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A review by solaceinprose
Girl One by Sara Flannery Murphy
4.0
First, I like to thank NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for an ARC for a honest review.
When I read the summary of Girl One, I was intrigued by the tagline "Orphan Black meets Margaret Atwood in this twisty supernatural thriller about female power and the bonds of sisterhood." I will have to say that it wasn't entirely too far off. There's similarities to Orphan Black, but mainly with the sisterly bonds between the different Girls in this book. I hate calling them "girls" because in the book majority of them are in their very early 20s or late teens, and it seems reductive to call them girls when they're not. The use of calling them girls throughout the novel wasn't lost on me. It was done purposefully to diminish them as young women, young women with agency and self-worth by the other, mostly men, characters. This story isn't just about girls born without the use of sperm, but how in a world that continues to view women as objects and lesser than men. This is how these "girls" took back the narrative of their own story and refused to allow another man tell it.
We see the story unfold through Josephine Morrow's point of view. She is Girl One. She is stuck in this nostalgic world view when she thinks back on her life at the Homestead with her mother and the other girls and their mothers. Her personal opinions of their "creator", Dr. Joseph Bellanger, were colored by how favored she felt by him. She hinged her worth on following the man she considered a father and his work. She wanted to make him proud. It was interesting to see Josie's thoughts and world view shift with each bit of knowledge she discovered throughout her journey to find her mother. I enjoyed how she literally came into her own, owning her worth and how she didn't need to have the opinion of someone who betrayed not just her, but her fellow Girls and their mothers.
It's about all the girls, the ones who are the primary focal point of the novel, come into their own and how through their bonds, they were able to become stronger. I wouldn't say that this novel is very anti-man, but it does demonstrate how when we women are bit characters in something only we can do, and that is give birth. When the idea of needing a man for reproduction becomes obsolete, we see in this novel how men bulk at the idea and fight to keep their dominance in order. We saw it with the group from Kithiria, and as the story progressed, with Dr. Bellanger. I enjoyed how very much "Men ruin everything" this book was, because it wasn't too far off. One of my favorite lines throughout the novel was, "From where I stand, a lot of good things in this world are destroyed by simple men." How very true this is.
I would have liked to have a more concrete ending. I'd have liked to see Josephine, Cate, Isabelle, and Fiona go and get Emily so she was with her own. I wanted to see where Josephine's journey took her now that she left her past in ashes (literally), but perhaps that wasn't the point of the story. I did enjoy, however, the beginning of the book starting with a letter to Josie from Dr. Bellanger and ending with a letter from her mother to her best friend, Patricia. How they were both convinced that Josie was going to change the world, yet I don't think neither of them knew the extent.
This was a fun book, and all the little twists and turns kept me engaged. If you like Sci-fi, and if like where women kick ass, I'd recommend this book.
When I read the summary of Girl One, I was intrigued by the tagline "Orphan Black meets Margaret Atwood in this twisty supernatural thriller about female power and the bonds of sisterhood." I will have to say that it wasn't entirely too far off. There's similarities to Orphan Black, but mainly with the sisterly bonds between the different Girls in this book. I hate calling them "girls" because in the book majority of them are in their very early 20s or late teens, and it seems reductive to call them girls when they're not. The use of calling them girls throughout the novel wasn't lost on me. It was done purposefully to diminish them as young women, young women with agency and self-worth by the other, mostly men, characters. This story isn't just about girls born without the use of sperm, but how in a world that continues to view women as objects and lesser than men. This is how these "girls" took back the narrative of their own story and refused to allow another man tell it.
We see the story unfold through Josephine Morrow's point of view. She is Girl One. She is stuck in this nostalgic world view when she thinks back on her life at the Homestead with her mother and the other girls and their mothers. Her personal opinions of their "creator", Dr. Joseph Bellanger, were colored by how favored she felt by him. She hinged her worth on following the man she considered a father and his work. She wanted to make him proud. It was interesting to see Josie's thoughts and world view shift with each bit of knowledge she discovered throughout her journey to find her mother. I enjoyed how she literally came into her own, owning her worth and how she didn't need to have the opinion of someone who betrayed not just her, but her fellow Girls and their mothers.
It's about all the girls, the ones who are the primary focal point of the novel, come into their own and how through their bonds, they were able to become stronger. I wouldn't say that this novel is very anti-man, but it does demonstrate how when we women are bit characters in something only we can do, and that is give birth. When the idea of needing a man for reproduction becomes obsolete, we see in this novel how men bulk at the idea and fight to keep their dominance in order. We saw it with the group from Kithiria, and as the story progressed, with Dr. Bellanger. I enjoyed how very much "Men ruin everything" this book was, because it wasn't too far off. One of my favorite lines throughout the novel was, "From where I stand, a lot of good things in this world are destroyed by simple men." How very true this is.
I would have liked to have a more concrete ending. I'd have liked to see Josephine, Cate, Isabelle, and Fiona go and get Emily so she was with her own. I wanted to see where Josephine's journey took her now that she left her past in ashes (literally), but perhaps that wasn't the point of the story. I did enjoy, however, the beginning of the book starting with a letter to Josie from Dr. Bellanger and ending with a letter from her mother to her best friend, Patricia. How they were both convinced that Josie was going to change the world, yet I don't think neither of them knew the extent.
This was a fun book, and all the little twists and turns kept me engaged. If you like Sci-fi, and if like where women kick ass, I'd recommend this book.