Girls on Fire is a chilling novel that is prefaced by two quotations: one from Romantic poet William Blake, the other from grunge icon Kurt Cobain. These epigraphs shed light on the story that is to follow: a surprisingly well-constructed literary work speckled with the dark intimacies of teenage angst.
As YA author Robin Wasserman’s first adult novel, Girls will bring you back, vividly, to the pain and pleasure of youth. The story is set in 1991 in Battle Creek, a small Midwestern town that has just been shaken by the apparent suicide of a local boy in the woods on Halloween. Alongside his death, rumors of Satanism are whirring through the air. The usually uneventful town feels the jolt of this tragedy and the community is in a state of disarray.
Wasserman writes from the perspective of each central character: Hannah Dexter, or “Dex” as she is newly dubbed by her rebellious best friend Lacey, is the relatable every-girl. Her most prominent character trait being her impressionability, she is a wallflower and finds herself bored and lonely in her hometown. Her world is flipped when she catches the attention of Lacey, the Cobain-worshipping new kid who quickly becomes the resident rebel. Their friendship is as immediate as it is intense and the two become inseparable. Lacey essentially molds “Dex” to her liking: almost an exact replica of herself and the book quickly becomes laundry list of all the bad things you could possibly do as a teenager: drugs, sex, drinking, devil worship, animal sacrifice…
It would be a crime to give too much of this novel away. It is a dark mystery wrapped in a love story, and though it has all the makings of a YA novel, Girls on Fire is more complex than that. It explores friendship bordering on obsession, as well as the subsequent behavior that can come from that.
Lacey’s own obsession with and idolization of Kurt Cobain is reflected in the way that Dex views her. Someone who is strong enough for the both of them, someone she needs. Though she could be perceived as a bad influence, in the eyes of her new best friend she can do no wrong. Girls on Fire pushes past boundaries and speaks in a way that is true to the familiar struggles of finding yourself in high school. It speaks to the many perspectives involved in relationships and evaluates the thin line between "right" and "wrong".
NPR called Girls 'terrifying, upsetting, and beautiful,' and could not have been more on point. Be warned, however, for it will take some dark turns and is exceedingly difficult to stop reading.
