Throwback

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beaukes

 

5/5 Stars

Genre: Crime, Science Fiction, Thriller

This book is a prime example of why you should not judge a book by it’s Goodreads review. I can understand why a lot of people didn’t like this book, there is a lot going on. It intermingles genre’s plus the plot itself sounds laughable when said out loud. For a lot of people this book was too hectic, too out there for them to wrap their brains around. For me though, this book is by far one of the most well thought out, and well written books I have read this year.

The plot is hard to put into words, but I shall do my best.

We follow Harper, who finds an abandon house that allows him to travel in time. He then, with this profound ability becomes an untouchable and unstoppable serial killer. Only when one girl (Kirby) gets away does the game change and the hunter becomes the hunted.

What is so amazing about this book is that we get to see the progress and destruction of our society from generation to generation. We get to see through the eyes of a man who lived with very little just how much we can achieve and how much humanity we can loose. The book focuses on mostly the 1930′s and the 1990′s. Which to me are random and yet wonderful times to go back and forth from. This leaves us with a greater understanding of just who we are as Americans and how we became who we are as a society.

I want to say this as bluntly as possible; the writing in this book is phenomenal.

Every word in this book holds power in each and every one of its syllable. The writing is gorgeous and Beukes makes sure to pack a punch with what she writes. Every character feels like she took decades to think about and understand, she took her time letting the characters develop on paper. Even if we only get a chapter or two with one of ‘The Shining Girls’ Beukes makes sure we understand her, what makes her so driven, so bright, so meaningful to the world and to the story. We get to see why she shines.

Harper, who is our antagonist, is by far one of the most fucked up characters I have read in a while (and I happen to eat up Stephen King for breakfast). I think why I find him to be so horrific is because I feel bad for him. When you read his story and see his behavior you understand his humanity, or lack of it. The fact that Beukes reminds us time and time again that Harper is human, with human desires is by far what makes him so terrifying. Also, the fact he chooses strong powerful woman as victims makes my skin crawl.

It is very common for serial killers to have a ‘type’ they go after, examples like Ted Bundy with brunettes or BTK with families. Harper chose girls who ‘shine’, who are strong and powerful, who are unique in their endurance after hardship. He chose woman who put up a fight and that is by far the most fucked up thing about his character and what makes him an absolute stand out in the horror genre as a villain. Beuke shows with Harper the sad fact of life that not all bad guys are easy to spot, a lot of them live lives more similar to our then we want to admit.

Kirby, our protagonist is a badass on the same level as Katniss for Hunger Games, maybe even more so. She is blunt, witty, and gives zero fucks about peoples petty issues (due to the fact Harper tried to gut her and killed her dog). She is determined to face her demons and shows that woman don’t always need a man to come to their rescue. In fact, she pushes away everyone so that she can help herself. I adore the message Kirby and Beukes give woman in this story; that it is okay to have baggage and demons but it’s not okay to let yourself be a victim and that you can stand up for yourself no questions asked.

This book will end up being a classic (crossing my fingers), and it gives me faith that there are still talented writers out there who wont sell out and stoop to the levels of Twilight or 50 Shades of Grey. We still have hope for literature thanks to writers like Beuke who can spin us a story that grips us in all the right ways. Lauren Beukes is one of many writers who push me to follow my dreams of writing and I promise that you will feel the same after reading her work as well.

SIDENOTE: Leonardo DiCaprio has producing dibs on the screen adaptation for this book!!

originally posted on my Tumblr 2016