Reviews

The Last Girls by Lee Smith

serendipityinthestacks's review against another edition

3.0

Although I found the characters to be quite shallow, I was entranced with the story; however, I found the ending to be a let down. Over 400 pages spent with this book and I feel like it goes unfinished, like I missed the last two chapters...perhaps it's just me, but I like a tidy ending.

eliansley's review against another edition

emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

emmamgregory's review against another edition

3.0

The Last Girls kept me interested as it's based on a trip down the Mississippi in a river boat like Mark Twain. 5 women take the trip who went on a similar trip 30 years previous, all being room mates at a girls only college. The story goes from present to past with each girl narrating their story. I liked hearing about the towns and plantations from Memphis to New Orleans as I really know nothing about the South. Having said this I only gave the novel 3 stars for the simplistic writing style.

erinmp's review against another edition

2.0

I wanted to like this. I liked the premise a d I wanted to enjoy a book that so many others did not. Alas, it was not to be.

Like the other reviewers, I felt that there were too many viewpoints and they weren't arranged well. Switching between them within chapters didn't help the matter. I also hated the excerpts of Anna's book. It didn't add to the story at all and was more confusing than anything else. And while I thought that I'd enjoy knowing what the other "girls" were doing, the updates at the end of the book were disjointed a d completely unnecessary. We'd heard these women's names maybe twice total in the book and we're supposed to care about them? No. There were also too many questions that were left open that I would have liked to seen answered.

heykaren23's review against another edition

3.0

"Last Girls" started out very strong. The back stories on each character drew me in. But then I realized that the main storyline ambled along poorly as the Mississippi does. There really wasn't much of a plot. If there had been SOMETHING going on during the trip to tie the characters together, well, the book would have garnered better reviews. It ended poorly as well. The author needed a better editor.

sueann's review against another edition

3.0

An interesting group of women reunite to reprise a trip down the Mississippi to New Orleans. Smith reveals each character, showing life's twists and turns. Thoroughly enjoyable.

judyward's review against another edition

3.0

Thirty-five years after a 1963 rafting trip down the Mississippi, four college friends are back on the river. But this time, they are on a luxury steamboat and they are reuniting to scatter the ashes of their mutual friend into the Mississippi River. The five women who made the rafting trip in the 1960s, Harriet, Courtney, Catherine, Anna, and Baby, were suitemates at Mary Scott College in Virginia. Each of the "last girls" has a story that begins at Mary Scott and loops back and forth from college days to the present.

saraelm's review against another edition

2.0

I expected more from this -- the characters were fairly superficial and somewhat flat, but the plot did move along.

kritterbird's review against another edition

1.0

I got to page 77 and just couldn't go on....I couldn't fall in love with any of the characters introduced....The story seemed to switch between points of views from one paragraph to the next and I would have a hard time figuring out who was who snd what was what.

siobhanward's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

 This book felt like a let down. I really wished that Smith had focused on the girls' raft trip - that would have been such an interesting read. It just didn't feel like there was enough content in their later lives to fill 400 pages. Things moved slowly and everything felt repetitive. The snippets into the past were interesting, but it felt like they all swerved around the trip itself and I just don't get why.