The Girls of No Return

by Erin Saldin

Erin Saldin's The Girls of No Return is a lacerating young adult debut about girls, knives, and redemption. The Alice Marshall School, set within a glorious 2-million acre wilderness area, is a place where teenage girls are sent to escape their histories and themselves. Lida Wallace has tried to negate herself in every way possible. At Alice Marshall, she meets Elsa Boone, Jules, and Gia Longchamps, whose glamour entrances the entire camp. As the girls prepare for a wilderness trek, Lida is both thrilled and terrified to be chosen as Gia's friend. Everyone has their secrets – the “Things” they try to protect; and when those come out, the knives do as well.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, LGBT, Coming Of Age, Mental Health

343 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2012

About the author

Erin Saldin has been a Peace Corps Volunteer in Togo, West Africa and a bartender in New York City, and holds an MFA from the University of Virginia, where she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow in fiction. She has been awarded the Rrofihe Trophy in Fiction, and her work has been selected for The Best New American Voices 2009. In 2010, she was awarded PEN/Northwest’s Margery Davis Boyden Wilderness Residency, and spent six months living off the grid in the Klamath mountains of Oregon. Her short stories, reviews, and essays have appeared in Fivechapters, Open City, The New York Times, The Best New American Voices, The Northwest Review, and The Virginia Quarterly Review. Her debut novel for young adults, The Girls of No Return, was published in February, 2012 by Arthur Levine/Scholastic Books.

Erin lives in Missoula, Montana, where she teaches at the University of Montana.

Reviews

[Emily May · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Sometimes the line between love and desperation is damn thin."

You know, when I was around eleven to fourteen I had this friendship with a girl called Lizzy, and it may still be the most complex relationship I've ever had. I didn't have many friends at that age. I was shy, strange, unpopular... so Lizzy was an unusual case. We were not good friends; we each enjoyed having something the other didn't and I think we were both a little jealous of one another. Her of me because I went through puberty early, and me of her because of her dazzling confidence and ability to talk (and flirt) with anyone.

But our relationship was intense. We spent those few years living and breathing each others lives, sleeping at either my house or hers nearly every night. She knew when I would get my period, the nights and times when my favourite TV shows were on (even if they weren't hers). We would practice kissing on one another and talk about all the things that scared us about growing up and sex. Then we got older, became different people and went to different schools. I haven't thought about her in a long time.

The Girls of No Return hit something deep inside me. I can't promise it will be for everyone - the below average ratings clearly indicate that it is not. But there was something about the intense girl friendships, jealousies and complexities in this novel that made me wonder where Lizzy is now.

“Don't be afraid to explore the shadows. You might find some hope within the hurt.”

This book is a detailed character study about a bunch of girls who have all been sent to a school for troubled teens. They are up in the mountains and away from civilization; their entire lives are tangled up in teen girl politics and their love/hatred/obsessions with one another. The story is full of secrets, pain and sadness. Each of these girls has her "Thing" that they are trying to hide and protect from the world but, as you can imagine, in such a tiny and intense community, it's hard for anything to stay hidden for long.

It amazes me how well-drawn each character is. There are no stereotypes and it's easy to go through stages where you hate one character, only to pity them in the next chapter. Lida is the MC and she's running from her past; Boone is a standoffish girl who no one messes with; Jules is a beacon of positivity who it's hard to imagine has a dark past; and then there's the beautiful, otherworldly Gia, who comes into their lives and stirs up more trouble than anyone ever imagined.

The narrative alternated between the past story of these girls and the "Epilogue" in which we discover that something bad has happened but we're not sure what. I really enjoy effective use of past tense to create a sense of inevitability about the tale. But it is the interesting dynamics between the very different characters that makes this book so special for me. They all feel so very REAL. Uniquely-crafted in their own way but, at the same time, very familiar to nearly everyone who has ever been a teenage girl. And there's something so inexplicably sad about it all... about growing up, changing, facing your demons and learning that someone might not be what you thought they were.

I really loved it.

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[karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!

i am disappointed in each and every one of you who never told me about this book's existence.

this book is the darker and more plausible, real-world version of beauty queens, which is a book i adored, so i'm not making a quality-judgment here with that "p" word, just a comparison.

it is a book about girls, and the sometimes horrible/sometimes beautiful way that they operate within the world of girl.

it takes place at the alice marshall school for girls, a sort of outdoor reform school for wayward girls - girls for whom the traditional school system has been unsuccessful in one way or another. located deep in the middle of idaho, on two million acres of wilderness, it is a combination of classes, group therapy, and strenuous physical activity meant to strip away the attitudes and posturings these girls have cultivated as their armor in order to help them identify and come to terms with the root of their own damage; their "thing" which has come to define them .

but it also isolates a bunch of troubled girls in the middle of nowhere, away from their families and their routines, and sets up a very specific hierarchy and support system that can either be deeply rewarding or gasoline-on-campfire. it is about friendship, but also about betrayal.

the best and most positive relationship in the book is the one between karen and gwen. in the outside world, they would probably never have traveled in the same social circles; gwen is all goth-emo while karen is a hippie, but here they are just two girls who have found each other, and are drawn to each other as they are. they are inseparable, and i really liked their bond, especially as it was only a quiet background-note, a healthy secondary plotline to the larger and more problematic story on the main stage.

the focus of the novel revolves around boone, gia, and the narrator lida. lida is writing this book, after the events have taken place, as a healing exercise, and so the truth about what happened one fateful night can come to light, and to expose all the circumstances that made it possible. it is a confession, apology, love letter, and explanation of the truth as she witnessed it.

boone is the undisputed leader of the school. she is all tough girl swagger and dark past; smart, capable, and independent. she is the one who hazes the new girls, having been there longer than anyone else and seen all there is to see. she is all surface tough, but is also fiercely loyal. you know the type, sure, but saldin manages to give her a spark all her own, and she doesn't come across as a caricature.

lida is in awe of boone, but also wary. they live in the same cabin, but boone's prickliness does not lend itself to immediate friendship - she's the kind of girl you have to earn.

gia arrives on the scene, all charismatic and beautiful and mysterious, and she and boone immediately become rivals. gia is distant and seemingly above it all, but she singles lida out as someone to share quiet moments with; an outsider amongst outsiders. lida immediately comes under gia's spell, and shares things with her that she has told no one else.

powderkeg.

i found this book on a list of lesbian YA novels, but i do want to caution readers approaching it with that in mind. while it is very much about girl-love and crushes and the emotional toll of first love, this is not a relationship novel in that sense. it is more about coming under the spell of another person, and in this case it just happens to be another girl. however, it is so perfectly-written and painfully accurate, it is relatable to any orientation.

there are so many great moments of emotional impact here: the girls dancing in their own ways to the same music, the painful and illuminating reunions during parents' weekend, the moment when lida's "thing" is obliquely exposed, and boone's response to it…

and, of course, the huge climactic scene, which is maddeningly cut off right before the payoff, and is handled so perfectly for me. it involves lida forced to make a terrible decision, which decision is not revealed until a few chapters later, and it is so huge, horrible, and above all real, that it gut-punched me, and although it broke my heart, it felt exactly right. horribly, regrettably, awfully right. but, you know, wrong. just realistic.

there are so many things to love about this book, i can't even get into it. i hope she has many more books in her.

come to my blog!

[Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A solid debut novel that follows Lida as she joins the Alice Marshall School for Girls, a community filled with adolescent women as troubled as Lida herself. There, Lida meets Boone, who burned down a building and scares her peers into submission, Jules, who appears too bright and happy to belong at the school, and Gia, whose posh and mysterious manner bewitches those around her. When Gia chooses Lida as her friend, Lida feels honored and fearful. These feelings intensify as Lida's friendship with Gia starts drama with Lida's friendship with Boone. As the conflict between the three escalates, so does Lida's search to uncover what she wants at the school, as well as how she can confront the past that got her there.

I struggled to rate this book because what I liked, I really liked. Erin Saldin does a fantastic job portraying the intensity and messiness of female friendship. Lida's obsessive and sometimes toxic relationship with Gia came across with such power and realism, in particular because Saldin writes its aftermath with poignancy and displays how Lida learns from the unhealthy components. I also appreciated Lida's growth throughout the book and how she uses writing as a way to process her grief and trauma. Saldin approaches dark topics such as self-harm with sensitivity and care, though you may want to watch out if that content may trigger you.

I only give this book a lower rating because while it had many intriguing elements - the school full of girls with Things, nature, Lida's character arc - I felt that not all of these individual parts came together as a cohesive whole. Though I appreciated Lida's friendship dynamics with Gia and Boone as well as her journey with herself, I felt unsure if those two aspects of the novel merged in the most meaningful or solid way. I also wish we had received more background about Gia and Boone, as that would have made their characters even more dynamic and worth investing in.

Overall, a good read I would recommend to fans of realistic young adult fiction who want a slightly darker, more complex book. Curious to see what Saldin writes next.

[☆ Mira ✷ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best character-driven contemporaries I've ever read. When there were 50 pages left, I put off reading this book for a week because I didn't want it to end. RTC someday if I wrap my head around it

[Fiona Knight · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You own it," she said, "and then you leave it behind." This is mine. It's the truth. Take it.

This book was almost entirely different to what I expected going in, and I couldn't have been happier to be so wrong. Erin Saldin has pulled off a very difficult trick, in writing teenage girls well, and in somehow accurately portraying the very real and very deep vein of emotion that runs through everything at that age.

Set at the Alice Marshall School - not quite a juvenile detention centre but the next best thing for troubled young women - we follow Lida as she goes from ultra-raw new arrival, to someone who might finally have found friends and confidence, to someone who has to come head to head with each and every demon she has. Her journey is emotional, but more importantly authentic - that authenticity comes through in each and every character actually, and it's one of the greatest strengths in a remarkably good book. I happened to watch "Girls Incarcerated" recently, and I'd highly recommend it for anyone who enjoyed this - it's a documentary that looks at girls in an actual JDC, and it'll break your heart but it's well worth the watch. Which reminds me Jules actually has a story that completely mirrors one of the girls from Girls Incarcerated. Either that's a completely insane coincidence, or the author did her research in the same place I do mine!.

All round, a very emotional read. But completely worth it.

[TheBookSmugglers · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review originally published on The Book Smugglers

The Alice Marshall School is a school for troubled girls, set in the remote No Return Wilderness Area, a place where these girls can both escape and confront their past. Lida is a lonely, insecure and angry young girl who is sent to the school by her family (father and stepmother), as a last-resort reaction to an undisclosed event. The “Thing” – what brought each and every girl to the school – is what they must face.

The Girls of No Return is an epistolary novel as Lida is sitting down to write about her time at the school from a point in the future. It is obvious that something really serious went down and Lida is still trying to get over it by writing the truth about it. Her aim is to reflect upon the actions that led to the violent outcome hinted at the beginning of the novel. Thus, Lida carefully reveals the circumstances and events that surrounded her short stay at the school. Starting with her arrival and her daily routine, continuing with her getting to know the other girls especially Boone, the troublemaker who shares her cabin and Gia, a beautiful and manipulative newcomer. Little by little, Lida paints a portrait of these girls and their lives at the School building up the story toward the moment of revelation about what went on and how that changed their lives forever.

There are many things to praise with regards to The Girls of No Return. There is a self-assured quality when it came to the writing which is all the more impressive considering that Erin Saldin is a debut author and the fantastic setting was really well-incorporated to the story and effectively became an intrinsic part of the narrative. I also appreciated Lida’s arc and how she had to confront her past, analyse her actions and try to heal in order to move on. The fact that the ending is a realistic depiction of how hard it is to do so and it was not completely ponies-and-sunshine is another commendable aspect of the novel.

That said, I am usually a fan of the epistolary narrative but I am slightly uncertain that it truly worked here: considering how Lida is writing it all down in order to “tell the truth”, there was a considerable amount of forced tension stemming from information that was kept out. At times, it is easy to understand WHY given how Lida was trying to avoid confronting things but often they were rather clumsy (there is this particular moment toward the end of the narrative where people are speaking to Lida and kept interrupting their own narrative for no reason, exactly where they would be revealing certain facts which felt really, really contrived).

Beyond that, I have the overwhelming impression that I have read it all before when it comnes to the characters and the story itself. In fact, I can’t help but to think that for the seasoned ContempYA reader, there is nothing really new to be found here. Despite the fact that Lida is keeping two secrets from the reader (the Thing that brought her to the School, the Thing that happened there), there was enough recognisable patterns in her narrative that it is easy to successfully guess both, therefore removing part of the tension from what is supposed to be a suspense novel. It is equally easy to pin each and every character down from the start as they were all very conventional: the troubled girl with a tortured past; the tough girl who is not really that tough; the girl that is popular and obviously bad news to everybody but the oblivious main character, etc.

Which brings me to one aspect of the novel that saddened me a little. Lida’s obliviousness to Gia’s real character was fascinating in itself and it is obvious that she is developing romantic feelings for the girl. It is in the way that she describes Gia, the way she wants to be regarded by her, the way she feels whenever Gia touches her. Although Lida eventually comes to realise the nature of her feelings for Gia, I felt that this aspect of the story was never addressed directly except for ONE conversation between Gia and Lida about girls getting together at the school that went like this:

" “But of course you’ve seen the “couples” around the school. Right? Holding hands at campfire, sneaking off from the Smokers’ Beach late at night? Tell me you’ve seen them.” She was laughing at me, and I blushed. “Don’t worry. It’s just playacting. As soon as they get out of here, these girls will go back to their lives and boyfriends and random hookups. But while they’re here….” Goa shrugged. “Anything goes.”

Gia elbowed me in the side. “Don’t worry about it, Lida. It’s as real as dreams.” She winked, and was gone."

Because this is the only real time that the LGBT aspect of the story was addressed directly, it made me sad that the only voice we heard on the subject was that of the villain character which was so pointedly distorted. I am not postulating that every single thing MUST be addressed in a book, but when such a powerful scene about a subject that is so commonly misrepresented in real life is played out so pointedly, I do wish there was a counterpoint. Although I will grant that it can certainly be argued that the very fact that it was the villain who voiced this, is a counterpoint in itself.

In the end though, this was but one of the reasons why I was sadly disappointed with The Girls of No Return.

[Mj · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a rarity: well-written, gripping, beautiful yet painful at times, and full of respect for its readers.

The protagonist, Lida, is a 16-year-old girl who has reached the end of the line; her father and stepmother can't handle her anymore, and for reasons that are not immediately clear, she is shipped off to a school for "wayward" young ladies in the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area. The name itself prompts a disquietude in the reader: Will Lida, indeed, return from the wilderness, and if she does, how will she have changed?

The characters, pacing, plotting, and setting are all impeccable. I know I won't be the only one who felt pangs while reading this, remembering how intense female friendships could be at A Certain Age. Saldin captures the drama, pain, and joy of that phase of our lives like she's still living it today.

But what I appreciated most of all was the utter respect she showed for her audience. I find that certain YA books these days are not fully cognizant of the fact that young adults appreciate truly good writing -- not just easy page turners full of vampires and tears and sex. Saldin never writes down to her audience, and that includes an ending that is complex, not necessarily happy, but incredibly true to the spirit of the book and the world of its characters. (I LOVED the ending, by the way.) Lyrical, intricate, and deep in the best sense of the word, Saldin's writing is to be applauded; I hope other YA authors follow in her footsteps as best they can, because we can all benefit from more truly good writing in the YA world.

[CiderandRedRot · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although the premise was very much my cup of tea (milk, one sugar) and I found myself reading compulsively, ultimately The Girls of No Return and I failed to gel. When we first meet Lida she is reflecting back on her recent time at the Alice Marshall School for Girls, a reform school-esqe retreat for troubled ladies deep in Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area, Buttfuck Idaho.

Removed from the temptations of civilization, the inmates girls prepare for their personal wilderness treks - the pinnacle of their somewhat "crunchy granola" healing-growing process - whilst working on their Thing aka the troubling issue that led them to AMS in the first place. Lida is a sealed box of a character; we don’t know her Thing until close to the novel’s end (by which time it is hardly a revelation), but we do learn about some of the other girls in her bunkhouse: pyro tough cookie Boone, suspiciously cheerful Jules and some other characters whose personalities never really stretch beyond the page (I’ve forgotten their names already).

From the start, we know that things ended badly for Lida at AMS. The novel has a finely-drawn sense of place with an intriguing blend of campfire survivalist skills meets camp meets reform school. The teens are largely urban screw ups, with a nice touch being cliques such as the i-Bankers, privileged daughters of the Manhattan elite. Saldin knows her therapy talk and has a good ear (and eye) for the simultaneously hostile and supportive world of these kids in temporary care. It’s a shame that, for me, the central Lida-based storyline derailed these aspects, which I found to be the most intriguing.

At the novel's heart is the love/hate triangle that exists between Lida, Boone and Gia. Saldin authentically conjures up a self-esteem-in-the-dirt teen in Lida - angry, messy, hostile, simultaneously craving yet rejecting attention - but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s an engaging protagonist. And Gia...dude. Gia is the gorgeous, mysterious, world-travelling glamour girl who ensnares poor Lida with a smile and a kind word. Because Gia never moved beyond a concept for me - a sexy lying liar who lies, but who Lida inexplicably finds fascinating - it was hard to credit Lida with much of a brain or Gia with much of an...anything.

[Hyacinth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ugh, I am so disappointed in this book. The initial setup is fascinating. A year after returning home from a boarding school for troubled teens, Lida begins writing a memoir of her experiences. The Alice Marshall School is located in the No Return Wilderness, a vast tract of rugged land in rural Idaho. Whatever happened to Lida there has left her devastated and traumatized. Writing the memoir is a way for her set down the truth on paper. She hints at calamitous events, and expresses guilt and remorse over the fates of her friends. “It's just me here at the end,” she writes, “remembering how it all started and wondering if there was anything I could have done, even then, to save us.”

Beginning this book, I felt really excited. The descriptions of the school and the remote setting are so vivid, I felt like I was there. I was not so impressed with the characters. They're cliché troubled teens, and their dialogue – particularly when they're being snarky – gets tiresome.

My biggest disappointment is that the No Return Wilderness plays such a trivial role in the story. Yes, the girls occasionally go hiking or canoeing. But for the most part, the setting is just a backdrop. There are no adventures of any kind, no sense that being out there is having an impact on their characters. The story focuses on the relationships between the girls, and the girls are not all that fascinating. They do a lot of clandestine smoking, and talk in sharing circles about their problem behaviors. It's all very humdrum.

The main reason I pressed on with this book were the frequent hints at a Virgin Suicides-style ending. The story is so tame for the most part that it's hard to imagine what's going to set off that sort of chaos. I kept reading out of curiosity, and ended up confused. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I will say that the conclusion makes the title of the book laughable. All the ominous foreshadowing leads to a scene that takes place offstage and is described only briefly in flashback. I finished the book feeling let down and irritated.

One star for the gorgeous setting. Otherwise this was a waste of time.

[Kris Irvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a former cutter, I would like to warn anyone who struggles with self-harm that this book could be very triggering.

I'd give The Girls of No Return a 2.5 star rating. I thought it was convincingly written, but the end completely devolved into nonsense and weirdness. The big fight at the end was just a convenient way to tie everything up. I did not love it at all. I also did not love that we never find out Gia's background or what happens to her. That was lame.

However, the rest of the book was good. It was intriguing and the characters likable (if slightly unbelievable. I have a hard time thinking those counselors would ever cut it in a real life program.) I never did figure out why Saldin had multiple names for each clique, but that's okay. I don't recall any specific mention of Lida cutting in the actual book, but it's a major point in the novel.

I don't know. The more I think about it the sloppier the plot gets but the writing was pretty good. So I'll stop thinking about it before my rating goes down.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am glad that I am done reading this book. It wasn't bad, but it dragged on for me and I can't stand books like that.

This was a coming of age book about a group of girls that attend a wilderness school for those that don't fit in at a regular school.

There is some drama but nothing crazy. I kept waiting for something exciting to happen, but nothing ever did...

[Rachel Anderson]

DNF. All over the place. Is this about Lida’s relationship with her family? Or friendships with other troubled girls? Why is a kid who barely came into the story otherwise randomly thrown in as a main focus at the middle?

PICK A TOPIC AND STICK WITH IT.

[Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, I think that The Girls of No Return kind of falls apart at the end, but I liked it so much while I was reading it that I'm not going to hold that against it.

It's also not as good as The Miseducation of Cameron Post (which is legit a masterpiece of young adult literature that everyone should read), although they're similar to each other. (I also watched But I'm a Cheerleader not too long ago, and it was difficult not think of that story too.) This is misleading: the queer content is pretty suppressed (kind of a shame!) and it's as much about a toxic friendship as a toxic first love story - or rather, it's much more a story about a toxic friendship. I was a Bad Reader and I flipped through the book wondering, "do they . . .?" but they don't. It sucks, but it's also kind of a relief.

Anyway, I liked this very much. It's compulsively, propulsively readable. Saldin does a great job at close-first person (is that a thing? I mean the kind of first-person POV that's really limited and flawed) including the "you can't even understand yourself" kind of stuff that makes for such great reading. To be fair, Lida is a fuck-up and she's not the most interesting character in this book (my rankings: 1. Margaret 2. Jules and Boone) but she's a good, fallible narrator. The book's a bit overwrought, but I think that's kind of a point in its favor.

The other thing I really liked was the way it told a story about gaining confidence with the world and yourself. I wish there had a been a little bit more nature, actually, and I never wish that.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt tricked by the last chapter. I didn't find it chilling or dark or exciting (not sure which I should have felt). I had it figured out in the chapter before, and it was almost telling me too much.

The writing here is fantastic. Saldin had me in the wilderness, had me on the canoe, had me under the sky, by the lake, and on each and every hike. Her use of metaphor to connect loose threads from early on in the story to later events is masterful.

The book's set up is unique, too. It's jarring as a reader, but it makes sense for Lida.

I didn't think this was quite the dark story I was led to believe it was, and I blame the last chapter. I know why it's there and what function it serves but it didn't work for me. It'll work for readers looking for a story of friendship that's not necessarily of the mean girls ilk (they're mean girls, but of a bit of a different sort).

Full review here: http://www.stackedbooks.org/2012/03/g...

[reading is my hustle · Rating 5 out of 5]

i read this b/c the first sentence of karen's review cracked me up. her review is spot-on though & i encourage you to read it. i just want to add that this is the most absorbing YA novel i've read about the difficulty of connecting with people when you don't trust anyone. it is Megan Abbott good.

[Angelu · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started out well. Great character building, almost poetic writing, and just the right amount of mystery to keep you reading. I'm not sure if it's just me, but I was hoping for something more.

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Original review posted here.

I know I need to tell my story--our story--but I don’t know how. Because the truth, see--it’s a messy thing. Sometimes the only way to clean it up is to hurtle through each decision you made, trying to find the one that changed everything. Maybe then you can start to fix it.

The Girls of No Return, Erin Saldin’s debut, was not what I expected. I expected my heart to be pounding, my adrenaline to be rushing, and to be affected by it on a visceral level. It didn’t happen that way. Instead, Lida’s story drew me in slowly (very slowly...we’re talking you better have some perseverance and patience because the first half of this book is extremely subdued), chewed me up, and spit me back out again reflecting on women and our relationships to one another in ways that I had not expected.

Our story begins at the end--with an epilogue. Lida is determined to tell her story, reveal her Thing. There are two mysteries, two events to uncover. The Thing that brought her to Alice Marshall School, deep in the River of No Return Wilderness Area of Idaho, and the Thing that sent her home. The school is Lida’s chance at redemption. Alice Marshall is not quite reform school, maybe more reform school-lite, where troubled girls are given a chance to make peace with their past and form a brighter future. Lida is determined to skate by, tucked away in her own solitude, but the surprising allure of the glamorous Gia, and the persistence of Lida’s bunk mates Boone and Jules work to draw her out. Soon Lida finds herself pulled in various directions, unsure of her loyalties and feelings--she never realized she could cause so much damage to anyone besides herself.

Like The Girls of No Return in general, I really had to ease in to liking Lida. She was soooooo convinced that everyone but her was beautiful, and she felt that her problems were bigger than theirs, like she was some unique butterfly who’d had such a harder go of things than every other girl that ended up at Alice Marshall. And I really don’t think she ever moved beyond this point of view. Luckily, I did, and so did the story. I spent the last half of the book with my guts twisting in horror for this girl. Lida is so vulnerable, so easily manipulated, and so unaware of her own feelings that it hurts to read.

Lida finds herself in the middle of a battle of wills between two girls, Boone and Gia. Boone is rough around the edges and quick to bite. She’s renowned at Alice Marshall for ‘welcoming’ the girls as they arrive, and is the only one among them without a safety net out in the real world. Gia is beautiful, mysterious, and quick to rule to roost. She wraps Lida around her fingers, understanding the way Lida feels about her even though Lida herself doesn’t really seem to get that her desires for Gia’s attention are more than platonic. She does so much to draw Lida out of her shell, but when Lida tries to dig under Gia’s surface, Gia balks. Gia accuses Lida of so many behaviors she herself is guilty of, claiming Lida knows everything about her, when in reality Lida knows nothing.

The Girls of No Return was a very powerful reflection of the relationships girls have with one another. Initially, I kept thinking that these problems weren’t big enough, or exciting enough, and then I realized that they were more real. These are the horrible things teen girls really do to one another. I think the thing that saddened me the most was this--there was next to no male presence in this book, and still, a man almost entirely defines what goes down in the wilderness. I hate this reality, that women can be so cruel, manipulative, and horrible to one another for such simple reasons.

In the end, I appreciate how The Girls of No Return affected me. It was a slow, but powerful story that unfolded in a way that jerked at my emotional core. There may have been no tears, but I certainly had some nice long thoughts about why I’ve never had many close female friends.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vaughn 1
Taylor Vaughn
Mrs. Hunter
2/26/12
2UH
The Girls of No Return
*Spoiler Alert*
The book The Girls of No Return by Erin Saldin is both interesting and shocking. It was published by Arthur A. Levine Books (February 1, 2012) and had 352 pages. The Girls of No Return is a realistic fiction book about troubled teens trying to get better at Alice Marshall School for girls. Each one has their own secret and they’ll do almost anything to keep them, but when the truth is finally reviled chaos erupts between three of them until they end up in the hospital. Boone one of the girls ends up with only one eye and the other girl Gia is injured. Lida the main character isn’t harmed but she is also to blame.
Erin Saldin created Lida the main character of the book to be different from characters you read in other books. Lida is an average looking girl with straight brown hair and she is very quiet always trying to blend in with the crowd. I think Erin Saldin made Lida like this to prepare the readers for Lida’s secret. In the book Lida ends up getting two really good friends yet one turned on her so she cuts herself multiple times. Erin Saldin wrote her like this to teach the reader that just because you think you can trust someone doesn’t mean you really can. Lida learned this the hard way by giving Gia her knife ending in a tragedy for everyone.
The Girls of No Return’s plot did not start until a little after halfway through the book, because the beginning of the book was explaining everything but Erin Saldin made it so the reader didn’t get bored. Every couple of chapters Erin Saldin had an epilogue page that took place in the future. This is a great strategy, because it keeps the reader questioning wanting to keep reading and reading. She also teaches life lessons throughout the book. However instead of talking about what you shouldn’t or should do she uses the characters to teach us.
Unlike most books I have read it seemed like I was actually in the middle of the forest at Alice Marshall while I read The Girls of No Return. This is because Erin Saldin described every detail; clearly she had knowledge about the wilderness. This is a great tool to great writing because it makes the reader interested. Erin Saldin also made a shocking ending that most books don’t have. Instead of a happily ever after she leaves the reader to make their own ending. At first I was disappointed, it wasn’t until I realized why she didn’t make a happy ending when I fell in love with the ending of the book
The Girls of No Return was an amazing book that everyone should read. It is shocking, extraordinary, and an incredible read. It makes you think differently about things and people in life. It teaches you lessons that some people just can’t and you don’t want to learn those lessons the hard way like Lida did. “The smoke is as dangerous as the flame.” (Saldin323). A lesson everyone should learn.

[Mia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes the line between love and desperation is damn thin. Boone shakes her head. "You have to hope you don't have a knife in your hand when you figure that out."

There was something about this book that touched me to the core and I have no clue why. I guess because it opened my eyes on how sadness is a disease, a pesky little disease that never truly goes away. It's a disease that can make you make dumb choices, become desperate and foolish. This showed me how one person can see your loneliness, use it and abuse it without a care in the world.

I use to think people who did crazy things for another person was stupid, weak and deserved what they got. But how wrong was I.. they are victims too and who's going save them?

After reading this book it open my eyes to see how our emotions, our need to be needed, to have friends, be thought about and loved could ruin us...if we let the wrong person in. I've said all that to say this. This book was beautiful!

The strength of Boone was unmeasurable. She was truly the star of this book. Her life sucked, but she didn't need no one to make herself feel better. She was hard around the edges, but was a true softie at heart, she was kind and loving and Lida didn't even notice it.

Lida was a sad case, she was lonely, upset and angry and she had every right to be. Lida was a victim but a perpetrator as well. She couldn't go on blaming everyone for her mistakes. She knew what she had done was wrong so now she has to live with it. I'm just glad that she got from under Gia's spell. It just took a knife to do so.

Gia was a sad, pathetic little girl. You felt bad for her but as quick as that emotion came it was wiped away by something she did. She could of came to Alice Marshall and got better but instead she did the opposite and caused trouble every where she walked. We all know Gia's and if you don't....its probably you.

Every character in this book was unique and showed the real world. You had the popular girl, the good friend, the tough one, the girls who could careless about you and the adult who won't let you fail. This was a fantastic read and the ending had my mouth on the floor...



***This book can be a little uncomfortable a times with Gia and Lida relationship but nothing happens between the two***

[PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grade: B-

Lida's father and stepmother leave her in the wilderness at The Alice Marshall School, the last stop before juvie. On the first night, cabinmate Boone chops off her hair in the middle of the night. Nobody messes with Boone. Lida is no longer the new girl when the pretty, mysterious Gia arrives. Lida immediately develops a girl crush on the new girl, who gets off to a rough start with Boone. As Lida becomes close with both girls, who are increasingly antagonist, trouble looms in the air.

Lida's first person narrative has the believable voice of a sullen, wounded teen. With each chapter I discovered a new layer to her character. More cerebral than talkative, she is closed off to even her allies and at times unkind to her classmates. The other characters are more of a mystery, I felt frustrated not to have more backstory on why the girls were at the school, we had a few snippets of information, a little about Boone and almost nothing about Gia. Erin Saldin could have done a better job developing the secondary characters.

THE GIRLS OF NO RETURN is bogged down with a lot of setting description, which slowed down the pace. Some of the words and sentence structure Lida used in her narration seemed a bit mature for her years.

Themes: boarding school, juvenile crime, nature, friendship, family conflict

Despite my frustrations, I enjoyed the story. The ending was powerful and Lida certainly grew as a character.

[chrisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found the beginning of this young adult book very interesting but I felt like the book's potential kind of fizzled out about halfway through. The characters were all interesting but I did not feel like they were developed enough. I had a bit of a problem with the way the author set Boone up to be some kind of all-knowing wise woman in the later half of the book where she says more than once that she *knew* the main character in some kind of spiritual or metaphysical way that does not correspond to the story as written.

Also, I felt as though the romantic feelings that Lida felt for Gia and perhaps Boone, were not developed enough. The latter half of the story was driven in part by the intensity of emotion Lida felt for Gia and the fearful fascination she felt for Boone, but the climax of the story, I felt, failed to adequately provide resolution or acknowledgement by Lida of the cause of the true intensity of emotion she felt for Gia and Boone.

I thought the book was overall pretty good but not great or even awesome, I was a bit disappointed by the ending and saw no real reason for the scene by the fire - there are so many other, better ways that Saldin could have brought things to a climax and forced Lida to reach inside herself and realize how she truly feels about both girls as well as seeing both of them for who they are.

[id!l · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was a lot of things...... i think its slow but it was worth it, and its not like it's this huge psychological thriller but its creepy and sad and realistic. its difficult to explain but i cannot deny that it was a really good book.

[ElphaReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember where I first saw the book THE GIRLS OF NO RETURN by Erin Saldin. For the life of me, I just can't remember much outside of it being on some list that was about girls behaving badly. I think that because it was on this list I didn't expect it to be as affecting and tragic as it was. I was expecting something more soapy and trashy, but found a story that is far more melancholy than I ever anticipated.

Lida is a teenage girl who has been acting out. She resents her father and her stepmother, Terri, and her resentment has started to have their consequences. So they send her to the Alice Marshall School for Girls, a strict wilderness reform school in the forests of Idaho. Lida connects with a few of her fellow classmates. There's Boone, the tough talking girl with anger issues who committed arson. There's Jules, the girl who is sweet and dreamy, and no one really knows why she's there. And then there's Gia, the newest girl, who casts a spell over Lida and most everyone she meets. As Lida tries to navigate her new surroundings, she finds herself in a web of jealousy, sadness, and the constant threat of violence.

This book was so, so sad for so many reasons. Lida is such an angry person, and as you peel back more and more layers you find a very complicated character. I really felt for Lida, her rage and despair constantly simmering. I was both wanting to give her a hug, and wanting to give her a smack. It was interesting seeing her perceptions of those around her, which in turn colored my perceptions as well. The other characters are pretty well rounded and perfectly explored, which can be difficult to do in the first person. Nevertheless, I get a real feel for Boone and Jules, and was completely confused by Gia (as the reader is supposed to be, since Lida is as well). There were moments that I got frustrated with many of the players, but at the same time everything they did felt perfectly in character and realistic. The slow burn of the ever growing conflict is incredibly affecting, and I was all tied up in knots up until the final confrontation. This is a great study of teenage girlhood for the girls who are damaged, and it's incredibly humanizing and empathetic.

I definitely enjoyed THE GIRLS OF NO RETURN, and will definitely keep it in mind for future readers who are looking for a darker, and honest, story.

[Avalon · Rating 4 out of 5]

“In the past five months, I had found myself buoyed countless times by the pines, the firs, the wind, the calming scent of mud and moss. And it was in those moments that I felt most like myself.”

A character-driven coming of age story

Ingredients include:
*healing past trauma + facing your demons
*wilderness school for troubled teens
*catfights galore
*angst and eye patches

4/5 stars
A poignant YA novel filled with drama and life lessons set against the backdrop of the great outdoors

[Violet · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. The beginning was sort of slow, but the pacing picked up in the middle. Lida felt raw, mistaken, flawed, and very unlikeable at times. She was a terrible friend and I liked it. I could see very clearly what motivated her and what didn't. It felt sort of like a love triangle, even though it wasn't. Lida/Boone vs Lida/Gia. Choose the cold, gritty truth vs the easy, welcoming fantasy. I think my favorite in terms of healthy interactions would have been Jules/Lida after Lida snaps and Jules confronts her: You liked Gia and sometimes you liked Boone, but we were never special enough for you to like. I think Lida's beautifully introvert in the sense she'll never be wholly herself like Boone is, always so willing to write everyone off and sulk in a corner by herself than take a chance to reach out and have that person reaches back.
Gia felt like a siren. The one that sings tales so pretty and entrancing and you're lured until you're dead. Other times, Gia felt like a girl that wanted someone to sit up and pay attention. I just kept noticing when Lida gave and gave and gave, Gia didn't give back. Other times, I wonder if I'm too hard on Gia. She was very young herself.
Boone is beautifully terrible. She reminds me of Helga from Hey Arnold, giving off devoted loyalty to very few, but also the way she loves is almost abusive. Lida couldn't trust whether Boone was gonna be open and kind or going to hit her. Boone asks Lida what's Gia's appeal. Honestly, I think Boone was so wholly herself, she forgot to be kind at times. Boone needs express love with less violence and she'd be a good friend to have.
Honestly, I wanted more Jules. Lida was in a tug-of-war with Boone and Gia. Jules felt like a safe place to land. I just got the feeling that Lida was to give up her map to Jules, Jules would have rewarded that honesty and vulnerability in more of a give and take way than Gia did.
Honestly, I like how terrible these friendships were. I like how obsessive, possessive, and demanding of loyalty they were. It was interesting and tragic. I hope Lida heals and learns to be a better friend than she was in this book. I hope she continues to try with Terri and leans on her parents. I hope she forgives herself for the person she's been and becomes a person that she can one day admire.

[ILoveBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new author, but a book that could have been written by someone with many published books behind her belt. Not too many books focus mainly upon female friendship in young adult/teen books these days. This novel's main plot concerns the implications, complications, and intricacies of female friendship. The reader will be absorbed into the book within a few chapters; the main character, Lida, has a somewhat difficult, reserved personality, but she is captivating. The reader will not always understand why Lida makes certain decisions, but some things are better left to the imagination.




Lida has been sent to a school for girls...difficult girls who do not like or do well in typical schooling environments. Her first few days there are somewhat rocky, but she begins to adjust gradually. The reader will be introduced to the other secondary characters, ones who will be around Lida 24/7. They have such varying personalities that it is easy to keep them straight. Some the reader will take a liking to, while others remain more enigmatic or have a pretty long mean streak. The author creates these characters carefully to fulfill the plot's purpose.




The events were moderated. They were not particularly fast all of the time, but they weren't slow. The author purposely gave the events a certain pace depending on the undertone at the time. The setting, the Alice Marshall School for girls, lends itself perfectly to the female friendship plot, it will be easy to concentrate on the point of the novel. A reader will be eagerly awaiting this book's release, recommended to young adult/teen readers.

[Britta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alice Marshall is an alternative school for girls in the middle of the wilderness, and every one who goes there has the burden of their own "Thing" - the reason they find themselves at their secluded school. When Lida first attends Alice Marshall she meets polar opposites "Boone" and Gia. Little did she know, those two girls would get her into the kinds of situations she thought she was there to avoid.


What I really appreciated about this story was how it showed the complex relationship between the girls. The relationships they have in private, how they act together in public, and the odd added effects of what happens when one is surrounded almost entirely by girls one's own age every day. That being said... I really didn't get Lida's relationships with Boone and Gia. More prominently, her relationship with Gia was dysfunctional and seemed to not be real. Although she offers an explanation in the end, I still don't see how her actions reflected how she was supposedly feeling and thinking.


Overall, I did keep reading. The plot was very secretive; it held onto little bombs of information throughout the whole of the novel. Although it was slightly infuriating, it was effective at getting me to turn the pages. It takes a while to figure everything out. What I liked about this was that the story was told from alternating past tense and journal entries in the present. That aspect added to the intrigue dropping just enough hints to keep the reader guessing.

[Kristin Lenz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have such mixed feelings about this book. It's received wonderful professional reviews, and I had high expectations. I appreciated the writing and the themes, especially the healing power of the wilderness and the author's willingness to delve deep into dark places. I was quickly engrossed in the story - the setting, character development, secrets, and tension pulled me along. There is a shocking scene toward the end that I didn't see coming - and I didn't like it one bit. Truly, it left me with the worst feeling after closing this book, and it's the main reason I didn't rate it higher. There's no happy ending here, which I don't always need, but even though we're left with a sense of hope, I found Lida to be a disturbing character. I was not as sympathetic toward her as I wanted to be, and I'm still trying to figure out why. Maybe it's because I've known and worked with so many kids who have struggled through much worse, and in my opinion much more challenging situations. I also was not feeling the depth of the relationship between Lida and Gia - not enough to understand Lida's unconscionable behavior in that shocking scene. The social worker in me can explain her behavior and the twisted, emotionally abusive relationship from a clinical perspective, but I wasn't feeling it as a reader. It would be really interesting to have a discussion with this author about the decisions she made in this story.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a teenage girl named Lida. She went through a difficult time in her childhood and she just couldn't adjust. The alternative that her parents chose was to send her to a school named Alice Marshall for troubled girls that is totally isolated in the forests of Idaho. Lida is very unhappy about the situation. She was never good at making friends. There is a fierce girl named Boone that has an interest in Lida, but then a new girl Gia shows up that Lida befriends. Lida totally loves Gia because of the fact that she wanted to be her friend, however, Boone insists that people like Gia are not ones to be around. Will Lida choose the right friend, or will her blindness hurt her and her loved ones?

The Girls of No Return is very interesting and it dealt with very serious issues that many people go through, especially young adults. There were happy moments of friendship, and sad moments of pain and betrayal. The book is geared towards females, but of course anyone can read and enjoy it. It could be hard for some people to read that have gone through similar struggles, for it would instigate the return of painful emotions. It gives a good story on friendship and life, and hopefully it will teach some readers useful lessons on life.

[Andi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Girls of No Return is deeper than at first appearance, full of self-awareness, longing, remorse, and healing. The plot builds slowly, but not once was I bored while reading it.

Sixteen year old Lida is a sent to the Alice Marshall School for Girls by her father and stepmother, Terri, after she intentionally hurts herself at home. She is sad and lonely, never having any real friends. Her pains are deeply buried, and Erin Saldin deftly unveils her history. But at the School, Lida begins to let her guard down, getting to know the other troubled girls, and even coming to like some of them.

But sometimes friendships have their downfalls, and not all friends are true. She learns this a little too late, but then again, not. Because to come back from pain, she must feel it...really feel SOMETHING...firsthand.

The Girls of No Return was a very engaging story. Lida may be damaged, but she's inherently likable, and you can feel yourself rooting for her along the way. And Erin Saldin describes the beauty and majesty of the Idaho wilderness with such depth I could almost see and experience it myself. I enjoyed this very much, and will definitely look for more books from this author.