A beautiful schoolgirl mysteriously disappears into the South African veld. Forty years later, thirteen members of the missing girl's swimming team gather at their old boarding school for a reunion, and look back to the long, dry weeks leading to Fiamma's disappearance. As teenage memories and emotions resurface, the women relive the horror of a long-buried secret. A stunning and singular tale of the passion and tribalism of adolescence, Cracks lays bare the violence that lurks in the heart of even the most innocent.

An interesting story about a secret held by a group of women in Africa from the summer when they were teenagers & a classmate "disappeared". I found the ending rather disturbing. I couldn't get it out of my head. It was so depressing. ( )

Cracks is the story of a group of 13- or, by the end of the story, 12 girls who are on the swimming team at a private South African school. Years later, they are reunited and details of the disappearance of a beautiful Italian princess, Fiamma, who used to be on their team are unveiled.

This book was by far the most disturbing book I have read in my entire life. I know, that sounds harsh- but seriously. It puts sociopathic, evil monsters on display in the costume of beautiful, intelligent, coming-of-age girls. From the very beginning, you think you know the ending of the book (it can't end any other way) but you have no idea how it will end.

The reason I'm giving this book 4 stars and not less for its nightmare-inducing psychological mindf*ck is because I'm still sitting here thinking and being disturbed by it. Besides, the writing was beautiful and elegant, a harsh contrast to the words and actions of the characters. ( )

In Cracks, a group of former schoolmates meet at their old school for a reunion of sorts. While nominally the reunion seems to be organized in order to raise money for the school, in the background lurks the secret that the girls share--the disappearance of the mysterious Fiamma, the outsider schoolgirl within their old posse. Also missing from the reunion is Miss G., the swim coach who held them all together. The story revolves around Fiamma's disappearance as well as Miss G.'s relationship with the girls, and the reunion marks the occasion in which the sinister past is revisited.

I've seen Cracks compared to Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. In the recent words of Macy's CEO upon being compared to JC Penney, this is like comparing apples to monkeys. Miss Brodie is a woman who lives on distortions in order to construct a world in which "truth, art, and beauty..." come first. It is these distortions that seduce the Brodie girls as they themselves try to make sense of what they see. "Truth" is a concept thrown around in Cracks as well by Miss G., but in this case it is much more difficult to understand how Miss G. translates her philosophies into anything that is at all seductive. Rather, Miss G. is a caricature of the predatory lesbian gym teacher cum pedophile. Why the girls want to be around her is impossible to say, and why Miss G. falls for Fiamma, the new 14 year old beauty who is supposed to be mysterious but just comes across as hollow, is also an enigma.

The truth behind Fiamma's disappearance, which is supposed to be shocking, turns out to be more ludicrous than anything else. Kohler isn't able to paint a picture of sexual awakening in her young protagonists that rings true, and the character of Miss G. who is supposed to be both seductive and evil ends as being grotesque and crazed. This isn't the stuff of thoughtful sexual awakening as seen in Strachey's Olivia or Winsloe's The Child Manuela. Nor does its lesbian villain reach the level of frightening (but undoubtedly attractive) sensuality as seen in Dane's Regiment of Women or Joris' The Illusionist. And it certainly isn't on par with Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie or Manning's The Chinese Garden, which have elements of all of these things.

All in all, Cracks is a clumsily constructed story with a teenager-horror B-movie ending. Let's hope that the forthcoming film adaptation doesn't follow the book too closely. ( )

South African girls' school swim team revisits old secrets at class reunion

6.00 ( )