''Girl'' is a 1994 novel written by

Blake Nelson Blake Nelson is an American author of adult and children's literature. He grew up in Portland, Oregon, and attended Wesleyan University and New York University. He lives in Hillsboro, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area. Biography Nelso ...

. The book chronicles teen girl Andrea Marr's exploration of the Northwest music scene at the height of the " grunge" revolution. Girl was made into a film of the same name starring

Dominique Swain Dominique Swain (born August 12, 1980) is an American actress and producer. She came to prominence playing the title character in Adrian Lyne's 1997 film adaptation of ''Lolita'', alongside her supporting role as Jamie Archer in John Woo's ''Fac ...

Portia de Rossi Portia Lee James DeGeneres (born Amanda Lee Rogers; 31 January 1973), known professionally as Portia de Rossi, is an Australian-American former actress. She played Nelle Porter on the American drama series '' Ally McBeal'' (1998–2002), for w ...

, and

Selma Blair Selma Blair Beitner (born June 23, 1972) is an American actress. She played a number of roles in films and on television before obtaining recognition for her leading role in the film '' Brown's Requiem'' (1998). Her breakthrough came when she s ...

in 1998. Portions of the novel first appeared in

Sassy Magazine ''Sassy'' magazine is a defunct, general interest teen magazine aimed at young women. It covered a wide variety of topics, and was intended as a feminist counterpoint to '' Seventeen'' and '' YM'' magazines. ''Sassy'' existed between 1988 and 1996 ...

. Two more installments of the GIRL Series are available on Amazon Kindle.

Plot summary

Andrea Marr begins high school as an ordinary suburban teen. When approaching graduation in her senior year, she decides to explore downtown and comes across mysterious and charismatic musician Todd Sparrow. Todd is the lead singer of a local band called Color Green. This begins Andrea’s journey through the Pacific Northwest indie-rock music scene of the 1990s. In the process she breaks out of her suburban sheltered upbringing and finds herself, her sexuality, and experiences first lust in the year before she goes off to attend Wellington College.

Publisher

This book was originally published by Touchstone/

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

in September 1994. It was re-issued by Simon Pulse as a

young adult A young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages of human development significantly influencing the definition of ...

title in 2007. A sequel to ''Girl'', ''

Dream School ''Dream School'' is an American reality television series on SundanceTV that premiered on October 7, 2013. The series follows 15 high school dropouts as they are taught by a series of celebrity "teachers", including lawyer and rights activist G ...

'', was published by Figment. The third installment of the ''Girl'' series, ''The City Wants You Alone'', is available exclusively on Amazon Kindle. ''Girl'' is widely considered a contemporary classic and has recently been reissued for a third time by Simon Pulse (2017). The novel has been in print continuously for twenty-four years. Vanity Fair called GIRL: "A seminal coming of age text". It is also considered the best literary rendering of the 1990s subcultures Riot Grrrl and

Grunge Rock Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...

External links

Official website of Blake Nelson
1994 American novels American young adult novels Novels about music Novels by Blake Nelson American novels adapted into films Touchstone Books books