Book Review: Plain Bad Heroines

Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth

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Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth stays true and shows a truly complex storyline of a book within a movie within a book. In the 1902 Brookhants School for Girls, the rebellious Flo and Clara are inspired by a feminist memoir by Mary MacLane in which they show their fervor for the book by creating a club: The Plain Bad Heroine Society. After various claims and the mysterious and tragic deaths of Flo, Clara, and other student’s who came in contact with the memoir, the school shut down and left this mystery to closed gates. Many years later, a bestseller book was published that admired the queer and feminist history that the schools legacy left. After the release of the breakout book, Hollywood wants to make a movie based off of the famous controversy and curse that Brookhants left after being shut down. This is when we get introduced to intertwining characters of the 21st century in this book, Meritt Emmons, Harper Harper, and Audrey Wells, each involved in adapting the film about the famous macabre deaths of the heroines. As more is revealed about the curses and the exploitation of Hollywood, the characters both present and past tell the story of what’s to become of this mystery.

When I started reading this book I was immediately put in a spiral of my own thoughts about “Can I finish this?” and “Is it worth it?” Although I can’t pinpoint why I reacted this way I know that I had an over exaggerated reaction to seeing the 619 pages of this novel. I enjoyed this novel in all it’s uniqueness and literary talent as well as the magnificent illustrations by Sarah Lautman. I felt especially connected to this novel with all of the queer characters and the great amount of representation in it. As a queer person, I felt like this gave me more motivation to read whether it was reading about the beautiful romance of Flo and Clara or having the main character, Harper Harper, who is open about her sexuality throughout the novel. This book gave me an almost safe feeling while reading about the queerness of it all and the badass heroines that gives incredible representation. Even if I enjoyed this book, I had trouble reading it due to the fact that the almost old and sophisticated style of literature is not something I usually read. I suggest reading a segment of the book before committing to reading it fully just to sample it before diving into the book. While I applaud Emily M. Danforth for developing the enticing, detailed, and amazing characters, I think that the amount of footnotes in the book got me confused along the way (which won’t be the case for everyone reading this awesome book).

This novel is for you if you love mystery, many subplots, surprising twists, and plain bad heroines that are inspiring in so many ways. In the end, I will probably re-read this book and I suggest that you read it if you think that this book sounds like your kind of novel.

-Review by Teen Advisory Board Member, 12/29/20