📘 The Girls of No Return
by Erin Saldin
Genre Fiction ◦ Young adult
Format & Source Print ◦ Library
Publication Scholastic ◦ 2012
Rating ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
📚 What It's About
Alice Marshall is a boarding school smack dab in the middle of a huge wilderness area, where troubled girls are sent to straighten themselves out while living in the wild. 16 year old Lida is sent there for problems we don’t discover until much later on in the book, but it is evident from the get go that something dark gnaws away at her. While there, she makes friends with two very different girls whose problems and conflicts collide in near tragedy after hidden secrets and pasts come to a head.
📝 My Review
I really enjoyed this book quite a bit. It seemed like “smart” YA to me -- more mature and advanced in its writing and style than a typical YA. I love YA authors who understand and know that YA readers don’t need simple all the time, and can handle mature topics and mature writing. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the cute YA books too, but this book took it to a whole new level. I feel that older readers could really enjoy the story as well.
While this book was extremely dark and intense, I was totally captivated by it and particularly enjoyed Lida’s character. She was sharp and smart, despite her frequent poor choices. A lot of the other characters were stand-outs as well, such as Boone, the biggest trouble maker at the school who takes NOTHING from anyone, and dishes out twice as much.
While the book was quite depressing and not always exciting, the story was just fascinating and sucked me in. The climax of the story is unexpected and shocking and really pushed the boundaries of a typical YA read, which I thought was daring and just plain awesome. Recommended for all readers of dark contemporary fiction.
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