What Girls Are Made Of

I first encountered this author's work when I was able to request her children's book "Far From Fair" from Amazon Vine. Which I loved. And when a request went out for reviewers for her new book, I jumped on it, not even knowing what this title was about, or that it was for older audiences. I was grabbed by the descriptions in the first paragraph of this book, and saw the narrator, Nina, and her mother, in the simple but important dance that all women do: fold sheets. And then I could not put the book down. I read, and read, and read, until I was finished reading. Which is HUGE for me, because I have a hard time concentrating these days (thanks, Sick Person Body and #InvisibleIllnesses). The book is sad, and lonely, and perfectly describes the confusion that girls feel. The longing for someone to love you unconditionally, the longing for someone in particular, the hurt when it doesn't work out. The embarrassment of having a woman's body: the periods, the small breasts, the shoes, the desire to look slutty, while not being a slut, etc. The book weaves together short "stories" that were supposedly written by Nina for a class project, and her past and present experience with love: family love, friend love, boyfriend love. The stories focus on female saints who were mutilated - a poignant look at women who were adored and then reviled. The book does deal with some tough issues: abortion, teenage sex, death, parents who aren't really there, etc. But I hope lots of girls read this book, and realize they are not alone in how they feel. I admire the author for channeling her anger at being a girl (and love; we can't imagine being anything else) into this work. My only negative comment is that: there was quite a build up to the "bad" thing Nina did to a new classmate, but when I finally got it, to my imagination had built it up to be far worse. But then, I haven't been in high school for many many years, so perhaps it is as bad as it is made out to be. Note: I received a digital ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This has no bearing on my review. I never guarantee a positive rating, and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

An unsettling novel which with brutal honesty describes what it means to be a girl. This is THE book about all the things adults do not want teenagers to know about – from details of pelvic exam, through sex to abortion. All written in a direct and raw way, crossing all possible boundaries. It touches on the uncomfortable topics I was afraid to ask my parents about when I was a teenager, and which – if I did ask – they would struggle to answer without taking the gross details out and sugar-coating it all. In the author’s note Elana Arnold writes “Sugar and spice and everything nice; that’s what girls are made of. Hearing this nursery rhyme when I was a little girl, I remember feeling smug. I was a girl, and therefore I was made of the good stuff; boys, on the other hand, were made of frogs and snails and puppy fog tails – slimy, icky, dismembered, even. Now, though, I read it differently. First, now I see that the stuff of girls is meant to be consumed – sugar, spice and everything nice – yummy sweet treats that melt in your mouth. And it reads to me now as warning rather than assessment. It’s an imperative: to be a girl, one must be sweet and delicious. One must be made entirely of everything nice. There is no room in girlhood (and, perhaps, femaleness) for anything else. But this is not my experience of femaleness. As I grew up, I became distinctly aware that I was not made entirely of sweetness.” The main character – Nina – is a teenage girl who is melodramatic, confused, feels lost and searches for answers. She is not perfect, she makes mistakes (some bigger than others), and she feels disconnected from her parents. Nina does not have many friends, and the one she used to be friends with is very easy to dislike. I know many reviews stated that all the characters were difficult to like, but I actually liked Nina from the beginning of the story. Her mother told her once that there is no such thing as unconditional love, and Nina takes it on herself to prove this statement wrong. This is not easy. Working in high-kill shelter Nina is being reminded every day that her mother might have been right, and with that tried to figure out what the conditions of love are. Throughout the story, Nina remembers her trip to Italy with her mother. During that trip she learnt a lot about the saints who died being violently tortured for their love to Jesus, for having an opinion, for not willing to give themselves to other men, and for being women. “What girls ate made of” is the most feminist book I have ever read, and although I do not consider myself a feminist, and this is NOT a story of sugar and spice and everything nice, I enjoyed this book a lot and was disappointed when it ended. The author did leave the ending open, and could have built on it more and make the book longer, but at the same time I do understand why it ended the way it did.

Love this book! I wish I could have read it when I was a teen. Should be required reading or all young people. Full of the messiness and beauty and heartbreak of being a girl, of being a human, of being seen as disposable. I love how this book is raw and too real at moments and poetic and almost magical at others.

"I was the emptiness inside of things. I was the negative space." I wanted to like this book. Really. But I didn't like it as much. What I liked: 1- Language 2- Anecdotes, dreams, and tales 3- Depiction of art My problem is not that the MC was unlikable. She was vapid. She sounded too sorry for the choices she made. I couldn't connect with it.

Powerful and real. I felt really let into the life of the character. I notice I am the only male reviewer so far. I think it's a book guys ought to read.

Great book for teen girls in high school!

I read this because someone I know wanted it banned. I found it informative, interesting, and nothing to be concerned about in terms of the content.

My version is missing pages 23-54. Seems like a good book, but I think you need those pages.

Me es difícil calificar libros con los que me identifico porque, no sé si otorgo la puntuación porque es bueno o porque vi tanto de mi en la historia. En esta ocasión estoy casi segura que es porque el libro es bueno ;) la prosa de esta autora es genial (tuve muchas frases que subrayar (; ) Este libro nos cuenta momentos de la vida de Nina Faye, narrado por ella misma. Se sincera acerca del amor, la relación con su familia y lo que significa ser una mujer. Me gustó mucho como se vio su crecimiento y evolución. Recomiendo la nota de la autora al final.

I'm not sure if Elana K. Arnold would be happy to hear this book described so, but honestly, it is! It's such an angry, needy, yet hopeful examination of what it is to be a girl. Not a nice girl. Not a perfect girl. Just a glorious normal girl. I've definitely said it before, but Elana K. Arnold is my favourite contemporary author. Not just of YA, but of every age group and genre. She's stellar.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from this book, but I wasn't disappointed. I really wish I could of read this when I was teenager.

"When people don't have words to describe what they're experiencing," Mom said, "they think it's magic. Or mystical." -Page 89 It comes down to this sentence to describe this book. Nina, the protagonist, seeks her place as a young girl in the world, and has to face her internalized misogyny and the taboos surrounding the female body. At times, it seems like she prefers to think of her body in the way her mother describes it above - as something mysterious, unfathomable. The way how Nina breaks with this mindset by experiencing herself in different ways is quite well done and shows subtly but insistently that it's better to know yourself and your body instead denying it and rely on others to define yourself. It reminded me of another book I've read recently in this regard, "The Confession" by Jessie Burton, which has a woman in her thirties going on a mental journey to explore herself, her wishes and also her own aimlessness and has her accept all of that. Only that "The Confession" has a lot less dramatic imagery and stylization (and also features queer main characters instead of the mere diverse background token characters in Arnold's book). In short, "What Girls Are Made Of" is a little over the top and remote from everyday life, especially in the first quarter where it seems like every scene, every sentence is some comment on sex, sexualization, misogyny, the patriarchy etc. I think Arnold covers this allegoric style a lot better in her other book, "Damsel"; in which the fairy tale character of the book welcomes the stylized writing a lot more and has the main character challenge the system from the start, while "What Girls Are Made Of" sometimes lacks the bound-to-earthness of a contemporary story. It's a little too cliché in places, like with the educated and unhappy housewife mother and the father who is literally never present. Also, a few scenes left me wondering if it is truly only the partriarchy that has wronged Nina or something is off with her personally (no offense, that applies to me as well), like how intense she's influenced by every little thing, EG when she blames the largeness of their house for her mother's miscarriages although she knows about their medical reasons, or how hard it is for her to find meaning in life when she's alone just for a moment. But the possibility of mental illness is never really touched upon, so I assume Arnold only tried to be a little more edgy. An interesting part is the journey to Italy and the contemplation of art - which felt very relatable to my own journeys there - including the thoughts on martyred and virgin female saints, something I've never thought about much. The book shifts the attention away from the holiness and calls out the sexualized violence committed against those women which felt like more than due - although I missed a comment on how her virginity doesn't make a woman more "holy" than one who's sexually active (but as the main character is sexually active and the book doesn't slutshame, the thought is implied). That journey is also the only time when mother and daughter ever connect with each other and it's both shocking and fascinating to see how Nina's mother would only give her occasional gruesome life advice and then goes on to ignore her and even deny she said anything of the sort. As bad as it sounds, it never feels false, only accurate. Because many mothers/older women might feel exactly like that, as if they can reveal on their trauma only in metaphoric glimpes. Totally unreliable trigger warning (as there's many other triggering content in this book as well): Obscure bird metaphors that I started to skip over because everything avian creeps the hell out of me.

This title has been on my TBR for awhile now and today felt like the time to read it. At only 190+ pages, I was surprised how much Elana K Arnold was able to pack in this story. Loved the message of girls not letting themselves be silenced. It was interesting the stories that appeared in between the chapters. Quite enjoyed