Review: Trouble Girls by Julia Lynn Rubin
Trouble Girls
by Julia Lynn Rubin
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Publish Date: June 1, 2021
ebook
272 Pages
Standalone
Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Queer, Retellings
A queer YA #MeToo reimagining of Thelma & Louise with the aesthetic of Riverdale, for fans of Mindy McGinnis, Courtney Summers, and Rory Power.
When Trixie picks up her best friend Lux for their weekend getaway, she’s looking to escape for a little while, to forget the despair of being trapped in their dead-end Rust Belt town and the daunting responsibility of caring for her ailing mother. The girls are packing light: a supply of Diet Coke for Lux and her ‘89 Canon to help her frame the world in a sunnier light; half a pack of cigarettes for Trixie that she doesn’t really smoke, and a knife—one she’s just hanging on to for a friend—that she’s never used before.
But a single night of violence derails their trip and will forever change the course of the girls’ lives, as they go from ordinary high schoolers to wanted fugitives. Trying to stay ahead of the cops and a hellscape of media attention, the girls grapple with an unforgiving landscape, rapidly diminishing supplies, and disastrous decisions at every turn. As they are transformed by the media into the face of a #MeToo movement they didn’t ask to lead and the road before them begins to run out, Trixie and Lux realize that they can only rely on each other, and that the love they find together is the one thing that truly makes them free.
In rushing, powerful prose Julia Lynn Rubin takes readers on “a blistering, unapologetic thrill ride” (Emma Berquis) that will leave them haunted and reeling. Trouble Girls is “a powerful, beautifully-written gut punch” (Sophie Gonzales).
My Review:
As a huge Thelma & Louise fan, I was so excited to buddy read this “queer YA #MeToo reimagining” with @heatherflynnstagram. It stars off pretty strong where Trixie and Liz have a crazy night before having to take off on the run.. and the author brings us readers on their doomed journey.
Unfortunately it all kind of feel apart for me as the book continued. I get that they are just girls who don’t have the best home lives amd have suffered I their own ways… but we never really get a good sense of what is happening within and between them. Trixie’s crush on Lux, Lux’s mood changes, loyalty but mistrust… then it would flip and it just seemed a bit choppy in certain areas. I think bringing in a little bit of levity into this very somber read would’ve helped abut and for goodness sakes, I am now tied to reading the word ‘hog’.
Also, I think there was a little moss with the #MeToo angle of the story. It definitely touches upon the subject matter but misses the mark in execution. Many parts get like they were just left to dangle and I wouldn’t liked seeing these parts expanded upon. I don’t know y’all. There are so many moments where my heart went out to these girls and I wanted to scoop them up and take care of them but this puzzle has a lot of pieces to it and I’m not sure they all for as well as they could. 🤷🏻♀️😔
★★
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