I keep seeing people talk about how the characters in this book "aren't girls' girls". My question is: Why do they have to be?

I think this is a larger issue to do with people needing characters to be likable or in the right.

Clearly most of them start the book off as purposefully unlikable and they're cruel to each other because of their own issues. By the end they all get along better, are more open to hearing each other out, and have learned to question their preconceived notions.

Do I think that the character arcs were well done? No. Frankly, we don't spend nearly enough time in the group setting to see them bond and get closer. All of a sudden they're braiding each other's hair, but we don't really see the progression from point A to point B. At least not as much as I'd like.

The problem likely comes from the fact that the book is pitched as a "feminist retelling". It's a buzzword that publishers use to put a book into a category so that you can market it to people who liked something similar. And it's everywhere; not every book is about female rage just because a woman gets angry, and not every book is feminist because women are the main characters. The question really is: Did the author intend for the story to be feminist? Even the description of the book calls the stories "anti-feminist nightmares".

These are definitely fairytale retellings told by women. I even personally like how the author chose to reinterpret some (emphasis on some) of the stories to show how unsympathetic women can often be victims to other people's narratives. But the stories are all traumatic incidents, with our main characters as victims who don't (and can't) take their power back.

I don't think this book succeeds in being feminist, but I'm also not sure it was especially trying to. This book has a half-decent cultural critique, with women telling their own stories, but it doesn't necessarily challenge the patriarchy so much as it touches on criticism for a handful of things; tabloid media, the industry of reality TV, rich jackasses, incels, etc. Even by the end of the story, the happily ever after is that they get over their traumas while the cycle continues. Bullshit tabloid fodder is still being spread and the ultimate rich asshole who was doing his best to exploit them all is trying to take legal action against them.

Maybe I'm giving the author too much leeway. Maybe she was trying to write an empowering feminist tale and failed anyway. Either way, what do you think? Does this make for a feminist story? Do they become girls' girls? Does it matter if they are? What even is the functional difference between a girls' girl and just a decent person?