The Roanoke Girls
by Amy Engel
by Amy Engel
Blurb:
Lane Roanoke is fifteen when she comes to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin at the Roanoke family's rural estate following the suicide of her mother. Over one long, hot summer, Lane experiences the benefits of being one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls.But what she doesn't know is being a Roanoke girl carries a terrible legacy: either the girls run, or they die. For there is darkness at the heart of Roanoke, and when Lane discovers its insidious pull, she must make her choice...
My Reaction:
This was not what I was expecting, in the worst kind of way. The "secret" of the Roanoke girls is very obvious, for starters. The blurb makes it seem like it might be something more mysterious or eerie, but it's quickly revealed to be just what you'll soon guess after starting reading-- and really, there's not much more to it than that, certainly nothing worth so many pages. It's not so much an eerie mystery as it is a disgusting tale about some deeply unpleasant people. The subject matter... It's dark. It's weird. I don't really know what to say about it, beyond that. It's deeply uncomfortable and doesn't feel like an accurate portrayal of how girls in this situation would actually feel or behave. (But then again, it's not something I have the misfortune to know much about. Maybe I'm wrong.) The book tries to redeem itself in the final chapter, but it's not enough to save it.
I'll try to avoid spoilers, but these are some of my gripes with the book:
--I hate nearly everyone in this book.
Yes, some of the characters supposedly behave the way they do because of how they've been raised, but that only gets you off the hook for so long. The protagonist and her cousin (Lane and Allegra) are just... yuck. Horrible, unlikeable characters. I'm supposed to care what happens to them? I'd like to give them a good slap, to be honest.
In particular, Lane is just so nasty about other women in the book. Compared to the amazing Roanoke girls, they're not as attractive, lack style and sex appeal, and are generally inferior in every way. I think Lane achieves her peak bitchiness when she visits Sarah. She is so over-the-top mean about everything to do with Sarah-- her home decor, how clean she keeps the house, the fact that she's cooking a meal for her husband. I mean, how dare she?! It apparently "smacks of trying too hard". There are also rude references to Sarah's clothes and hair. UGH. It just makes me angry.
Yes, some of the characters supposedly behave the way they do because of how they've been raised, but that only gets you off the hook for so long. The protagonist and her cousin (Lane and Allegra) are just... yuck. Horrible, unlikeable characters. I'm supposed to care what happens to them? I'd like to give them a good slap, to be honest.
In particular, Lane is just so nasty about other women in the book. Compared to the amazing Roanoke girls, they're not as attractive, lack style and sex appeal, and are generally inferior in every way. I think Lane achieves her peak bitchiness when she visits Sarah. She is so over-the-top mean about everything to do with Sarah-- her home decor, how clean she keeps the house, the fact that she's cooking a meal for her husband. I mean, how dare she?! It apparently "smacks of trying too hard". There are also rude references to Sarah's clothes and hair. UGH. It just makes me angry.
Lane does somehow claw herself an inch or two towards decency at the end, by which I mean that she's not so blatantly mean-spirited and awful, but I suspect that's mostly because she's too busy wrapping the story up to work in more of her horrible remarks (and there are no easy targets in sight).
--Hot, sweaty grossness.
Yeah, we get it. It's hot, sweaty, and gross in this place in... Kansas? I don't even remember where the book is set! Look, I live in Alabama. Trust me, I know heat and humidity. I (resentfully) live and breathe it for months every year. "Air you can wear" is nothing new to me. And yes, I can see how it might be used to create an atmosphere or sense of place in a book, but I just got sick and tired of reading about hot sweatiness on every other page. I spend enough of my life feeling hot and sweaty if I dare to step outside. I don't need to read about it, too!! Besides, it seemed like it was hot in parts of the house, too, which is odd. These people are rich. Why don't they have effective A/C all through the house?
--Feeling hungry? You won't be after this book.
You know how some books leave you feeling hungry because of all the great descriptions or mentions of delicious food? Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy is a great example of this. Well, this book is the exact opposite. Nearly all the food sounds disgusting or is reviled by the characters. The Roanoke family's cook... can't cook. It's such a good joke (???) that it's a recurring theme. ("LOL, Sharon can't cook. Because we hate Sharon, let's make imbecilic, repetitive comments about her cooking. Aren't we clever?" So much fun to read.)
You know how some books leave you feeling hungry because of all the great descriptions or mentions of delicious food? Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy is a great example of this. Well, this book is the exact opposite. Nearly all the food sounds disgusting or is reviled by the characters. The Roanoke family's cook... can't cook. It's such a good joke (???) that it's a recurring theme. ("LOL, Sharon can't cook. Because we hate Sharon, let's make imbecilic, repetitive comments about her cooking. Aren't we clever?" So much fun to read.)
The restaurants in this hicksville town are of course pathetic, too, and are run by people who don't know the difference between Japan and China. Rural people, amiright? SO unsophisticated and racist-- and they never know how to make good food. Nope, there's nothing decent to eat in America's Heartland. (Of course, Lane knows China from Japan, because she's smarter than all of these hicks-- except that, no, she actually makes many, many stupid decisions. Oh well, at least she's still sexier than every other woman in town.)
There are repeated attacks on the sacred casserole-- "dozens of cheese-and-mayonnaise-clogged casseroles". Ma'am, this has to stop. Now. I don't know what a casserole ever did to hurt you, but casseroles aren't automatically bad. Casseroles can be damn fine eatin', to put it elegantly. Excellent comfort food. Now, I probably wouldn't put mayo in one, because I don't really like mayonnaise... but "cheese-clogged"? What a joyless person you'd have to be to think this way! (Unless you're dairy intolerant, you poor soul, you.)
Oh, and this character who turns her nose up at every food around? She must be practically a chef herself, right? Or at least one of those annoying, sanctimonious people who ruin a good "food high" by extolling the virtues of so-called "clean-eating"? No, she apparently lives on booze and the very occasional boring, slapped-together sandwich. (Imagine insulting casseroles when you can't even think beyond a sandwich and a beer!)
--Please, stop with the sex scenes!
The only thing I hate more than these characters is reading endlessly about their sex lives. Can we please just not? I can handle a little of this stuff; this was not a little. It's boring (and makes me hate these nasty, disgusting characters even more). I resent being made a voyeur for these characters I don't even like.
The only thing I hate more than these characters is reading endlessly about their sex lives. Can we please just not? I can handle a little of this stuff; this was not a little. It's boring (and makes me hate these nasty, disgusting characters even more). I resent being made a voyeur for these characters I don't even like.
--Disturbing, questionable subject matter.
The various girls' reactions to (fill in the blank-- the person and the situation) made me raise my eyebrows in skepticism. Abuse is romanticized, though not very skillfully, in my opinion. I just can't believe all these girls/women would behave this way. Not plausible. Also, this portrayal feels insensitive-- insulting, even-- to actual victims of abuse. I don't know what the goal of this book was (besides making money and titillating with one of the last remaining taboos in our culture), but it ended up being nothing more than a disgusting mess.
--Laughable fight scene.
I can't go into details without spoiling things, but let's just say there is a fight scene at some point in this book that had me laughing-- and it wasn't supposed to be funny. I just couldn't take it seriously. It felt like it was carefully choreographed-- written for the screen, but... Nope. So silly.
The various girls' reactions to (fill in the blank-- the person and the situation) made me raise my eyebrows in skepticism. Abuse is romanticized, though not very skillfully, in my opinion. I just can't believe all these girls/women would behave this way. Not plausible. Also, this portrayal feels insensitive-- insulting, even-- to actual victims of abuse. I don't know what the goal of this book was (besides making money and titillating with one of the last remaining taboos in our culture), but it ended up being nothing more than a disgusting mess.
--Laughable fight scene.
I can't go into details without spoiling things, but let's just say there is a fight scene at some point in this book that had me laughing-- and it wasn't supposed to be funny. I just couldn't take it seriously. It felt like it was carefully choreographed-- written for the screen, but... Nope. So silly.
--Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
The book dragged for me. I realized early in that I didn't like the characters, but I thought, eh, it's going pretty fast. I'll just keep reading and see where it goes. I did stick with it until the end, but it certainly didn't keep feeling like a quick read, beyond that first section of the book. There is a lot of repetition, with genuinely interesting scenes doled out sparingly. Cutting out some of the sex scenes would've helped keep the plot tighter. (Just sayin'...)
Again, the end of the book feebly tries to "do something" with/derive some type of meaning from all the mess that comes before, but it's not enough for me. This is not something I'd ever recommend or want to revisit. I will say that I felt compelled to keep reading until I was so far in that I preferred gritting my teeth to admitting defeat. I suppose that's something, even if it didn't quite deliver anything worth the effort. However, I'm relieved to be done with it so I can move on to something where I don't hate almost every character quite so much!
