If the reader is looking for a light-hearted novel to read and relax, Emma Cline’s debut novel, The Girls, might not be a good one to choose. But for most readers it will be a very interesting comparison to the other novels that have been written about the subject. The Girls is a sort of explanation from the woman’s point of view as to why the women, or girls as they were very young, chose to have any part of Charles Manson and the cult they became, to go on a horrendous, murderous crime spree. Most previous works have focused on how Charles Manson got these seemingly ordinary girls to do the awful acts that they committed at his request. Cline delves into who they were before the murders and who some are as they are older.
As one character Evie, exemplifies, she was 14 when she came into contact with Russell’s cult. She is going through puberty, easily influenced by the other girls who seem to be so sure of themselves. She finds an immediate attraction to the group. Another, Suzanne, who is an extension of real-life Susan Atkins, is a different story. The character Suzanne is like Susan who was both troubled and attractive, so she used her ability to read people’s desires to her advantage. She could be so charming one minute and brutally ruthless in the next. She chose power and belonging over having any control over any part of her life, including her body. Cline chooses to show the many facets of Suzanne’s (Susan’s) personality, rather than just simply make her the “bad girl” as other works have done. Many agree that Cline’s portrayal of Susan through Suzanne is probably more like what the true person was.
The one thing the reader may notice is that Russell (Manson) is not charismatic or even interesting as a person on his own. He preyed on girls who had issues and flaws, who were wanting attention, or who needed to belong to something…..anything! Other sociopaths do not get the continuing notoriety of Charles Manson, and Emma Cline honed in on an explanation for that…….. the others did not have a group of seemingly “normal” young women following them around doing their bidding. It seems there is very little left to say about Manson, but still plenty of information to be told about The Girls.
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