Wilder Girls, (Paperback)

Honestly, I am not completely sure how I feel about this book. My first impression of it was a beautiful cover, and while the writing at times feels lyrical, this book is anything but beautiful. In an almost twisted retelling of The Lord of The Flies, Powers delivers a story of a group of girls doing anything to survive a deadly "Tox" while under quarantine at their boarding school. I absolutely loved the writing in this book and it would have felt magical had the contents not been so horrific, which is undoubtedly the point. I adored how complex and yet simple the characters were. While they were distinctly different from each other, they were also all young girls trying to survive. I will say I wish some things got more backstory. For example, we get hints of Byatt's life before the Tox but we never actually see it. I understand how this plays into Hetty's almost idealized version of Byatt, however, I would have loved to see this fleshed out a bit more. I think the ending of the book was abrupt, but I also feel like it would have been impossible to wrap up such horrific events in a matter of a few pages. The trauma that the girls have endured and the lies that they have been told will affect them for the rest of their lives. I just wish we could have learned more about the Tox and the after-effects of physically cutting it out of you. Overall, I found the story interesting and dark, but also real and raw. While you can see the inspiration pulled from other texts, this still feels original and new.