The Collegio Pittsburg's student voice since 1916
Alyssa Tyler editor in chief
Over spring break, I was blessed to have enough time to myself to be able to read multiple books. During this time, my favorite book that I read was Girl A, by Abigail Dean. This novel followed the lives of seven siblings after they were rescued from their horrifically abusive parents.
The novel opens with Girl A, or Lex. Lex is the second oldest sibling of seven, but the oldest of the daughters. Girl A, was the girl to escape the ‘House of Horrors.’ The story is told from Lex’s point of view, she will talk about her childhood, from how her parents met, to the abuse, to the escape, to her adoptive parents, and other important moments in her life.
Lex, out of the seven kids, is going to the prison her mother has been incarcerated in for the past 15 years. After her mother’s death, she finds that the house that she escaped from, has been left to her and her siblings. She has ideas of creating a community center filled with things that her father, the main abuser, would hate. She would let the community do what they needed within the house. But, to do anything with the house, she must get written permission from the rest of her siblings.
So, Lex begins this journey of tracking down the rest of her siblings, who are all in various stages of their lives. She goes in birth order. When she meets each of the siblings, she talks about their childhood, how they were before the abuse, how they were when the abuse was happening, and finally how they were after the abuse.
Each of the siblings had the same trauma, but they all reacted to it differently. And each character shows diverse ways they chose to cope with that said trauma.
As I keep claiming in these book reviews, I do not give five stars out easily. However, I find it hard to write about the books I give 2/5 or worse too. Most of the time they are on Kindle Unlimited and so horrifically written, I do not think they can count towards anything.
So, with this book, I did give it 4.5/5 stars, the only reasoning on why it is not perfect in my eyes, was because there were some minor, but important plot holes. I also was confused by some of the ‘plot twists’ but that could just be the author doing her job well.
The plot twist comes at the end of the novel, and it does shake you to your core. It makes you wonder and doubt everything that you have read up to that point. However, this novel, although graphic, was extremely interesting and gripping. Reading from Lex’s point of view was not the most reliable, but it was entertaining to read.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who needs a shorter (ish) read, although there are many trigger warnings to be aware of before reading.
Content Warning- child abuse, self-harm, suicide, alcoholism, sexual assault, physical assault.