because we happened to have a dick."

And now we have to talk about how good Wasserman is at writing. There wasn't one sentence that lack meaning or failed to evoke some sort of emotion within me. Some of them were intense, some of them were relaxing, some of them were meant to be repeated until their messages changed the world and some of them were just funny. And it was this writing that made the book better than amazing, it made it unforgettable.

"No one wanted to look at me. Everyone wanted to look at me."

Some final things that I want to mention that made me feel very happy when reading this book was both the cover and the mention of music. The cover is so simple and yet so drawing, it's one of those covers that you look at and think 'that's going to be a good book' which served to be true. And, being a music fan, Lacey's obsession with Nirvana and tying in all of those music elements totally drew me in even more.

But, by now I'm guessing you're getting bored of my rambling love for the book so I think I'm just going to sum up by saying read this book, you will really miss out if you don't.

I don't even know where to start with reviewing this book. It is perhaps one of the most intriguing, compelling and disturbing books I have read in a long, long time, and I absolutely could not put it down. Being a teenager in the 90s, at first I thought 'YES. I can TOTALLY relate to these girls,' but their actions further into the book are so completely off the scale that I quickly realised that NOTHING I ever did as teenager could match what they do. The writing is exquisite - the reader gets such a detailed and in-depth insight to each of the girls point of view that it all feels terribly real, and this is a disturbing element of the book.
This is an impossible book to review - there is literally just NO WAY that anything I write about it can do it justice. All I do know is that it hooked me in from the very first page, with the dark, disturbing characters and the pitch black, addictive storyline. Within a few chapters it had me racing to my fellow bloggers, telling them that 'they must read this book NOW,' and I really believe that this may already be (and please do bear in mind that I am writing this review at the end of November 2015) my book of 2016.

I thought Girls On Fire was a superb, beautifully written and a completely intoxicating novel. It will stay with me for the elaborate, delicious prose and the two rebellious female teenage characters Lacey and Hannah (Dex). A dark and sometimes shocking story-line that had me lost in the book from the first to the last page. I absolutely loved it and thought it was a book to savour and enjoy. Highly recommended; it is powerful stuff and a genuinely worthwhile read.

Seventeen year old Hannah is a good girl until she becomes involved with the towns bad girl Lacey. Their friendship quickly spirals into a passionate and all-absorbing teenage obsession with each other. Driven by music, drink, drugs and difficult relationships with their parents they become inseparable and dream of leaving town and driving off into the sunset together. But Lacey is controlling, manipulative and she hides secrets and a past that Hannah can’t begin to imagine.

The book has chapters alternating between Lacey and Hannah thoughts revealing insights into the story that the reader delightfully knows whilst one or other of the two protagonists is unaware. It provided a sense of voyeurism and anticipation that adds to the atmosphere of the book. As the story progressed the characters begin to feel a little dangerous and out of control which was a bit unnerving and exciting at the same time. There are some violent episodes and the book touches on teenage sex, drugs, Satanism, bullying, and a suicide which haunts the story. But don’t be put off by any of the subject matter, this is too well written, sensual and elegantly described to be a concern. Just enjoy the ride and observe the building and breaking of relationships between all the characters which is a joy to read.

This was without doubt one of those absorbing books I’ll remember and I think it will remain a favourite for the wonderful writing and the two great female characters who were a little bit frightening but rather irresistible. I just can’t recommend this enough and well, just go and read it… such an enthralling novel.

Thank you to the publisher for the NetGalley review copy in return for an honest opinion.

Wow - Girls on Fire is one of those books that's actually hard to review because you can't really describe how you feel about it in words. This book will remain with me for a long time, due to its beautiful intense writing and thought-provoking powerful plot.

Girls on Fire is the story of two 17-year-old girls in a small town. Hannah Dexter leads a quiet life until she meets the town's bad girl Lacey. As she comes out of her shell, changing her name to Dex, her new best friend Lacey shows her the darker side of the teenage years.

This is a fast-paced passionate book, narrated mainly by 'Dex' and Lacey. It isn't an easy read, but it's certainly an addictive one. Be prepare to be amazed, totally engrossed and shocked as the book touches on disturbing issues such as drugs, bullying, suicide and satanism.

Girls on Fire is likely to leave you feeling exhausted and emotionally drained. The author has the most amazing talent of describing EVERYTHING in the most vivid and hard-hitting language. It's really difficult to explain, so you'll just have to read it to find out.

I received an Advance Reader Copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A powerful, twisty tale of passion, obsession and growing up…

This is Robin Wasserman’s first novel for adults, and it’s a powerful one. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’m very glad I gave it a try. This is a powerful, gripping novel about a friendship between two polar-opposite girls with secrets and insecurities. It’s atmospheric, realistic and extremely satisfying.

Hannah, or “Dex” as she is re-christened by Lacey, is a well-behaved teenager who is led away from the “light” by the aforementioned Lacey. So far, so relatable. Lacey is a messed-up kid, but we only gradually learn the reasons — her upbringing and also certain events in the woods a year ago… Dex displays all the traits of someone whose imagination is captured by a new friend, a friend who by all appearances is a force of nature; thumbing her nose at society, expressly acting out in just the right way to make the small town’s parents uncomfortable or even afraid. Dex does her best to live the life she becomes convinced she wants, with just Lacey for support and friendship — an us-against-the-world friendship. She’s lost, and Lacey offers the chance to find herself. Girls on Fire is their story — how they navigate not only their own desires, but also each others and the politics of high school. All of the events are overshadowed by a suicide a year ago, one that has cast a pall over the community. And one that will come to change both Dex’s and Lacey’s lives, not to mention a couple of other people who enter their orbit…

The story is set against the backdrop of 1990s American suburbia, the moral panic that existed — fears of “satanism”, children run amok, the evils of rock and roll and grunge. It was interesting, especially, because I had recently finished reading Charles R. Cross’s Here We Are Now, about the cultural impact of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana. (A very interesting book, by the way.) Lacey’s passion for Nirvana and obsession with Cobain were well-done. So well-done, in fact, that I was put in mind of a school friend’s elder sister, who shared Lacey’s passion (although, she was equally in love with Guns ‘n’ Roses). I’m sure many people will be able to relate to youthful passion, one that we build up to greater meaning in our minds.

Lacey and Dex pull plenty of pranks and stunts that have their community — and parents in particular — worried about them and their fellow teenagers, some of them get out of hand. They push the boundaries, edging ever-closer to the dark side. Before events spiral too far out of control, though, Dex is pulled back a bit. The end, however, is quite the sucker-punch, perfectly executed by Wasserman.

In many ways, Girls on Fire will make you fear for teenage girls, and also maybe a little afraid of them. A must-read for fans of Megan Abbott and Sarah Pinborough, Girls on Fire is a superb novel: compelling, disturbing and excellently written.

Highly recommended.