There will be blood and plenty of it by the end of Emma Cline’s California-set debut, which is loosely based on the Manson “family” and their crimes. Both father and daughter make demands of the mother, but only the father gets his met. What Cline wants most of all is for us to have sympathy, to understand how girls could commit such shockingly unfeminine crimes. The linguist Deborah Cameron tells a story in The Myth of Mars and Venus about a family dinner. “There was so much to destroy.” Taut, beautiful and savage, Cline’s novel demands your attention.

Source: The Guardian June 08, 2016 15:00 UTC