Title: American Girls
Author: Alison Umminger (White woman. Graduate from Harvard, has a doctorate, is Christian)
Genre: Realistic fiction
Book published: 2016 and Read: Summer 2026
Reason for reading: Was looking for whatever books sounded interesting in the YA section of my hometown library, and this was literally the only one that piqued my interest
If I was still in highschool I think this is the sort of book that would've changed my life a little. I'm not in highschool anymore so it didn't do that, but it was still pretty good. It asks a lot of questions about what makes someone a good person, why people do horrible things, etc.. When I originally read the blurb of this book in the library, I was excited because- unlike literally every other book I browsed that day- there was no mention of a romance plotline. Turns out, there was a romance plotline, but at this point that's expected, and it's not like it made me hate the book so it's fine. The main reason I checked it out was because I read a couple pages and felt the main character's (Anna) internal dialouge was really, really good. it's angry, and blunt, and she hates herself and it's great- something I feel like I haven't seen in a while, if ever. In hindsight, the unfairness of Anna's life reminds me a lot of my own growing up (and now). I like how messy and awful her family is, and how Dex and the boy she's romantically interested are so normal in contrast. Dex especially is a real one. Also loved how Anna's sister is rightfully pissed when she runs away and catches a flight to the city where she's living out of the blue, but also says that if Anna ran away cause someone's sexually abusing her she'd never send her back. Anna is like me in the sense that she only has one real friend and they are kinda toxic to each other.
As for the themes, this book talks a lot about the Mason girls, and why they did the thngs they did. Now, I knew nothing about the Mason girls before reading this, but apparently this guy named Charles Mason had a cult, they were in it, and these young- young adult- girls went on a two night murder spree. I am not someone who likes to joke about the murder of innocent people, so I'm glad that this novel discussed the topic with respect, while also using it for the purpose of analyzing human nature. Neither Anna nor the author forgives the girls, but they do ask if things would've ended differently had they been shown compassion growing up, and what made them make the choices they did. This ties in to how Anna herself makes a lot of bad choices, which can be explained but not excused by the fact that her family is a dysfunctional mess that often disregards her feelings. There is also discussion of the victims, which Anna acknowledges is often talked about much less when compared to the killers themselves.