sawkill girls – Winnie and the Professor

Dear friends,

I just finished Sawkill Girls, which I had borrowed from the university library:

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A brief synopsis: Sawkill Girls centers around a trio of girls living in a place called Sawkill Island (Sawkill Rock). Young girls have been mysteriously disappearing over a period of years, and local legend has it that there is some kind of monster lurking in the woods. So Marion (plain-Jane newcomer to Sawkill), Zoey (daughter of the local policeman), and Val (the beautiful rich girl) team up to locate and destroy this evil before it strikes again.

The author incorporates diversity (Zoey is mixed-race, and there’s some girl / girl romance going on), and is clearly a feminist, but the girl-power message became a little heavy-handed (to me) near the end, when a gathering of community men turn out to have dark motives that only the girls can vanquish. Females good, males bad (aside from the girls’ friend Grayson, a kind and gentle young man who bakes cookies).

This book has a lot of mixed reviews on Goodreads, and I can understand why readers would have a “love it or hate it” reaction. For me, it was just ok. It became a bit of a chore to finish.

First: I don’t think I’m the intended audience for this book. It’s a YA (“young adult”) tale, and I’d put it in the horror / paranormal genre, which really isn’t my favorite. So part of my lukewarm reaction is probably tied to those factors.

Beyond that, my main issues with the book were:

The horror / suspense doesn’t build – rather, it’s intense from the start, and stays intense all the way through. This level of constant danger and violence is unsettling after a while. I didn’t feel like I got to know the characters as people, beyond the ways they reacted to paranormal threats.

The book is long. Looooong. Around 450 pages. With horror scene after horror scene, in an episodic format (I was going to say, episodic rather than building to a climax, but that wouldn’t be fair, the episodes *do* build to a climax, but often don’t seem to be heading anywhere). There’s no mystery as to which character is the “villain” (or aiding the villain) – we’re told from the start.

Bottom line: I didn’t care for it, but I can see how fans of the genre might enjoy it. Give it a try if you enjoy paranormal tales.

Happy reading,

Winnie and the Professor

Dear friends,

I’ve acquired a TON (probably literally) of books over the past months, including a few dozen at a library sale this weekend. I thought I’d show them to you a few at a time. As you know, I read a lot of backlist titles, as well as new releases. While I occasionally buy a new release in hardback if it’s something I’ve really been looking forward to, I acquire most of my books in other ways:

Borrow from the library
Lent from friends
Purchased at sales
Purchased at retail, in paperback format
“Shop my shelves” (and storage boxes)
Listen on audiobook and/or read on Kindle

Let’s look at my first little haul:

Daisy Jones and the Six. I flew through this one, and my review’s already up. I had received an “ARC” (advance reader copy) of this one months ago, but never got around to it till now. The story of a 1970s band similar to Fleetwood Mac – their rise to fame and fall from popularity.
City of Girls. This one just came out June 4 and I can’t WAIT to read it! New York showgirls in the 1940s.
Sawkill Girls. Borrowed from the Library, and I need to finish it as it’s due very soon. A Young Adult “YA” title, I don’t know much about it other than it’s a mystery about girls who go missing on Sawkill Island.
Our Lady of the Prairie. Lent to me by a coworker. Written by a colleague at my university, who was pleased when I told her I was reading it.
The Clockmaker’s Daughter. I bought this in hardback when it first came out, and it’s just been released in paperback … need to get to it! I understand it switches back and forth along two (or more?) timelines.

haul 1

A side note: I don’t believe in doing “TBRs” (“To be read”) lists, because I like to have the freedom to choose what appeals to me in the moment. I believe that we have a relationship with our books, and that reading should never feel like a chore. Also, when I finish a book, I pass it on if possible, so it will continue to have a life. I might give it to a friend, or to charity. Only a few take up permanent residence on my shelves, and those are the ones that have spoken to me on the deepest level.

I am also re-listening to the Harry Potter books on Audible. I read the originals so long ago that I’ve forgotten a lot, plus the movies have muddied my memories a bit. By revisiting them now, I can really see the books-to-movies changes. Mind you, I’m not touchy about such changes – I understand that it’s a different task to tell a story visually than to tell it in writing. I just find it interesting. I’m halfway through Chamber of Secrets now, and I’m wondering about something:

How did Dobby intercept the letters from Ron and Hermione? Considering how the owls in the first book were able to track Harry down wherever he might be, I can’t see how this would happen, and I don’t see it being addressed in the story. Plot hole?

Happy reading everyone!

Winnie and the Professor

Tag: sawkill girls

Book review: Sawkill Girls

Book haul # 1