Before requesting, I read other people's reviews of the book and was intrigued by Cline's debut which is a fictional account of a cult murder. Unfortunately, I didn't like the book and am in the minority with my less than glowing review.
Our narrator is Evie, who is either her 14 year-old self in 1969, or her adult self in present day. I felt that as a character, the main character, Evie wasn't overly deep or robust and came off as very one-dimensional. I wasn't sure if Cline purposely wrote her this way so that Evie would be more of an unreliable narrator (because she wasn't present for the actual event), or because she's supposed to be 14, but I felt detached from Evie, and therefore also detached from the story. The narrative was such a slow build that I almost gave up on the book several times. I expected to be more mesmerized by Susanne since Evie seemed to be more enamored with her rather than the so-called charismatic leader, Russell, but again, I was not and didn't see the attraction.
The story lacked in any originality. It was like reading an account of the Manson family with lovelier prose. I would definitely pick up another book by this author, she is a beautiful writer, but this particular book wasn't for me.
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