“The savage in man is never quite eradicated,” a deep, philosophical quote by Henry David Thoreau is seen at the beginning of The Last Girl, a book that is quite mediocre.

 

A disease restricting the birth of female babies has been spread to everyone across the world. Who knew unity could be so divisive? Warfare is ignited from desperate attempts to fix the issue. Most of the human population is killed. In a military base located in the unknown, six women are imprisoned, kept alive until their twenty-first birthday when they are taken away for undisclosed reasons. Zoey is approaching her twenty-first birthday. She wants to escape

 

Joe Hart is a thief. He managed to steal my attention with his book, The Last Girl. The end of each chapter is loaded with tension, all but begging the reader to keep reading. I always found myself reading a few pages more than planned, and it's not entirely due to me procrastinating before doing homework. It’s entertaining. Considering the story’s flaws, this is incredibly surprising.

 

So much in The Last Girl did not make sense. Some of the content on the pages has less logic than an intoxicated toddler. First off, main character Zoey isn’t the last girl alive. I can emphasize with book’ title choice though, since One of the Last Girls just doesn’t have the same ring to it. An absurd plot element- which there are many- is the treatment of the six girls in the facility. If they are the supposed final hope for humanity, why are they cared for with such inadequacy? To add a dramatic flair, no doubt.

 

For example, if one of the girls commits a misdeed, she is put inside a device called the “box,” which is a psychologically damaging containment cell. But why? Why not use normal and cheaper methods of punishment (like being put into a corner, being forced to munch on a bar of soap, decapitation, or any other mundane ways of discipline)?  There are more discrepancies in this book than there are blotches on a teenager’s face.

 

When a character dies, it should have some sort of impact on the reader. I can remember my entire class sobbing when we reached the part where Marley dies in Marley and Me- it was ruff. The only tear I shed in my perusal of TheLast Girl is when I accidentally stubbed my toe while walking and reading (PSA: don’t walk and read). Without delving too thoroughly in detail, there were multitudes of deaths in this book. Yes, these occurrences had little emotional effect upon me. In fact, I probably would have been more distraught if I dropped a chip on the floor. The author’s writing invoked no empathy for the other characters. Parts of the book that were supposed to be sorrowful were instead dryer than the California drought.

 

There is a divide over the quality of The Last Girl, a civil war in the literary world that has resulted in voracious battles on Goodreads. Five-star and one-star reviews are shot back and forth. As of yet, no side has proved to be the victor. The value of this book will be entirely dependent on you as a reader. So before you read, be warned! You’ll be playing Russian roulette with your time and entertainment.