I get enough mean-girl drama teaching middle school. I don't need to read about it recreationally.
All the Little Houses was the pick for the ManiScripts Book Club for August. I tried to be open-minded because this is not the type of book I normally read. Apparently there is a good reason for that.
I struggled a little with my rating. At first, I was wavering between two and three stars because the book isn't badly written. In fact, I think Cobb accomplished exactly what she set out to do. Unfortunately, what she set out to do involved a whole lot of mean-girl drama, and I get enough of that teaching middle school. I don't need to read about it recreationally.
The story is told from multiple points of view, and that part worked very well. I never had trouble keeping track of the characters or figuring out whose story I was following.
First, we have Nellie, a spoiled, wealthy mean girl who isn't particularly nice to anyone, including her own parents. Her mother, Charleigh, isn't much better. She's wealthy, judgmental, manipulative, and apparently thinks paying people to spend time with her daughter is preferable to teaching Nellie how to be a decent human being.
Then there's Jane, whose family is the complete opposite. They live off the land and don't have much money, but Jane prides herself on her ability to make people like her. She even calls it her superpower. Her parents, Ethan and Abigail, have their own highly questionable ways of making money, involving sex and manipulation.
Jackson, Charleigh's best friend, was actually the one character I liked. He's gay but isn't out to anyone except Charleigh, and even he is getting tired of her behavior. I could have done without the graphic sex scene, but that's just me. Other players include Blair, who befriends Jane despite Nellie's objections, and Luke, Jane's secret boyfriend, neither of whom is particularly likable.
So when things start going very wrong, part of my brain was saying, Well, what did you expect?
Blair has an accident that leaves her in a coma. Charleigh is murdered. Her body inconveniently refuses to sink. Luke is set up to take the fall for the murder.
And then...
The End.
I turned a few more pages because I honestly thought there had to be more. There was, but it was a preview of the next book. I don't mind a cliffhanger when I'm invested enough in a story to immediately think, Give me the next book! Unfortunately, my reaction here was more along the lines of, Wait. That's IT?
Part of the problem was that I simply didn't care enough about these characters. I didn't particularly care what happened to Blair. I knew who killed Charleigh and who was responsible for setting up Luke. With the exception of Jackson, I didn't like anyone enough to become invested in what happened to them next.
And that's ultimately what pushed this down to two stars for me.
Cobb did a good job with the multiple POVs, and the characters were distinct and easy to follow. She also wrote the toxic friendships, manipulation, jealousy, wealth, and mean-girl behavior convincingly. If you love books about wealthy people behaving badly and interpersonal drama where nearly everyone has an agenda, you may have a completely different reaction to this one.
For me, though, it was too much drama, too few people I cared about, and not nearly enough payoff at the end. A cliffhanger should leave me desperate for the next book.
This one left me checking to make sure I hadn't accidentally skipped a chapter.
