Name: shellybn's review of The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring
Item: The Tenth Girl
Rating: 3
Author: shellybn

Sara Faring

A haunted Argentinian mansion. A family curse. A twist you'll never see coming. Welcome to Vaccaro School. Simmering in Patagonian myth, Sara Faring's The Tenth Girl is a gothic psychological thriller with a haunting twist. At the very southern tip of South America looms an isolated finishing school. Legend has it that the land will curse those who settle there. But for Mavi—a bold Buenos Aires native fleeing the military regime that took her mother—it offers an escape to a new life as a young teacher to Argentina’s elite girls. Mavi tries to embrace the strangeness of the imposing house—despite warnings not to roam at night, threats from an enigmatic young man, and rumors of mysterious Others. But one of Mavi’s ten students is missing, and when students and teachers alike begin to behave as if possessed, the forces haunting this unholy cliff will no longer be ignored... and one of these spirits holds a secret that could unravel Mavi’s existence. An Imprint Book "Layered and challenging, and full to bursting with intelligence, while at the same time exuberantly bizarre, like it’s having the best time on its own and daring you to join in."—Rory Power, New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls "Faring's exquisite prose weaves a tale that is both seductively eerie and wildly original. I've never read anything like it."—April Genevieve Tucholke, author of The Boneless Mercies

The Tenth Girl

Megan Leprich

Simmering in Patagonian myth, The Tenth Girl is a gothic psychological thriller with a haunting twist. At the very southern tip of South America looms an isolated finishing school. Legend has it that the land will curse those who settle there. But for Mavi—a bold Buenos Aires native fleeing the military regime that took her mother—it offers an escape to a new life as a young teacher to Argentina’s elite girls. Mavi tries to embrace the strangeness of the imposing house—despite warnings not to roam at night, threats from an enigmatic young man, and rumors of mysterious Others. But one of Mavi’s ten students is missing, and when students and teachers alike begin to behave as if possessed, the forces haunting this unholy cliff will no longer be ignored. One of these spirits holds a secret that could unravel Mavi's existence. In order to survive she must solve a cosmic mystery—and then fight for her life. An Imprint Book

shellybn

I really enjoyed this book until I got to the part where it switched from a ghost story to something else. I won't say what, because I don't want to spoil it. The twist was creative and unusual. I personally just would have preferred that it remain a traditional ghost story. I liked the Argentine setting and background. I also liked the characters and most of the plot, and if you are not strongly attached to traditional ghost stories, I think you will like this book very much.

Milo Jean

Okay so I finished this and honestly I’m not sure how I feel about it?

The book is interesting and different from the beginning, being written in two different viewpoints from two different time periods that are somehow interacting in the 70s in Argentina. So I was intrigued right away, and I’m not going to lie and say I didn’t pick this one up because of how people were saying it was weird or polarizing online. That’s exactly why I borrowed it from my library. 

The book has a great creepy horror feel, set in an old finishing school, isolated on a glacier (or a mountain with lots of ice?), that is being reopened for the first time after some virus killed majority of the attendants and staff some 60 years ago. 

I really did enjoy reading from the point of view of Mavi. More so then Angel, since her background was actually made known, instead of Angels which was just being hinted at for majority of the book to make you anticipate the grand reveal. Which really wasn’t all that shocking, I guess? Probably because his background story for the most part really didn’t affect anything in the book at all, except for his mom being dead but we knew that really early on. 

The end of this book, with its twist, was kind of a crazy mess and I haven’t decided how I feel about it. So maybe I’ll change this rating later when I’ve processed it more.

danielle bush

** spoiler alert **
           So im not sure how I feel after reading this book, the atmosphere was written really well, and while i no idea what was happening for most of the book I was still interested enough to keep reading. Then we get the big reveal...

That this is all a game, Angel and the "others" are just players that have uploaded their consciousness into the computer game. Mavi, yessi, and well every other character are all just lines of code. Like what? Angel however is like in love? With Mavi and wants to stop her suffering in the game. Since when the game ends. Everything is just rebooted and the characters can all start to be tortured again. 
The whole book left me feeling kind of baffled.

Ruth Parker 

I had such high expectations for this book. But ultimately I was disappointed. I almost put this book straight down when I read the word ‘savage’ in relation to a tribe and it’s curse... the ending was interesting and I didn’t see it coming - which is the reason I gave it 2 stars. But this book was just problematic to me and I couldn’t recommend it to anyone in good faith.

Tanya Sutton

This book was...interesting. The atmosphere and writing were great and the premise (spooky boarding school) had promise. I was enjoying the first couple hundred pages, then wondered where the story was going for about another hundred more. Then came the twist, one that made me roll my eyes and heave a giant sign of disappointment. It wasn't the kind of twist that gives you chills up your spine and think "YESSSS!" - rather it was an out-of-left-field twist that left me wondering if I wanted to bother finishing. I decided to power through the last few pages because I'd made it this far, right? Wrong. The actual end of the book might have been the worst part...if it hadn't been for the cringe-worthy "mythology" of the Zapuche people in the book. They were described as "savages" and the plot includes a "sacrifice a girl to the gods" trope that feeds into the narrative of the "uncivilized natives." I did not like the handling of the indigenous storyline in the book and wished the author could have made a few changes to make that part of the mythology a bit less stereotypical and more nuanced. 

I'd be interested in giving the author another chance, though, as the writing was good and Faring does a good job building atmosphere in the book, even though the book, unfortunately, didn't ever drift into "scary" territory for me.

Heather Harrington

I found this to be very middle of the road. There wasn't much that stood out, and I didn't love the whole twist ending.

Lauren James

Full Review on my blog, Storied Adventures

2.5 Stars. Because I was actually struggling with 2 or 3 stars. 

This was a WEIRD book. In a good way I think. I liked the concept, the morally grey characters, and the ending. The ending I don't think did come out of left field like a lot of people are saying. I didn't see it coming and it was certainly a twist, but looking back, the author dropped very clever, subtle hints. So, why the 2.5 stars? I feel so bad saying this, but it was boring! It was soooo slow up until the big twist. I just wasn't that entertained by it.

Megan Leprich &
The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring

Reviews

Join the club

Megan Leprich &The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring

Reviews

Join the club

Megan Leprich &
The Tenth Girl by Sara Faring