Book Review: "A Good Happy Girl" by Marissa Higgins
A young woman named Helen grapples with her parents' disturbing crime while building a relationship with a lesbian couple.
📍 Literary women's fiction
📍 Unconventional love
📍 Self-destructive protagonist
📍 Family dysfunction
📍 Repressed memories
Characters With Depth, But Uneven Development
Helen is well-drawn as someone barely holding it together, prone to self-destructive behavior as she tries to escape her family issues. Catherine and Katrina, the couple Helen gets involved with, are also vividly portrayed. However, as the story progressed, I found myself wishing for more growth and development from them.
A Plot That Meanders
The pacing and plot is where my interest started to wane the further I read. After a strong start, the story began to meander and lose focus in the middle.
Final Thoughts
The characters are memorable, but the story ultimately failed to keep me fully engaged. However, it's still a nice first novel that showcases Higgins' skills with character, theme, and language.