This was such an interesting read. It's really not a topic or subject matter that I'm generally interested in, so I looked over it a couple times before finally picking it up. And I'm glad I did, though I still don't think this topic will ever jump to the top of my favorites list... The "cult" story line is really just a vehicle for the real narrative, one that I am pretty sure would hit any girl right in a soft spot. The author does a magnificent job describing what it's like to grow up as a girl - to always be looking for a way to make yourself that much prettier, that much more acceptable, the games and tricks suggested by friends and magazines to drop that last few pounds or catch the eye of that guy. And all the while you lose yourself, or fail to ever find yourself, in the never-ending struggle to be noticed. And the compromises you make or the rationalizations you feed yourself...they make look insane to an outsider, but if you could get a peek at how the persons got to those conclusions, maybe it's not so unrealistic after all. And though this story took place in the 60s, and of course you can argue how things have changed for women, underneath it all, that need to be seen, to be acknowledged and accepted, is still very much there. The voice of the adult narrator looking back and truthfully, as objectively as possible, walking us through her 14 year old thought processes resonated as very real with me, very honest. Her infatuation with a lifestyle that allowed you to let got a little, and a girlhood crush a someone who seemed so much "cooler," confident (Suzanne), and how easy it was to overlook the bad things in favor of her inner desires, that's something I think anyone can recognize in themselves. And in the end, that that summer stayed with her, perhaps haunted her and colored all her future interactions, for the rest of her life - out of fear, out of longing - it's not surprising. What an experience for a young girl to live through, to survive. And her own self introspection to try and come to terms with what she would have done, how she might have participated that last night, if Suzanne had not left her behind...how hard that must have been, and how horrifying. And finally, Evie seeing her younger self, the same losing of self and need for a space in someone else's world, that she saw in Sasha and simultaneously realizing that even after living it and learning something, she was powerless to stop another young girl from going through all the same things, that Sasha would have to find out for herself, again perhaps a horrifying discovery. The exploration of a person and their inner emotions here was really something, a bit like a wreck that you slow down to look at and can't stop staring, our obsession with that kind of spectacle, the author capitalizes on that and delivers.