3 STARS
It wasn't until finishing 'The Girls of Slender Means' that I realized just how incredibly, and thoughtfully, written it is. What I had mistaken for lack of driving plot, repetitive rambling, and generally a lot of nonsense, was really the careful crafting of an author who knew exactly how to make her final point all the more poignant and unsettling. The writers authorial asides throughout the novel, combined with its non-linear narrative, point out the inevitability of the girls future. Similarly, farcical episodes of legs poking out of windows, seemingly trivial tid-bits of informations, and repeated statements eventually culminate into a map showing the unavoidable conclusion at the novels climax. The pieces suddenly fall into place and the reader can only look on in horror as the story unfolds and farce seamlessly becomes devastating tragedy. It's definitely a novel worth sticking with.
