What do you think?
Rate this book
West Girls
‘I chose the jagged rocks, the broken bones, the spattered brains. I chose beauty. I'd choose it again.’
Luna Lewis is white. But her friends aren’t, nor are her brothers, nor her one-time Princess of Indonesia–finalist stepmother. After transforming from pudgy preteen to ‘exotic’ beauty, Luna reinvents herself as ‘Luna Lu’ and takes her ticket out of the most isolated city on earth. However, as her international modelling career approaches its expiry date, Luna must grapple with what she’s sacrificed — and who she’s become — in her mission to conquer the world.
Featuring an intersecting cast of glamour-hungry public schoolgirls, WAGs, mining heiresses, backpacker-barmaids, and cosmetic nurses, West Girls examines beauty, race, class divisions, and social mobility in Australia’s richest state. It’s also a devastating catalogue of the myriad, inventive ways in which women love and hurt one another.
Luna Lewis is white. But her friends aren’t, nor are her brothers, nor her one-time Princess of Indonesia–finalist stepmother. After transforming from pudgy preteen to ‘exotic’ beauty, Luna reinvents herself as ‘Luna Lu’ and takes her ticket out of the most isolated city on earth. However, as her international modelling career approaches its expiry date, Luna must grapple with what she’s sacrificed — and who she’s become — in her mission to conquer the world.
Featuring an intersecting cast of glamour-hungry public schoolgirls, WAGs, mining heiresses, backpacker-barmaids, and cosmetic nurses, West Girls examines beauty, race, class divisions, and social mobility in Australia’s richest state. It’s also a devastating catalogue of the myriad, inventive ways in which women love and hurt one another.
256 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2023
26 people are currently reading
712 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
August 22, 2024
West Girls is a unique book, though having only read one of this author’s works prior, I see she does have a distinct style. There is a definite literary fiction feel, the voice is strong and the quality writing worth a slow and methodical read. Not to be rushed.
Reading about Western Australia as opposed to New South Wales and Victoria is refreshing, we watch Luna transform from chubby gal to an exotic beauty. What does she want? Fame, fortune, more than suburbia? Who does she love? Unsure about her sexuality and wanting fame, she’s one of the hot girls.
Hot bitch. Bloody hot bitch. So hot. Lots of this stuff. The girls loved to look gooooood.
The book consists of smaller stories, threaded together by Luna, this takes concentration to follow where the author really needs us to go. Girls from school, hook ups with boys, drugs and booze all play their part. This book takes harder work to grasp, and isn’t meant to be taken lightly.
Jealousies, casting off a friend as quickly as one discards her sunnies for a quick dip at the beach.
Luna models overseas but we see this is quite empty, she comes home and reconnects with the girl she fell for at school. The one with the SO HOT banter.
This is a book that takes patience and understanding, I dare say I missed a lot but did enjoy trying to figure out space and time when it came to some of the pop culture references, and I got to read about Western Australia. This book won’t be for everyone, but it was nice to see an author able to craft something different. Interesting and clever.
Other things to love. The cover and colouring, it's gorgeous; I love it. The female form on the cover like that is quite startling. This is a book about women, friendships and the way they can easily plunge a knife in without as much as a backward glance.
With my thanks to Marina @scribepub for my physical copy to read and review.
Reading about Western Australia as opposed to New South Wales and Victoria is refreshing, we watch Luna transform from chubby gal to an exotic beauty. What does she want? Fame, fortune, more than suburbia? Who does she love? Unsure about her sexuality and wanting fame, she’s one of the hot girls.
Hot bitch. Bloody hot bitch. So hot. Lots of this stuff. The girls loved to look gooooood.
The book consists of smaller stories, threaded together by Luna, this takes concentration to follow where the author really needs us to go. Girls from school, hook ups with boys, drugs and booze all play their part. This book takes harder work to grasp, and isn’t meant to be taken lightly.
Jealousies, casting off a friend as quickly as one discards her sunnies for a quick dip at the beach.
Luna models overseas but we see this is quite empty, she comes home and reconnects with the girl she fell for at school. The one with the SO HOT banter.
This is a book that takes patience and understanding, I dare say I missed a lot but did enjoy trying to figure out space and time when it came to some of the pop culture references, and I got to read about Western Australia. This book won’t be for everyone, but it was nice to see an author able to craft something different. Interesting and clever.
Other things to love. The cover and colouring, it's gorgeous; I love it. The female form on the cover like that is quite startling. This is a book about women, friendships and the way they can easily plunge a knife in without as much as a backward glance.
With my thanks to Marina @scribepub for my physical copy to read and review.
August 2, 2023
I loved just how dark Woollett was willing to go in her latest novel. Set in WA we meet Luna Lewis an awkward young white girl on the cusp of change. Her transformation and reinvention into Luna Lu, a seemingly mixed-race model is something to behold. At this point the narrative follows Luna while bringing in a cast of other characters and perspectives that surround her. I wasn’t always certain initially who I was reading about or why but I didn’t mind. There is a through line of rage that formed the beating heart of this novel and fuelled the blood in its veins and my turning of the pages. Woollett’s tone is scathing and darkly funny, that sweet spot I love in fiction. Woollett’s fiction is always fierce and grounded in the ways women move through this messed up world of ours navigating the many obstacles our culture puts in their way. But with every book she comes at this idea in a completely different way. It’s always compelling and thought-provoking, it’s always a book I want to read.
April 3, 2024
***Longlisted for the 2024 Stella Prize***
"I chose the jagged rocks, the broken bones, the spattered brains. I chose beauty. I'd choose it again."
As the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And in this collection of short stories, it is an all consuming behemoth, and as shallow as it is skin deep.
Our main protagonist is a pudgy schoolgirl by the name of Luna Lewis. She’s not particularly good at school, and is envious of the popular group of girls known as the Blondes, because as you may have guessed, they each have blonde hair. In fact, each of the group could be interchangeable barbies as there’s not much to differentiate between them. And yet Luna looks on them enviously. Longingly.
Fast forward a few stories, and Luna is now a tall, thin exotic looking young woman, who decides the only way out of the city she despises is to model. A nose job and name change later, the now Luna Lu spends a few years in a haze of drinking, drugs, and debauchery. Oh, and some modeling, from which she has an ignominious fall. Returning home after many years away, to a place she thought she’d never return to.
”I could see past the Macca’s arches and the too-wide-highways and the hoons and the live-export trucks and the dirty mining money, and maybe I liked where I came from, after all. Maybe I never wanted to leave.”
The eleven stories, more like vignettes really, go backwards and forwards between Luna and her family, and the school friends she left behind, and the one blonde she couldn’t forget.
It’s quite a harsh storyline, barbed, acidic. There are so many catty, bitchy moments. The girls and women are quite cruel to each other. It’s like one of the Real Housewives of… TV shows where one moment the women are besties, and the next they are wiping the knife they’ve taken out of someone’s back.
There’s a lot of unhappiness throughout, as regardless of how these girls and later women look, they are never satisfied, but have a deep discontent within themselves. Despite all the beauty treatments, botox, private saltwater flotation, bikram or kundalini yoga, they’re just so darn empty inside.
The topics of race and culture, rich and poor, and the pursuit of beauty are here. Perhaps some of the characters are caricatures of themselves, and yet there are so many people like that in real life.
The main location is the suburbs of Perth, W.A. It’s unusual to have an Aussie writer focus on the west, rather than the east coast of Australia. And that’s a good thing. Despite us all living in the one lucky country, the nuances are there. Slight differences in speech, a different vibe, and different culture. It’s great that Laura Elizabeth Woollett has focused her gaze on her home state and city.
Have a listen to Laura Elizabeth Woollett chat about her book, which as she says is about the way in which women and girls hurt and love each other.
https://stella.org.au/laura-elizabeth...
Woollett has a very unique writing style and distinct voice. This definitely belongs on the longlist and I’m hoping that it also makes it to the shortlist of this year's Stella Prize.
Book 4 of my Stella Prize 2024 reading longlist.
As an aside, the book cover is pretty darn amazing too. Eye catching. And suits the contents perfectly.
"I chose the jagged rocks, the broken bones, the spattered brains. I chose beauty. I'd choose it again."
As the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And in this collection of short stories, it is an all consuming behemoth, and as shallow as it is skin deep.
Our main protagonist is a pudgy schoolgirl by the name of Luna Lewis. She’s not particularly good at school, and is envious of the popular group of girls known as the Blondes, because as you may have guessed, they each have blonde hair. In fact, each of the group could be interchangeable barbies as there’s not much to differentiate between them. And yet Luna looks on them enviously. Longingly.
Fast forward a few stories, and Luna is now a tall, thin exotic looking young woman, who decides the only way out of the city she despises is to model. A nose job and name change later, the now Luna Lu spends a few years in a haze of drinking, drugs, and debauchery. Oh, and some modeling, from which she has an ignominious fall. Returning home after many years away, to a place she thought she’d never return to.
”I could see past the Macca’s arches and the too-wide-highways and the hoons and the live-export trucks and the dirty mining money, and maybe I liked where I came from, after all. Maybe I never wanted to leave.”
The eleven stories, more like vignettes really, go backwards and forwards between Luna and her family, and the school friends she left behind, and the one blonde she couldn’t forget.
It’s quite a harsh storyline, barbed, acidic. There are so many catty, bitchy moments. The girls and women are quite cruel to each other. It’s like one of the Real Housewives of… TV shows where one moment the women are besties, and the next they are wiping the knife they’ve taken out of someone’s back.
There’s a lot of unhappiness throughout, as regardless of how these girls and later women look, they are never satisfied, but have a deep discontent within themselves. Despite all the beauty treatments, botox, private saltwater flotation, bikram or kundalini yoga, they’re just so darn empty inside.
The topics of race and culture, rich and poor, and the pursuit of beauty are here. Perhaps some of the characters are caricatures of themselves, and yet there are so many people like that in real life.
The main location is the suburbs of Perth, W.A. It’s unusual to have an Aussie writer focus on the west, rather than the east coast of Australia. And that’s a good thing. Despite us all living in the one lucky country, the nuances are there. Slight differences in speech, a different vibe, and different culture. It’s great that Laura Elizabeth Woollett has focused her gaze on her home state and city.
Have a listen to Laura Elizabeth Woollett chat about her book, which as she says is about the way in which women and girls hurt and love each other.
https://stella.org.au/laura-elizabeth...
Woollett has a very unique writing style and distinct voice. This definitely belongs on the longlist and I’m hoping that it also makes it to the shortlist of this year's Stella Prize.
Book 4 of my Stella Prize 2024 reading longlist.
As an aside, the book cover is pretty darn amazing too. Eye catching. And suits the contents perfectly.
August 6, 2023
West Girls by Laura Elizabeth Woollett was a perplexing reading experience for me. I think I liked it but can’t say I understood or “got” it at all.
Going in I thought this was a collection of short stories but now I’m not sure if that’s right? Maybe it was a novel with chapters that come at the central story from different perspectives or even parallel universes? I’m very confused!
As the blurb says this story is about Luna Lewis who is white and who somehow manages to transform herself in her final year of school into an “exotic” model. Hitting international modelling stardom as Luna Lu is the ticket to get her out of her boring life in Perth. The chapters surrounding the main part touch on racism, feminist rage and beauty ideals. There’s also a lot of focus on classism with Luna’s former friend Cassie being a WAG and deep in “society”. But many of the chapters defy description. They focus on characters peripheral to Luna and this is why I ended up confused. The writing is biting though I just wished this felt more coherent to me. It was dark and subversive but ultimately just didn’t fully land for me.
Thank you to @scribepub for my #gifted copy.
Going in I thought this was a collection of short stories but now I’m not sure if that’s right? Maybe it was a novel with chapters that come at the central story from different perspectives or even parallel universes? I’m very confused!
As the blurb says this story is about Luna Lewis who is white and who somehow manages to transform herself in her final year of school into an “exotic” model. Hitting international modelling stardom as Luna Lu is the ticket to get her out of her boring life in Perth. The chapters surrounding the main part touch on racism, feminist rage and beauty ideals. There’s also a lot of focus on classism with Luna’s former friend Cassie being a WAG and deep in “society”. But many of the chapters defy description. They focus on characters peripheral to Luna and this is why I ended up confused. The writing is biting though I just wished this felt more coherent to me. It was dark and subversive but ultimately just didn’t fully land for me.
Thank you to @scribepub for my #gifted copy.
August 20, 2023
West Girls is a read that delves into the minds of a group of women from high school to motherhood. It’s unflinching in what these women do and why, set against the backdrop of my home town Perth, Western Australia. For locals and those who know the place well, there are a lot of familiar places mentioned, some lost to nostalgia, some still present.
The story centres around Luna Lewis, an uncool high school girl who will never make it into the cool girl group, the Blondes. Luna’s friends aren’t cool on the surface either, but they have their own ways and means of getting revenge on the cool kids. But then Luna grows into her beauty, and is determined to become a model, reinventing herself as mixed-race Luna Lu. She throws away university for the opportunity (although in one way, massive points for the way she did it which included my favourite band, The Killers) and for some time it’s good. Then it’s not and her star begins to fade, made worse by a book that gains cult status even in Perth. When Luna returns home, it’s a different life – child in tow, working at Miss Maud (no late nights and safe shopping centre environment at Westfield) and of course, getting free Princess Cake. She’s back in Caitlyn’s life, one of the Blondes who she became entangled with. But what does Caitlyn want? She’s the perfect Perthonality, until she isn’t under trial by media. It’s messy, dark and brutally honest.
Although Luna is the central figure of the novel, multiple chapters are devoted to others. Some are friends of Luna’s, others friends of Caitlyn’s and still others linked only by several degrees of separation. I didn’t care that it took some time to figure out how these people all related because it was all fascinating and in some ways, so Perth. We’re all connected loosely by school, university or a mate of a mate. The topics explored are authentic from race and class to sexuality and fame. I loved it all, from the subtle (former footballer washing windscreens at Canning Highway) to the fictional players from my favourite football team, the West Coast Eagles. (But judging by some of their behaviours, I felt I knew exactly the period in which the early part of the book was set). I also liked how Woollett didn’t feel the need to expand and define every moment and action of her characters, leaving the reader to fill in the gaps (and in my case, nostalgia and trying to pinpoint the exact locations). It’s a very clever book in the way it loosely links everything together and provides commentary of the peculiarities of the most isolated city on earth. Also who knew that Perth could provide such a fascinating group of characters?
Like Woollett’s other novels, West Girls is fantastically written with every word carefully chosen for maximum impact. Even if you aren’t from Perth, it’s an excellent story that delves the depths of the complexity of being a woman.
Thank you to Scribe for the copy of this book. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
The story centres around Luna Lewis, an uncool high school girl who will never make it into the cool girl group, the Blondes. Luna’s friends aren’t cool on the surface either, but they have their own ways and means of getting revenge on the cool kids. But then Luna grows into her beauty, and is determined to become a model, reinventing herself as mixed-race Luna Lu. She throws away university for the opportunity (although in one way, massive points for the way she did it which included my favourite band, The Killers) and for some time it’s good. Then it’s not and her star begins to fade, made worse by a book that gains cult status even in Perth. When Luna returns home, it’s a different life – child in tow, working at Miss Maud (no late nights and safe shopping centre environment at Westfield) and of course, getting free Princess Cake. She’s back in Caitlyn’s life, one of the Blondes who she became entangled with. But what does Caitlyn want? She’s the perfect Perthonality, until she isn’t under trial by media. It’s messy, dark and brutally honest.
Although Luna is the central figure of the novel, multiple chapters are devoted to others. Some are friends of Luna’s, others friends of Caitlyn’s and still others linked only by several degrees of separation. I didn’t care that it took some time to figure out how these people all related because it was all fascinating and in some ways, so Perth. We’re all connected loosely by school, university or a mate of a mate. The topics explored are authentic from race and class to sexuality and fame. I loved it all, from the subtle (former footballer washing windscreens at Canning Highway) to the fictional players from my favourite football team, the West Coast Eagles. (But judging by some of their behaviours, I felt I knew exactly the period in which the early part of the book was set). I also liked how Woollett didn’t feel the need to expand and define every moment and action of her characters, leaving the reader to fill in the gaps (and in my case, nostalgia and trying to pinpoint the exact locations). It’s a very clever book in the way it loosely links everything together and provides commentary of the peculiarities of the most isolated city on earth. Also who knew that Perth could provide such a fascinating group of characters?
Like Woollett’s other novels, West Girls is fantastically written with every word carefully chosen for maximum impact. Even if you aren’t from Perth, it’s an excellent story that delves the depths of the complexity of being a woman.
Thank you to Scribe for the copy of this book. My review is honest.
http://samstillreading.wordpress.com
September 9, 2023
Don’t hate me. I didn’t love this. It took me a solid 50 pages to start to get into the groove. I got into the groove and then I was just lost. I was reading the last 50 pages thinking, I don’t even know what I’m reading. I think I just wanted to finish it.
I’m sad because I had read good reviews but I just wasn’t there. There were too many characters and storylines that I couldn’t keep my brain on track. The chapters jumped between characters and I wasn’t sure what I was reading.
Anyway, loved the cover art and I would maybe try another Woollett novel if anyone had any recommendations? But yeah, this was a miss - sorry.
Thank you to Scribe for the gifted copy.
I’m sad because I had read good reviews but I just wasn’t there. There were too many characters and storylines that I couldn’t keep my brain on track. The chapters jumped between characters and I wasn’t sure what I was reading.
Anyway, loved the cover art and I would maybe try another Woollett novel if anyone had any recommendations? But yeah, this was a miss - sorry.
Thank you to Scribe for the gifted copy.
January 16, 2024
Complex and competent, touching topics that are very close to my own life experiences handled deftly and with care, although the people here all feel on the verge of breakdowns most of the time.
It’s a style that can pall for me, this constant state of misery and longing and desperation that most of the women here live in, as if this is the only way to tell women’s stories: image obsession, eating disorders, fear of standing out, settling for what’s expected rather than what you want, and vice versa. Nobody really wins, here. And yet it isn’t depressing, per se. It’s challenging, complicated, hard to stomach, but it feels worth it to read a genuine attempt to capture the lifestyle of the world’s most isolated city.
I said to someone as I read, god it’s nice to read Perth written by someone with style and confidence and something to say.
It’s a style that can pall for me, this constant state of misery and longing and desperation that most of the women here live in, as if this is the only way to tell women’s stories: image obsession, eating disorders, fear of standing out, settling for what’s expected rather than what you want, and vice versa. Nobody really wins, here. And yet it isn’t depressing, per se. It’s challenging, complicated, hard to stomach, but it feels worth it to read a genuine attempt to capture the lifestyle of the world’s most isolated city.
I said to someone as I read, god it’s nice to read Perth written by someone with style and confidence and something to say.
August 3, 2023
4/8/23: First impressions:
Just saw this on the guardian now and it's looks very promising.
Similar vibes to R.F. Kuang's Yellow Face. But instead of the literary scene, West Girls is moving in the beauty scene.
This seems right up my alleyway - very excited to start reading!!
Just saw this on the guardian now and it's looks very promising.
Similar vibes to R.F. Kuang's Yellow Face. But instead of the literary scene, West Girls is moving in the beauty scene.
This seems right up my alleyway - very excited to start reading!!
July 12, 2025
Oh I loved this. Just the right amount of trashy.
September 26, 2023
Well executed - but left me wanting slightly more.
I was intrigued to read this because it ticked a number of boxes - Australian literary fiction, short stories, hot girl problems, teens behaving badly, beauty and class.
Woollett sets West Girls up as a collection of 11 short stories that pieces together the story of Luna Lewis - who ascends on the global modelling stage under the name Luna Lu, passing herself off as of Asian or ambiguous ethnicity, although she is actually white (Luna's parents are Maltese and Welsh). Luna only narrates a few of the stories, and while I appreciated the various perspectives of the 'West Girls' who narrate this collection, Luna's story was so interesting that I wanted more of her. There were whole sections of Luna's life that I would have loved to read more about - particularly her time as a model and how she became a global name in the fashion world, while navigating lying about her ethnicity. At one point, Luna, upon doing dismally at school explains that "I chose the jagged rocks, the broken bones, the spattered brains. I chose beauty. I'd choose it again.". This is such a fascinating and compelling idea - particularly when contrasted with Luna's friend/love interest CB who makes very different choices. As well as themes of beauty, and the idea of beauty as currency, Woollett also addresses ideas about the connection between racial and personal identity, class and social mobility, set against a backdrop of Australia's richest, but most isolated state. However, maybe because Woollett uses multiple narrators and the storyline only loosely has a through line in Luna's ascent and fall in the modelling world, I'm not sure all these themes are tackled as strongly as they could be, particularly the ideas around beauty and beauty and racial identity. As a result, I was left wanting more at the end - although I greatly enjoyed Woollett's prose and her world building.
Western Australia and it's 'perthonalities' is such a fascinating and under-explored area of fiction and Woollett shows here that Western Australia is a surprisingly multi-cultural state. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book - which based on the acknowledgements, more than touches on some of Woollett's own lived experience.
The stories/sections I enjoyed the most were 'Physical Education', 'Ver Says,' 'Blue and Gold,' 'Ecstasy of Gold' and 'Fortress' - the latter three of which I felt were particularly strong and focused on Luna, the rise and fall of her modelling career and her relationship with Caitlyn B/Caitlyn Benson/CB. That being said, the other stories were all very well written, and I appreciated the variance in style as well. Woollett displays throughout a gift for observation and the ability to succinctly convey a feeling or emotion in an original way. Having the narrators interconnected also was kind of fun, being able to relate the stories together and fit them into one another. A narrator in one story might be a peripheral character in another.
My quibble with this was that some of the through-line and most interesting parts narratively got somewhat put to the side here. Luna was an interesting character, but I don't know if enough time was spent unpacking her desire to be a model and her rise and fall in the industry, which I was eager to read about. While I liked her relationship with CB - and liked the character of CB the most of all the characters in the book - it didn't always read as entirely plausible but might have if it had been explored in more detail. CB is initially set up as one of a collective of 'Blondes' in the second story but appears as an individual character in 'Blue and Gold.' Woollett edges dangerously close to stereotype with CB, and occasionally with some of the other peripheral characters (CB's future husband Josh is a disgraced AFL player, Luna's mother seems to be having a rather stereotypical midlife crisis, CB's mother is a hippie stereotype) but manages to avoid falling completely into cliche for the most part. CB, as I said, was my favourite character, because although she is ostensiby a caricature 'mean girl' Woollett paints her as a self-aware and ambitious character who is aiming to use her beauty to achieve some upward social mobility and we love a girl with a plan. I wish we had gotten more of CB, and once we do get a story from her viewpoint it is the final story in the collection - Fortress - and feels a bit too late.
Overall, I think this is a novel/collection that has a point of view that is unique and engaging. I haven't read any of Laura Elizabeth Woollett before but I will be looking into her other work now and look forward to seeing what she does next.
I was intrigued to read this because it ticked a number of boxes - Australian literary fiction, short stories, hot girl problems, teens behaving badly, beauty and class.
Woollett sets West Girls up as a collection of 11 short stories that pieces together the story of Luna Lewis - who ascends on the global modelling stage under the name Luna Lu, passing herself off as of Asian or ambiguous ethnicity, although she is actually white (Luna's parents are Maltese and Welsh). Luna only narrates a few of the stories, and while I appreciated the various perspectives of the 'West Girls' who narrate this collection, Luna's story was so interesting that I wanted more of her. There were whole sections of Luna's life that I would have loved to read more about - particularly her time as a model and how she became a global name in the fashion world, while navigating lying about her ethnicity. At one point, Luna, upon doing dismally at school explains that "I chose the jagged rocks, the broken bones, the spattered brains. I chose beauty. I'd choose it again.". This is such a fascinating and compelling idea - particularly when contrasted with Luna's friend/love interest CB who makes very different choices. As well as themes of beauty, and the idea of beauty as currency, Woollett also addresses ideas about the connection between racial and personal identity, class and social mobility, set against a backdrop of Australia's richest, but most isolated state. However, maybe because Woollett uses multiple narrators and the storyline only loosely has a through line in Luna's ascent and fall in the modelling world, I'm not sure all these themes are tackled as strongly as they could be, particularly the ideas around beauty and beauty and racial identity. As a result, I was left wanting more at the end - although I greatly enjoyed Woollett's prose and her world building.
Western Australia and it's 'perthonalities' is such a fascinating and under-explored area of fiction and Woollett shows here that Western Australia is a surprisingly multi-cultural state. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book - which based on the acknowledgements, more than touches on some of Woollett's own lived experience.
The stories/sections I enjoyed the most were 'Physical Education', 'Ver Says,' 'Blue and Gold,' 'Ecstasy of Gold' and 'Fortress' - the latter three of which I felt were particularly strong and focused on Luna, the rise and fall of her modelling career and her relationship with Caitlyn B/Caitlyn Benson/CB. That being said, the other stories were all very well written, and I appreciated the variance in style as well. Woollett displays throughout a gift for observation and the ability to succinctly convey a feeling or emotion in an original way. Having the narrators interconnected also was kind of fun, being able to relate the stories together and fit them into one another. A narrator in one story might be a peripheral character in another.
My quibble with this was that some of the through-line and most interesting parts narratively got somewhat put to the side here. Luna was an interesting character, but I don't know if enough time was spent unpacking her desire to be a model and her rise and fall in the industry, which I was eager to read about. While I liked her relationship with CB - and liked the character of CB the most of all the characters in the book - it didn't always read as entirely plausible but might have if it had been explored in more detail. CB is initially set up as one of a collective of 'Blondes' in the second story but appears as an individual character in 'Blue and Gold.' Woollett edges dangerously close to stereotype with CB, and occasionally with some of the other peripheral characters (CB's future husband Josh is a disgraced AFL player, Luna's mother seems to be having a rather stereotypical midlife crisis, CB's mother is a hippie stereotype) but manages to avoid falling completely into cliche for the most part. CB, as I said, was my favourite character, because although she is ostensiby a caricature 'mean girl' Woollett paints her as a self-aware and ambitious character who is aiming to use her beauty to achieve some upward social mobility and we love a girl with a plan. I wish we had gotten more of CB, and once we do get a story from her viewpoint it is the final story in the collection - Fortress - and feels a bit too late.
Overall, I think this is a novel/collection that has a point of view that is unique and engaging. I haven't read any of Laura Elizabeth Woollett before but I will be looking into her other work now and look forward to seeing what she does next.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 16, 2023
3.5 STARS
I read this book back in July at the beginning of what ended up being an accidental bookstagram hiatus, fully intending to review it around release date that month, but alas, life happened. Better late than never, anyway!
West Girls is a moody, vibey kinda book set mostly in Western Australia and following a cast of intersecting characters across race, class and social mobility. Our main gal is Luna Lewis, who is white, however after a glow-up from ordinary preteen to “exotic beauty”, subsequently chooses not to correct people when they believe her to be otherwise. Capitalising on this, she rebrands as Luna Lu and launches an international modelling career. Years later, as the glory fades and Luna faces returning to her home town, she must reconcile with everything she has sacrificed and who she has become.
This was my first brush with Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s work and I enjoyed it. There was some interesting commentary and I generally appreciated Woollett’s writing, particularly the satisfyingly unlikeable and complex characters. My only niggle was that it felt like there were a few too many POVs, and I did have a tendency to forget who everyone was if I left a gap between reads. Not enough to sour my overall experience though, and I’m definitely curious about reading Woollett’s back catalogue.
A big thank you to Scribe Publications for this gifted review copy.
I read this book back in July at the beginning of what ended up being an accidental bookstagram hiatus, fully intending to review it around release date that month, but alas, life happened. Better late than never, anyway!
West Girls is a moody, vibey kinda book set mostly in Western Australia and following a cast of intersecting characters across race, class and social mobility. Our main gal is Luna Lewis, who is white, however after a glow-up from ordinary preteen to “exotic beauty”, subsequently chooses not to correct people when they believe her to be otherwise. Capitalising on this, she rebrands as Luna Lu and launches an international modelling career. Years later, as the glory fades and Luna faces returning to her home town, she must reconcile with everything she has sacrificed and who she has become.
This was my first brush with Laura Elizabeth Woollett’s work and I enjoyed it. There was some interesting commentary and I generally appreciated Woollett’s writing, particularly the satisfyingly unlikeable and complex characters. My only niggle was that it felt like there were a few too many POVs, and I did have a tendency to forget who everyone was if I left a gap between reads. Not enough to sour my overall experience though, and I’m definitely curious about reading Woollett’s back catalogue.
A big thank you to Scribe Publications for this gifted review copy.
September 1, 2023
Luna Lewis is white. But her friends aren't, nor are her brothers, nor her one-time Princess of Indonesia-finalist stepmother. After transforming from pudgy preteen to
'exotic' beauty, Luna reinvents herself as 'Luna Lu' and takes her ticket out of the most isolated city on earth.
However, as her international modelling career approaches its expiry date, Luna must grapple with what she's sacrificed - and who she's become - in her mission to conquer the world.
This was an interesting one. Even though it is structured like a novella, it reads sort of like a short story collection.
In alternating chapters we go back and forth between Luna’s story and vignettes of other elements of life and society for women in Western Australia. We explore themes of race, beauty, social status and hear perspectives from school girls, mining heiresses, backpacker barmaids, WAG’s and cosmetic nurses. I enjoyed Luna’s story more than the vignettes, but they were really interesting insights into of variety of different lives and perspectives. I enjoyed the writing and overall this was a really unique read.
'exotic' beauty, Luna reinvents herself as 'Luna Lu' and takes her ticket out of the most isolated city on earth.
However, as her international modelling career approaches its expiry date, Luna must grapple with what she's sacrificed - and who she's become - in her mission to conquer the world.
This was an interesting one. Even though it is structured like a novella, it reads sort of like a short story collection.
In alternating chapters we go back and forth between Luna’s story and vignettes of other elements of life and society for women in Western Australia. We explore themes of race, beauty, social status and hear perspectives from school girls, mining heiresses, backpacker barmaids, WAG’s and cosmetic nurses. I enjoyed Luna’s story more than the vignettes, but they were really interesting insights into of variety of different lives and perspectives. I enjoyed the writing and overall this was a really unique read.
March 24, 2024
Nope. I simply struggled to get into this book. It was more like a collection of short stories about Luna Lewis/Lu interspersed randomly with chapters of short stories involving lots of different characters. Maybe there was a connection if I persevered beyond my DNF at p126, but at that stage I simply couldn't care less about any of the characters I had read about up to then, including Luna. And the writing styles seemed deliberately opaque. No quotations marks didn't help ...
April 28, 2024
Long listed for the Stella Prize 2024
Presented as a series of somewhat interconnected short stories, I struggled to connect with this book. The common elements, the price of beauty and fame, ethnicity (or its manipulation), the character of Luna, the setting of West Australia, fakery, drugs, bitchiness ... were too many and sometimes too awkwardly dealt with. The lack of connection between stories in the beginning was simply confusing and I really wasn't sure what I was reading or why.
There are comparisons made in reviews with Strout's Olive Kitteridge books and Alice Munro's short story collections but for me this was so far below the ability of those authors. The characters alone were not strong enough, let alone the writing, etc. There is also an obvious comparison with Yellowface in Luna's shifting and false ethnicity, but again not, for me, in the quality.
Perhaps not my demographic and definitely not on my shortlist.
Presented as a series of somewhat interconnected short stories, I struggled to connect with this book. The common elements, the price of beauty and fame, ethnicity (or its manipulation), the character of Luna, the setting of West Australia, fakery, drugs, bitchiness ... were too many and sometimes too awkwardly dealt with. The lack of connection between stories in the beginning was simply confusing and I really wasn't sure what I was reading or why.
There are comparisons made in reviews with Strout's Olive Kitteridge books and Alice Munro's short story collections but for me this was so far below the ability of those authors. The characters alone were not strong enough, let alone the writing, etc. There is also an obvious comparison with Yellowface in Luna's shifting and false ethnicity, but again not, for me, in the quality.
Perhaps not my demographic and definitely not on my shortlist.
March 29, 2024
Starting from high school days, we follow a pair of beauties as they move from that awkward finding-your-tribe and place phase, to rocketed stardom for one, based on an untruth. The assumption of race by association, within a homogeneous social set, leads to a world renowned career, until it doesn't.
Beauty, fakery, body enhancement, betrayal, bitchiness, and hot bisexual lusting. Roaming from Perth to Bali, London to Brazil.
The ultimate Perthlebrities - or is it Perthalities? - tale of cashed up bogans, footy-heads, and rich, beautiful people chasing notoriety. Ha, just not a scene I am interested in!
There is always a Stella Prize longlist book that I don't get along with, and I think I have found this year's! Probably should have DNFed, but I don't really do that - I always live in hope a book will still deliver some pop of connection for me, to make the time worthy! Alas, not this time.
Beauty, fakery, body enhancement, betrayal, bitchiness, and hot bisexual lusting. Roaming from Perth to Bali, London to Brazil.
The ultimate Perthlebrities - or is it Perthalities? - tale of cashed up bogans, footy-heads, and rich, beautiful people chasing notoriety. Ha, just not a scene I am interested in!
There is always a Stella Prize longlist book that I don't get along with, and I think I have found this year's! Probably should have DNFed, but I don't really do that - I always live in hope a book will still deliver some pop of connection for me, to make the time worthy! Alas, not this time.
December 24, 2023
In West Girls, Laura Woollett is brilliant (as always) on class, gender, power, and the hypocrisies and compromises idealised femininity demands. These sexy yet resolutely unglamorous linked stories offer an equally tender and excoriating portrait of women and girls in and from West Australia.
November 16, 2025
Huh? The first half had me in a chokehold, so funny and really loved the different characters and perspectives. But the second half lost me completely. Who are these people and why am I supposed to care? Weird writing style that could’ve been great.
September 21, 2023
“Before I was beautiful, I cared about grades. Now, every time I shut myself in my room to study, I ended up taking my clothes off and flirting with my reflection for hours – running my fingers over the xylophone of my ribs, the skullhorns of my hips, until my body thrummed with lust.”
November 22, 2025
Enjoyed the direct style of writing and very accurate depictions of Perth … but found myself getting lost!
November 25, 2024
Thank you Ruby for gifting me this book! I have never heard of it before and absolutely loved it, you smashed it out of the park 🌱
January 11, 2024
Really difficult to follow, and just didn’t care about any of the characters.
August 7, 2023
This was so dark and jagged.
The set up held my attention immediately. We first meet Luna Lewis- a young woman living in WA. Luna has transformed from "pudgy preteen" to "exotic beauty"- and in the midst of this transformation her social standings also change.
Each chapter is a new perspective and/or time jump in the broader story of Luna, either from her own perspective or from those around her. At times I was not sure whose perspective I was reading from or when chapters were occurring in the timeline, but this is honestly something I loved about the book. I enjoyed having to put together pieces as I read further and further. The chapters almost seem like short stories that all interconnect and in this way it easily kept my attention.
West Girls is my first read from this author. The writing was sharp enough to cover the messiness of glamour, beauty and the process of women spiraling.
Thanks to Scribe for sending me a copy of West Girls in exchange for my review.
The set up held my attention immediately. We first meet Luna Lewis- a young woman living in WA. Luna has transformed from "pudgy preteen" to "exotic beauty"- and in the midst of this transformation her social standings also change.
Each chapter is a new perspective and/or time jump in the broader story of Luna, either from her own perspective or from those around her. At times I was not sure whose perspective I was reading from or when chapters were occurring in the timeline, but this is honestly something I loved about the book. I enjoyed having to put together pieces as I read further and further. The chapters almost seem like short stories that all interconnect and in this way it easily kept my attention.
West Girls is my first read from this author. The writing was sharp enough to cover the messiness of glamour, beauty and the process of women spiraling.
Thanks to Scribe for sending me a copy of West Girls in exchange for my review.
February 23, 2024
Good lord what a novel.
June 2, 2024
I liked this book and its prose ... for the most part - I can't really speak too negatively about the pacing of a book I smashed out in two days and a half. I think Woollett is really talented at painting these murals of girlhood in such detail and with such personality that it makes me resonate with them so much I almost forget how inaccessible she's made them by having them all by sexy skinny little nymphos who are indifferent to the misogyny and assault they face. The depiction of race was quite weird to me too, almost as if every character that had a new and different mix of ethnicities was a new costume for the same judgemental girl with the same tendency to overuse the word 'bitch'. Another gripe I had was the choice to have every 'chapter' seem like the start of a new short story. Maybe I didn't read into it too well but I got quite lost at times, with all the details and descriptions being thrown at me, and I found the ending less satisfying since I didn't feel like it ended anything grand until I closed the book and realised it was finished. But that's all, liked it for the most part, funny, snarky - but I feel like it didn't really do much for me in the way of commentary.
November 5, 2023
It’s hard to be a woman...
Darkly, relentlessly, fascinatingly horrible. The kind of book that makes you hate everyone, especially the main character; which for me means the writing’s really good even if it’s not particularly enjoyable. There’s a realistic grit here but it got hard reading about girls being obsessed with their looks and endlessly unkind to each other, especially when my own (terrible) girlhood still had plenty of humour, love, support, and sweetness mixed in with The Horror or I wouldn’t have made it to womanhood. Being stuck with these characters was like a nightmare supercut of cringy bisexual high school shit I’d somehow forgotten. And The Horror. I was a little in awe of the storytelling but I couldn’t wait for it to end lol. I think this one will stick around for a good long while.
Also, holy shit this book has the bleakest humour. Just pitch black. Like the South African mining heiress whose only friend is a stuffed cheetah her dad murdered and CB telling her friends Luna’s daughter is fucked with her as a mother when she ended up baking her kid in the back of her car like a meatloaf, holy shit
Darkly, relentlessly, fascinatingly horrible. The kind of book that makes you hate everyone, especially the main character; which for me means the writing’s really good even if it’s not particularly enjoyable. There’s a realistic grit here but it got hard reading about girls being obsessed with their looks and endlessly unkind to each other, especially when my own (terrible) girlhood still had plenty of humour, love, support, and sweetness mixed in with The Horror or I wouldn’t have made it to womanhood. Being stuck with these characters was like a nightmare supercut of cringy bisexual high school shit I’d somehow forgotten. And The Horror. I was a little in awe of the storytelling but I couldn’t wait for it to end lol. I think this one will stick around for a good long while.
Also, holy shit this book has the bleakest humour. Just pitch black. Like the South African mining heiress whose only friend is a stuffed cheetah her dad murdered and CB telling her friends Luna’s daughter is fucked with her as a mother when she ended up baking her kid in the back of her car like a meatloaf, holy shit
Read
September 13, 2024Mixed feelings about this one. I really liked the writing style itself, less so how disorientating the perspective and time shifts were with little context or explanation, but I was willing to engage with that as it slowly coalesced, particularly for its other strengths. And there were some really powerful scenes that are still with me now, a few weeks or months after reading. But as a primarily character and/or plot-driven book kind of reader, I don't know that I enjoyed this. I do really like books delving into relationships, and this book definitely did that too, but perhaps the characters were too unlikeable? Or there was not enough grace or hope extended to them? I do tend to prefer happier endings, or at least some level of forgiveness or understanding, or some sort of offering. I wanted a softer landing for our main character, in the end. I think it was an odd, powerful book that would be excellent to study and analyse. I do think there is a lot to be drawn to in it. I just don't think I liked it.
February 22, 2026
“In Italy, I looked Italian. In Spain, I looked Spanish. In France, I looked French, but also Middle Eastern, and sometimes a bit Vietnamese. In the Middle East, I sometimes looked Middle Eastern, more often French or Italian. I looked Dutch Indonesian in the Netherlands. In Indonesia, too, often. In Japan, I looked häfu. In Brazil, Brazilian, though it took a while to get the walk right. I looked Uyghur in China. In the UK, I could be pretty much anything. But nobody cared who I was until I fucked an indie rockstar who was last seen with Mischa Barton, then suddenly I was posing for Vogue UK's
'Asian Invasion' feature.
Mum wanted to know if I was proud of myself. Dad just wanted to know if I actually liked Enoch's music. I didn't, but I had a talent back then for dancing to anything, and for saying things my parents didn't want to hear. I had other talents. Going where I was told to go.
Not complaining too much. Looking good in stupid outfits. Looking ethereal when I was merely tired and hungry.”
'Asian Invasion' feature.
Mum wanted to know if I was proud of myself. Dad just wanted to know if I actually liked Enoch's music. I didn't, but I had a talent back then for dancing to anything, and for saying things my parents didn't want to hear. I had other talents. Going where I was told to go.
Not complaining too much. Looking good in stupid outfits. Looking ethereal when I was merely tired and hungry.”
November 22, 2023
I struggled with this, and following discussion at book club, I think it’s because I was waiting for everything to come together as a novel, whereas a better description would be a collection of short (related) stories. I would also class this as literary fiction.
There were so many characters, and it was not immediately clear whose voice each chapter was in. I couldn’t figure out whether I had missed a lot of previously stated things or whether certain aspects were inferred. I found most of the characters to be fairly unlikeable, and they all had their own traumas. I think this book lacked balance in that regard.
Following discussion, there were enough different interpretations of certain parts to make me consider reading West Girls again. I think if I did that and reflected a bit more, my rating would go up, however 2 stars is my experience reading it for the first time. It was hard work.
There were so many characters, and it was not immediately clear whose voice each chapter was in. I couldn’t figure out whether I had missed a lot of previously stated things or whether certain aspects were inferred. I found most of the characters to be fairly unlikeable, and they all had their own traumas. I think this book lacked balance in that regard.
Following discussion, there were enough different interpretations of certain parts to make me consider reading West Girls again. I think if I did that and reflected a bit more, my rating would go up, however 2 stars is my experience reading it for the first time. It was hard work.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews