“The river … it all started with the river.”
In college, a group of 12 girls makes a trip down the Mississippi on a raft, inspired by reading Huckleberry Finn in class. Decades later, one of them has passed away and her husband has requested her closest friends to take her ashes on a riverboat cruise down the river and scatter her ashes in New Orleans. Harriet is in charge of the ashes but wonders if Baby’s death was actually an accident or if their past came back to haunt her finally. Their stories, along with Courtney, Anna and Catherine’s are told as they travel the river a second time.
I am planning to make a dent in the pile of books I have around my house to read this year. The Last Girls is my first pick from my physical To-Be-Read (TBR) pile. I don’t remember where I got most of the books, but they were most likely bought at a used bookstore or a library book sale or given to me by a fellow reader.
Harriet is facing the fact that she has lived her life without love or children and now that is permanent with a medically needed hysterectomy. Anna is a famous author who found love but never told anyone about her childhood. Courtney has lived decades with an unfaithful husband and now that she has found a lover, he is demanding she leave her sick husband for good. Catherine brought her husband on the trip, but finds a lump in her breast on the trip and doesn’t know how to tell him. These stories are told to the backdrop of the drama that affected their relationships during college.
The Last Girls is a slow-moving, but interesting, drama. There is no climax to the plot, but more of a coming-of-menopause-age story of four women who knew each other in college. I kept expecting a huge secret to come out, but the book focuses on relationships and how little things can affect a relationship to the core forever.
The book is for mature readers who enjoy a book that takes them into people’s lives. The book is almost biographical in nature, taking turns telling the stories from each woman’s point of view.
Do you stay in touch with college friends? Share on the blog!