The Girls With No Names (Book Review)

The Girls with No Names by Serena Burdick
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This was very well-written, although I'm still not entirely sure what to say about it. The tragedies involved are almost Shakespearean with their miscommunication and misinformation. It is a tragedy, but not hopeless, I don't think. Towards the end, I found myself thinking not quite "How are we going to get out of this?" but "How is this going to end in a way that isn't utterly despairing?" But Burdick found a way that was both (mostly) satisfying and still believable within the context of the story.

I read it in under two days, which means it kept my interest the whole time (and that's saying something). The changing point of views in the chapters is well done and not confusing; the same with the changing time periods in the main story timeline. Even as the original "mystery" gets answered, we still want to see how all the different stories come together. The historical aspects feel accurate; also be sure to check out Burdick's afterword as she touches on some important points, including the use of the word "gypsy."

I guess I'm giving it three stars ("I liked it") rather than 4 because I'm unsure what I was supposed to get from it -- other than feminist anger and hatred for organized religion, both of which I already have in spades. It could also be the tragic nature of the stories being told; that's not my usual preference or genre in what I read.

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