Lang Leav’s debut novel Sad Girls is a bold expression of young love jeopardised by grief, panic and masochism. From writing poetry to short stories about love, life, and heartbreaks, Lang Leav has come a long way to concoct everything into a young adult novel. Sad Girls is a book of juvenile love, lust and lies that eventually lead to vile repercussions with breakage beyond repair.
The book follows 18-year-old Audrey encountering a series of panic attacks after the death of a classmate, Ana, resulting from a rumour, a lie told by Audrey to her close friends Lucy and Candela. Audrey gets feverishly attached to Rad, Ana’s boyfriend, even though her doting boyfriend Duck worships her. The guilt of cheating and the dangerous lie riles up Audrey’s mind as she decides to confess her fault, which leads her to escape the town and move to Colorado. Audrey’s move is met with significant change in attitude and mentality as the panic attacks start fading away when she decides to go back home for the occasion of Candela’s wedding. She meets Rad, confronts him, and they get together again with everything in their lives falling into place as both land up decent jobs without even making it to college. But this reconciliation opens up to Audrey a secret and another tragedy that has a terrible source she wasn’t ready for.
What the author projects as sensitive and impulsive through Audrey, may strike mature readers as flighty, volatile and selfish. Basically, it is a coming-of-age story with all its attendant aches and turmoils and much more
What the author projects as sensitive and impulsive through Audrey, may strike mature readers as flighty, volatile, and selfish. Basically, a coming-of-age story with all its attendant aches and turmoils, and much more!
How critics view the book:
Lipstick & Literature writes, “Sad Girls is a beautiful and heartbreaking coming-of-age story about experiencing love.”
The Bibliophile Girl says that Sad Girls is an “amazing plot-driven novel that keeps you on your toes and also keeps you guessing the entire time”.
Published in Daily Times, August 18th 2017.