Book Review: The Only Girl in Town by Ally Condie

*I received this digital ARC on NetGalley from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
Title: The Only Girl in Town
Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: September 19, 2023
ISBN: 9780593327173

Synopsis:
For July Fielding, nothing has been the same since that summer before senior year.

Once, she had Alex to be her loyal best friend, the one who always had her back. She had Sydney, who pushed her during every cross country run, and who sometimes seemed to know July better than she knew herself. And she had Sam. Sam, who told her she was everything and left her breathless with his touch.

Now, July is alone. Every single person in her small town of Lithia has disappeared. No family. No Alex or Sydney. No Sam. July’s only chance at unraveling the mystery of their disappearance is a series of objects, each a reminder of the people she loved most. And a mysterious message: GET TH3M BACK.

———-

Sigh. I’m not even really sure what to say about this book, it felt like such a flop. July is the only person left in her town. There is no explanation as to why, we only know she is the only one who remains. Her story oscillates between Now, her current alone state, and Once, her memories. At first you might think apocalypse, or maybe July is dead and in a state of purgatory, but there is little in the plot to explain why she is in the state she’s in. In fact, for a story told entirely in her point of view, we actually don’t get to know or understand July herself at all.

The story structure, I think is meant to incite urgency and create an lyrical and poetic cadence; however, if this was the intention, it did not succeed. The book was frustrating to read and often difficult to follow. It seemed like the intention was to tease and create short sound bites with intense cliffhangers, but it was difficult to follow and chapters were unsatisfying.

There are certainly some deep seated themes of a struggle with mental health and depression, but this emerges towards the end and is not enough to provide clarity along the way. There was so much potential for this book to be a real talking point in the conversation surrounding mental health, friendship, relationships, and those difficult teenage years. More than anything, this book was a bit of a let down. It’s got a great synopsis, but it didn’t pan out the way I’d hoped.