Ellie Eaton

The Divines

Elisa Bieg

If I had to use one word to describe this book, it would probably be 
  anti-climactic
. 

It kept building expectation while being really quite dull, but somehow also always teasing at something more, something coming, something intriguing — maybe even shocking! — just behind the corner. What keeps you reading isn’t the fact that the book is particularly interesting (it really isn’t), but the implication that it’s just about to get really interesting, if you just hold on for a little while longer. 

Alas, it never really delivers on that. This is one of the most wildly disappointing and yes, anticlimactic (there it is) books I have ever had the displeasure of finishing. What a waste. 

I will say this, the audiobook narrator did a good job.

This compulsively readable literary debut set in a secluded boarding school explores the intoxicating, destructive relationships between teenage girls.

A Novel

Shan

This is not my usual read but it was so intriguing. There was so much depth to The Divines. Between how people remember things differently and how we all hold on to things in various ways. This one validated my own emotions/memories and tells the story that our high school years stick with us more than most of us admit.

Celeste Richardson

I received an audio copy of this book from the publisher, Harper Audio, via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is not an esoteric academy novel, for sure. It’s a boarding school novel using the school mainly for setting and atmosphere. I was hoping for The Orchard or The Secret History, but at a girl’s boarding school. I got something more akin Pretty Little Liars or Cruel Intentions. I found it very superficial, with appearances mattering more than just about anything else. It’s also very crudely sexual. I was constantly taken aback by the vulgarity, and I don’t generally consider myself a prude.

The audio is great, though. Imogen Church has a fabulous voice. Her pacing and inflection are always spot on, as are her voices for different characters. The emotions she can pack into a single sentence is honestly astounding. Her performance was phenomenal, even if the story itself left me cold.

“Who are we, after all, if not the author of our own story?”

 Josephine, our perspective character, is in no way likable. Neither are her school mates. Jo is also an apex unreliable narrator. Unreliable narrators tend to turn me off, though there have been some notable exceptions. Alas, this book was not one of those. I could never get behind her at all, or get invested in either of her stories in the two different timelines. 

While I didn’t like the story, or the characters, or the vulgarity of the content, I can’t fault the writing. This book was incredibly well written. The quality of the prose combined with the audio narration were the only redeeming qualities for me. However, those qualities were redeeming enough that I would try something else Eaton puts out.

I’m... honestly not sure what to say about this book. The flashbacks were interesting, and I wish they were more developed. The present day felt a bit pointless, and the ending left me unsatisfied. Though it sounds like I didn’t enjoy this book at all, I truly did! The biggest qualm I had was how often Josephine brought up “they were townies and we were divine.” This had the potential to be a really impactful statement but it winds up being overused. 

Overall I’d give the writing a 4/5, the plot a 3.5/5, and the characters a 1.5/5. There’s virtually no likable characters, and no major character development or growth. I do highly recommend listening to the audiobook if you decide to pick this one up, the narrator definitely made this way easier to get through. 

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for sending me an ALC of this book.

Moray Lyle McIntosh

The pupils of elite girls' boarding school St John the Divine were wealthy, influential and privileged, living in a world far removed from the local "townies". They are something special. They called themselves Divine. Discipline and education were lax among the arrogant cliques of teenage girls and in a series of dramatic events including explicit photographs and bullying a final night of chaosand excess closes the school forever with a violent accident. 

Years later Sephine, eschewing the school tradition of boys nicknames tries to think of the school at little as possible but a chance visit on her honeymoon brings the memories flooding back. Her curious husband and a looking reunion force her to look again that everything that happened in those final weeks, the cruel relationships, the bullying, the ostracism, the immaturity of those almost-adult girls educated far from the realities of the world. Most of all she must assess her role in the events that led to one unpopular girl falling from a window with catastrophic consequences.

Eaton does an excellent job of capturing the attitudes and environment of an elite institution where the company is that more important than the education. Their affected mannerisms create the sense of a school cut off from the real world except for the often unpleasant interactions that pupils have with the local town. Sephine's reluctant narration builds tension as does the breakdown of her friendships when she is unexpectedly roomed with Gerry, a highly-strung skating champion who, rumour has it, is sleeping with her coach. 
For some reason when the full details of Gerry's accident emerged, it felt like an anticlimax, not quite dark or dramatic enough. 

I would have liked to see some of Gerry's POV, or at least had more attention paid to her uncomfortable relationships with the shots in her life. There are many hints but few details. The same for Lauren, the townie Sephine unexpectedly befriends. Perhaps the point is that Gerry and Lauren both have lives more worthy of the navel-gazing of Sephine. But it was a brooding, enjoyable read, well-paced and plotted

Stephanie Midolo

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Audio for an advanced copy.

What an interesting read! The Divines follows Josephine through a year in high school and several years of her adult life in alternating storylines. As a teen, she navigates the social politics of an elite boarding school, trying to manage other's opinions with her own wants. As an adult, she adjusts to marriage and motherhood, all whole trying to heal from the traumas of her youth. 

Josephine as a character was somehow loveable and repugnant at the same time. She was terrible to many people in her life, but at the same time, she was mistreated. It reinforces the cyclical nature of bullying. 

I found her husband annoying. He was unable to empathize and often pushed Josephine into things she didn't necessarily want. 

The plot was a little bit slow moving during the boarding school portions, while the adult sections moved quickly. I wish it was a bit more balanced. I felt like I really knew teenage Josephine, but adult Josephine was still a mystery. 

I review books strictly on how enjoyable they are to read. I found this book very enjoyable, but I don't think it's for everyone. 

The narration of the audiobook was incredible, but extremely slow. I know audiobooks are often slowed down to make them more comprehendable, but I found myself listening at 2.5x or 3x, which is out of the norm for my listening habits. Imogen Church's character voices were excellent and gave each character their own personality.

Heather Harrington

*2.5

Back in the '90s when Josephine was a teenager, she was a Divine. This nickname, given to the young girls who attended the St. John the Divine boarding school in England, came with a certain reputation for harassing teachers, chain-smoking, and executing the perfect hair flip to make boys take notice. Now in her thirties, Josephine hardly remembers her Divine days, blocking out that part of her life after an accident caused the school to close its doors. But something starts nagging at her. Some memory in the back of her mind that she can't quite grasp. As Josephine frantically digs back into her past, she starts to remember her doomed final weeks as a Divine and what she uncovers will shake her foundation and make her question her entire sense of self.

This was a bit disappointing for me. The premise sounded interesting and I always love the murder-mystery-on-campus trope, but the entire thing was just poorly executed. The dual timeline of Josephine now and when she was a teenager felt like two separate stories mashed together which made it seem very disjointed. Because it didn't flow, I was pulled out of the story every time we switched perspectives. I found the characters unlikable and bratty. I thought the plot itself was also underdeveloped and left you with more questions than answers. A lot of things aren't explained properly, like why the girls call each other by boy's names or who left the lewd photos all around campus. You don't even get a clear picture as to why Josephine is suddenly transfixed on uncovering what truly happened other than her passing her school on her honeymoon. The mystery itself wasn't even explained fully, and the way Eaton did wrap it up was completely unsatisfying and unresolved. There were moments where I liked Eaton's writing, but overall this was pretty weak.

The Divines

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