The Girls of No Return

Saladin, Erin. The Girls of No Return. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, 2012. 348p.

 

Set deep into the wilderness, The Alice Marshall School resides.  A place for disturbed teenage girls, the school’s mission is to rehabilitate the troubled youth through living-off-the-land existence, group therapy, and solo wilderness survival.  The school is teeming with girls who struggle with anger, regret, and self-loathing. It is into this environment that Lida Wallace is placed.  As Lida comes to terms with her past, she struggles to interact and understand the girls at the school, particularly the extremely callous Boone and Gia, who intrigues Lida with her exotic lifestyle.  When secrets are revealed however, Lida makes a fateful choice- a mistake that she can never take back.

 The strength of The Girls of No Return is its raw emotions that come through the pages. These girls are wounded and the reader can feel it. It’s palpable.  Erin Saladin has done a terrific job of capturing the helplessness and confusion that is often felt during teenage years.  Many times throughout my reading, I couldn’t help but think “Oh Lida.” With just a few more years of maturity and life experience, she would not have to torment herself as she does. 

A weakness in the novel is that it is rather slow-paced.  As the girls are subjected to dull therapy at Alice Marshall, I felt as though I was too. Lida’s feelings are real, they’re powerful, but they don’t seem overwhelming enough to have the entire novel centered around.  Add into the mix a rather one-dimensional set of secondary characters, the novel tends to be a bit stagnant.

While The Girls of No Return is not necessarily the most powerful novel available, it was still a work that got underneath the skin of the reader.  For young adult readers, who may be feeling acutely the demons Lida faces, this novel may be a lifeline for them.  It is certainly worth the time it took to read and may make readers think twice about the dark secrets of the unassuming teenage girl. Happy camping everyone.