This was a book that sounded fascinating to me in premise. It's about a fictionalized Manson family, and the murders they committed, narrated by a fringe member of the group who wasn't involved in the murders. I thought it would be an interesting psychological look into cults and the time period. But honestly, everything about the execution bored me.

It's not that I disliked much of anything about this book specifically. The main character was fine. The cult was fine. Her parents were fine. The world was fine. But I was so bored. I wound up pushing myself through just to be done with it. It's not a particularly long book, and six days for me is quite a bit of time. But nothing in the book made me care.

One of the biggest issues for me was that the stakes didn't feel very high. We know from the beginning that the main character (whose name I have long since forgotten and can't be bothered to check) was not involved in the murders. She reiterates this fact multiple times throughout, just in case you forgot. And that's fine in theory. I've read plenty of books that are about larger events narrated by bystanders. Those can be fascinating, a smaller life with larger events going on around it. But nothing about it worked for me here. Like the climax itself was the fact that the main character wasn't involved in the murders. Which we already knew. But that's kind of the height of the story, the big dramatic moment. To me it didn't feel like anything else had any real development, but the cult almost felt like the background to her home life.

The other thing I didn't love was the writing style. I swear Cline tried so hard to say everything in the most roundabout way possible. It was everything from describing a dog to the events taking place. I only bothered saving one quote though because just looking at it made me roll my eyes. “His permissive equations reduced these concepts to hollow relics, like medals from a regime no longer in power.” Like I dunno, I'm sure there are people who like that kind of writing style, and certainly plenty of people love this book, but there can be such power in saying things simply. Just write what you mean. I found it frustrating.

I don't really have anything else to say. Mostly I was just bored, and also not a fan of the writing style. I almost considered giving this book three stars because I didn't really actively dislike it, but also I'm not entirely sure it did enough for me to be considered mediocre. It was forgettable. And I'm a little astounded that a book about cults and murder and growing up in the 60s was quite so boring and forgettable.