NL_082417

22 | August 24, 2017 | The New Lenox Patriot Life & Arts
newlenoxpatriot.com
Chapter Chatter
Emma Cline takes you on a rollercoaster ride with ‘The Girls’
Haley Thompson
New Lenox Resident
Emma Cline has
written a novel that
demands attention.
Debut novels as hypnotic
as “The Girls” is very rare.
Praise for Cline’s work has
disquieted The Los Angeles
Times, The Washington Post
and The Guardian.
Although I, Haley
Thompson (the recent
college graduate), does
not represent a prestigious
company, I think my review
of “The Girls” arrests its
fame. You can take my word
for it. “The Girls” has officially
become my favorite
book of the summer.
Written with spellbinding
diction, Cline seduces
anyone who dares to pick up
her masterpiece. Illustrating
the nightmare of Charles
Manson’s infamous commune,
Cline’s writing is told
through a fictional character
who shares her pleasurably
evil summer with the cult
and its mystic ring leader.
The book is set in northern
California amidst the start
of summer and the end
the 1960s. Following the
civil rights riots and protests,
a free-love movement
emerges.
Fourteen year-old Evie
Boyd’s life takes a dramatic
shift after she catches her
father cheating (someone
took the free-love movement
too literally). Her parents’
divorce leaves her more
abandoned than ever before.
The one friend Evie had,
Connie, severed their friendship
following an incestual
scandal. As summer begins,
Evie’s father is living with a
barely-legal bombshell, and
her once poised mother, has
transformed into a incense
burning, married-man-dating
sleaze. Evie isolates herself
in a blanket of depression
and loneliness. She is now
friendless and family-less. It
doesn’t take long for a heavy
tension between Evie and
her mother to birth a divide
into their home.
How did she go from endless
sleepovers spent taking
life advice from a Cosmopolitan
magazine and family
vacations to isolation? The
aftermath of an absent father,
a hippie mother who is
soul searching and a slimey
best friend break up leads
Evie Boyd directly into the
greedy hands of a cult.
Evie would do anything to
become accepted by the farrelly
beautiful group of girls
she sees ravishing through
dumpsters for food and
stealing toilet paper from the
local convenience store. A
sudden obsession with their
stench of unwashed freedom
overtakes her. Evie begins
stealing money, food and
breaking into houses to gain
the conditional acceptance
from them.
She is quickly woven into
the girls “group” and is soon
taken to a run down farm to
meet their “leader.” Evie is
unaware that this gathering
and essence of sexual attraction
between all the girls
and this man is a cult.
Evie’s life soon seems
to spiral out of control.
From getting arrested, being
brainwashed to oppose
societal norms, having sex
with middle-aged men,
falling in love with girls and
being a lover of her favorite
Suzanne, Evie no longer
recognizes herself. She
could have never known
that the summer she spent
with “the girls” would brand
her for life as a member one
of the most murderous and
infamous cults of the ages.
One mistake, gone horribly
wrong leaves countless lives
lost and innocence stolen.
If you would like to submit
a book review for Chapter
Chatter, email james@
newlenoxpatriot.com.
SAVINGS ECLIPSE!
Hours: Mon – Fri, 7am – 5pm; Saturday, 7am – 12pm
*Closed Labor Day, Monday, 9/4
Area Landscape Special!
$20 OFF
A PURCHASE OF $200 OR MORE.
Retail Material & Delivery purchase only. Not valid on
previous orders, taxes, or deposits. One coupon per household,
per week. Present coupon, or mention code: 11939MAX
Expires 9/2/2017
SAME DAY DELIVERY! • WE NOW CARRY AQUASCAPE WATER FEATURES!
708.479.8400
18851 S. Wolf Rd. • Mokena
www.AreaLandscapeSupply.com
Follow us on:
Ask for a FREE ESTIMATE from a local contractor.
Visit us online at www.newlenoxpatriot.com
AFJROTC students shine at leadership school
Submitted by Lincoln-Way
Community High School
District 210
Back in June, Lincoln-Way
students from the Air Force
Junior ROTC programs completed
a week-long Leadership
School conducted at
Wright State University in
Dayton, Ohio. Cadets endured
intense physical training,
leadership skill classes
and team-building activities.
Among the 150 cadets at
the camp, 12 Lincoln-Way
students were also there
to represent Illinois. High
schools from Ohio, Kentucky
and Michigan also participated.
Cadets who attended the
course were Hunter Brugler,
Matthew Deavers, Dominica
Diangi, Alexis Dunham,
Arick Hauschild, Elizabeth
Ihrke, Taylor Lenburg, Kirsten
Lutz, Elizabeth Prynn,
Raechel Sweeney, Michael
Thompson and Nathaniel
Zambrano. They were accompanied
by Lt. Col. John
O’Connor (LW East) and
Master Sgt. Dan Schliffka
(LW Central, LW West)
Lincoln-Way has several
outstanding cadets who
were recognized during this
week-long program. Lenburg
received the Top Academic
Award by achieving the highest
score on the academic
exam in the past eight years.
Brugler, Deavers and Prynn
were awarded Top Squadron
Members. Diangi was
presented as the Top Flight
Member. Deavers and Prynn
also earned First Place Flight
Drill Competitors. Hauschild
took home the Field Training
Exercise Award. Lastly,
Lenburg, Zambrano, Lutz
and Thompson were honored
with the Escape and Evasion
Top Survival Rate.
“Our cadets did an incredible
job representing Lincoln-
Way,” Schliffka said. “It was
our first time to attend this
particular Leadership School,
and it is considered to be one
of the most highly structured
and disciplined course available
to cadets in the Midwest.
They were all personally selected
to attend and did not
disappoint in their determination
to excel.”
Lenberg said she took
away a lot from the weeklong
program.
“Ohio Valley Leadership
School was a rigorous experience
that tested everyone’s
physical, mental, and emotional
strength, to a point that
most high schoolers probably
have not undergone before,”
Lenberg said. “It forced us
to face our fears and misgivings,
and ultimately taught
us how leaders act and think.
And although it was incredibly,
unbelievably difficult, it
was one of the most influential
weeks of my life, both in
teaching me about my own
strength, as well the strength
of relying on my peers. I am
very glad to have pushed
through it.”