Customer Reviews

Girls: A Novel

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I came upon this book quite on accident, yet I'm pleased that I did! Frederick Busch, a prolific writer who has written over a dozen works since the 1970's does a wonderful job of telling the story of Jack, a Vietnam vet, who is struggling with the loss of his daughter, and the gradual loss of his marriage. Jack is a compelling character, with a wonderful narrative voice. There is a mystery of dead/missing girls which Jack gets wrapped up into, and yet, there is so much more here, like the healing process which Jack so needs to experience.

If you're looking for a pure thriller/mystery about missing girls, then look elsewhere. If you want a richly layered novel with believable characters, a great plot, and with some unexpected surprises thrown in, READ THIS. I, personally, have just purchased two new Busch novels, and I can't wait to see how they stack up with Girls.

This is one of those rare books where you have to just keep saying to yourself, "Wow! This author can WRITE! " Busch's command of the language is exquisite, and I thought his lead character was so wise and compassionate. I loved the way he cared so deeply about the kids on the campus he was hired to protect. The ending totally caught me by surprise-- and like the main character and his psychiatrist, I couldn't see a way through the paradox. If I had to change one thing, it would be to get rid of the professor/love affair thing. I didn't really feel it added anything to the story. I can't wait to get my hands on other things this author has written!

Our college has a mystery book club. I don't read mysteries generally, but I liked the idea of all of us talking about books. When I recommended they read Girls, I figured everyone would love it as I did. Silly me. My colleagues (with only one exception) hated it. They hated Jack. They hated the story. They hated everything except the dog. I felt so bad until I realized that this is not a book for mystery lovers. Mystery lovers want tidy stories; there's comfort in a good mystery that makes life seem to have some sense, some logic. But Busch's writing is not a mystery of that type. It's a love story. It's a religious tract. It's a war story. It's the kind of book that grabs you by the throat and shakes you alive, whether you want to be or not. And readers who, for whatever reason, would prefer not to be shaken, hate the book. Busch is one of my favorite writers. He is magical and honest and always moves me deeply. But he does not write mysteries.

What a troubled world we live in!

Mr. Busch takes us into a world where girls are abducted and murdered, a story told from the perspective of a man troubled by his own secrets and his own loss, who is called upon to assist the family of a girl who disappeared. The story of what might be an abduction unfolds, evoking in Jack, the main protagonist, memories of his own unresolved tragedy. We witness his struggle as he investigates the disappearance, discovering along the way the heart rending story in which both he and his wife are entangled. Patience is required and rewarded in this painful meditation on human suffering.

There are no heroes in this story, at least in a conventional sense, only human beings grappling with conflicting emotions. Mr. Busch gives us a main character at once admirable and tormented. There are no easy answers or happy endings here, only the nitty gritty challenges of life. That doesn't mean you won't care for these characters, you almost surely will. But the emotion evoked will most likely be empathy as you observe Jack, his wife and friends come to terms with suffering that is sometimes too much to bear.

Mr. Busch is a master story teller and this book, despite its dark themes, is very much worth reading.

I admired _Girls_ for many of its qualities, not the least of which is the strong characterization. At its heart, it tells the story of the effect that a child's death has had on a marriage, and all the ways that people try to cope with and understand what happened. Jack and Fanny and Rosalie are sad and wise and believable, as are the landscapes they move in (both physical and emotional).

For me, what limited the novel was the whodunnit aspect of the disappearance of Janice Tanner. While I understand how Busch tried to build it into the emotional plot, and while I think that the effect on Jack of her disappearance was a believable way to trigger the events of the story, I was disappointed with its eventual resolution and the neat way that the questions of guilt that it raised tied into Jack's own marriage. The completeness of the story felt contrived, as Jack seemed to me the sort of character who is never really complete.

I picked up the book in a fairly random way, and am glad that I did. I grew up in upstate New York, and Busch captured the atmosphere in a way that made the time to read the book worth it for that alone. I'll probably read more Busch as I come across it, but I think that the next time I will go for the short stories, as the best part of this novel was the part that I thought of as a very good short story.

On the surface, this would appear to be a mystery. Jack is a college cop and spends his days patrolling campus, in an effort to keep affluent students from self-destructive activities. His wife, Fanny, is an ER nurse, facing life and death challenges each time she goes on shift. Neither can deal with the overwhelming grief at the loss of their baby daughter. At the crux of their grief is Fanny's memory that she last saw her daughter in Jack's arms; she can remember little else. The emotionally stronger Jack is afraid should Fanny remember what could destroy her fragile psychological balance. Jack displaces his grief as he joins the search for a missing girl. Although he senses that the missing child is dead, through his investigation Jack finds his own salvation. His struggle towards wellness drives a wedge between Jack and Fanny, who is so desperately trying to maintain her own sanity. The realization of the murderer's identity strikes Jack along with his increasingly stronger grasp of life. Everything comes at a price: a marriage, peace of mind, the ability to make human connections. The reader cannot help but wish that Jack might find light and purpose in his life in this well-written, often poetic novel.

It is easy to come under the spell of Frederick Busch's almost meditative writings on loss.Girls is no exception. Jack is a security guard on a school campus. Fanny is a registered nurse at a local hospital. Their marriage is being destroyed due to the loss of their only child, a baby named Hannah. There is blame. Their is truth. Their is sheilding from the truth. There is pain. A minister and his wife, the Tanners, have a daughter who is a student at Jacks school. She dissappears and is feared kidnapped. Jack a former MP in Vietnam, although just a security guard, is asked to help find Hannah, the girl. Because of the estrangement of Jack and Fanny, Jack gets involved with a professor at the school.Throughout the book we wonder at how Hannah died. Not untl the end do we find the full facts about Hannahs death and the missing daughter of the Tanners.A meditation on loss.

I'm not going to overly intellectualize on this. What I've always liked best about Busch is his ability to crystallize the truth of a momentary feeling in domestic human relationships that immediately makes you think it is so obvious you wonder why you never realized it before. And he does it with an unadorned prose that is both sharp and simple. "Girls" slowly uncovers the pain. desperation, and fear of a few people in the way people themselves (if they're lucky) discover it, after the fact and as if by accident and with some real understanding coming out of it. Many books are (or at least their dust jackets claim them to be) about bleakness leading to hope: this book makes you believe it. Mark Boyer

Beautiful writing, the word dense keeps coming to mind. The story is so thick and dense, I got lost in it. I am impressed with the dreams inside reality. Jack is a flawed and awsome hero and humble enough to give credit to those who aid him. Fanny makes my guts tighten, I want so much for her to explode safely. Thanks to Mr. Busch for the comic relief every now and then, a chance to catch my breath. Am now looking for more of the author's books, since this was my first. Great story. All the characters were defined economically, yet with perfect clarity.

A wonderful and emotional ride. In "Girls", the reader becomes part of the autors world , feeling the pain, happiness and sorrow that go along with the theme. Not only does the reader become attached but it feels as if the reader is living the story being told. The novel depicts real life situations and focuses very much on those who try to leave the realities of their lives behind them.
When i fist read the title of the book, "Girls", i never thought that it would be more than just a simple book on the lives of girls living in America. The novel was powerful in the sense that the writer focused on the internal strength and guilt that comes along with adulthood. It invisioned real life situations such as drugs,marriage, self image and death. Frederick Busch really depicted the reality of life through the lives of each character.It was mysterious and intriguing,a powerful story that leaves us wondering and feeling each characters pain. It is impossible to put the book down it keeps you reading each page wanting to know what will happen next.The novel is mysterious and suspensful, filled with emotional struggles and life changing events. A story that deals with one's endless battle with life and reality.
I recommend this book to anyone who has suffered or lost someone they love. Anyone who wishes to understand the tragities of life a little better. This book really is an eye opener and can teach us alot about moral values and the fragilties that life bestowes upon us.Frederick Busch has written a wonderful novel that reaches deep into your soul.