Review: Savage Girl by Jean Zimmerman

Jean Zimmerman’s new novel tells of the dramatic events that transpire when an alluring, blazingly smart eighteen-year-old girl named Bronwyn, reputedly raised by wolves in the wilds of Nevada, is adopted in 1875 by the Delegates, an outlandishly wealthy Manhattan couple, and taken back East to be civilized and introduced into high society.

Bronwyn hits the highly mannered world of Edith Wharton- era Manhattan like a bomb. A series of suitors, both young and old, find her irresistible, but the willful girl’s illicit lovers begin to turn up murdered.

Zimmerman’s tale is narrated by the Delegate’s son, a Harvard anatomy student. The tormented, self-dramatizing Hugo Delegate speaks from a prison cell where he is prepared to take the fall for his beloved Savage Girl. This narrative—a love story and a mystery with a powerful sense of fable—is his confession.

Hardcover, 416 pages

Expected publication: March 6th 2014 by Viking Adult (first published March 1st 2014) 
Genre: Historical Fiction  

Kristine's Thoughts:  

* I received an advanced readers copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review.*

I was excited when I got my copy of this book in the mail. I love historical fiction, loved the cover and the synopsis sounded outstanding. Unfortunately it fell a little short for me. There is no denying that Zimmerman is a very gifted writer and has an excellent way with the written language but it felt like the story got lost at times in her words. I found the story to be long and slow and I needed to step away from it frequently. In fact, it took me six days to complete it when I normally average at last three books in that time.

The story is mostly about Hugo and not Savage Girl which was a little bit of a disappointment. As the reader I was never able to connect with her but got way too much Hugo. His character was not overly likeable and at times annoying and childish. In fact, I found that there was a bit of a disconnect between all of the characters and I think it was because of this that I didn't really care what the outcome of the story would be.

The guts of the story are good and the writing is good but it was just lacking something that made it exceptional.