Thank you to She Writes Press for providing me with an advance copy of L.B. Gschwandtner's novel, The Other New Girl, in exchange for an honest review.
PLOT- Susannah Greenwood is one of two girls starting at a Quaker boarding school in their sophomore year. Susannah joins the swim team and is quickly accepted by the popular group of girls. The other new girl, Moll, doesn't have an easy time. She quiet and simply different than the other students. Susannah tries to befriend Moll, but a series of events leads to disaster.
LIKE- I've always been drawn to stories that take place in boarding schools. I didn't attend a boarding school and I didn't even go to summer camp, so the idea of kids living away from their parents is somewhat romanticized in my mind. Additionally, I'm drawn to stories about religion. I didn't know much about the Quaker faith and I found that aspect of Gschwandtner's novel to be fascinating. In fact, I wish she had dove deeper into it.
The Other New Girl is written from the perspective of an adult Susannah who runs into an old classmate which sends her down the rabbit hole of reflecting on a terrible thing that happened in high school. There are themes of guilt and regret. The teenage Susannah is placed in an incredibly difficult position and she is shaken to the core by what happens around her, things that were set into motion by her and that quickly spiral out of control. The Other New Girl is about the domino affect of actions and how your life can be impacted negatively, even when you have the best intentions.
DISLIKE- I found it difficult to connect with Susannah. I can't pinpoint it, but there was something about Gschwandtner's writing that made me feel distant from the protagonist. Although I found the story compelling, this lack of connection with Susannah hampered my ability to emotionally connect with The Other New Girl.
I recently read an article ( unfortunately, I can't remember the source, but it was in one of my writing magazines) that mentioned the 1960's as being an over-used era for coming of age novels. The Other New Girl takes place in the late 50's/early 60's and it does have many of the cliche historical/social references of the era. If I hadn't read this article, I probably wouldn't have thought about it one way or the other, but since I did, I wondered how different and perhaps more potent this story would have been, had it been set in a different era?
RECOMMEND- Maybe. Although I couldn't connect with the protagonist, I still was compelled to read The Other New Girl. It's a quick read and Gschwandtner hit on subjects that interested me. Also, I did a quick scan of reviews and other readers are loving this book. I think I'm an outlier with my dislikes.