Sharp Objects

I read this a couple years after Gone Girl left me OBSESSED with Gillian Flynn's deceptively simple and effortless prose around murder, violence, and trauma and while I can't say this didn't disappoint (me specifically) it was still an engrossing book about generational trauma and mommy issues in a gorgeous (ostentatious mayhaps?) Southern Gothic backdrop. As good as the HBO adaptation was I agree with other reviewers that the book ending is better.

Possibly its only real flaw is Gone Girl's success because in comparison this book left me wanting for a certain quality I can't explain. There's something about the complexity and duplicity of Nick and Amy's characters you don't find with Camille and her relationships in this book. Everything is much more straightforward. (Relatively speaking of course.)

EDIT: someone else mentioned transphobia (briefly) in book from main character that I totally forgot about... red flag for sure. :(

(Ironically I read this the last time I myself went home for Christmas 'bout ten years ago. lol)

Recently going to see Gone Girl at the cinema reminded me that I still had Sharp Objects languishing unread on our Kindle. It's the third Gillian Flynn novel I have read but apparently the first she wrote. The storyline here is definitely not for the fainthearted and at points I felt quite queasy reading it. The central theme of two girls in a small town in Missouri being murdered is obviously horrific, but having read several crime thrillers over the years, I have pretty much become immune to the emotional pull of murdered young fictional women and girls. It feels bizarre writing that but so many novels start with such a death that it is almost a prerequisite. Where Sharp Objects differs is that our viewpoint into the story comes via Camille, a journalist sent back to cover the story unfolding in her hometown. Camille not only has self harmed and in plenty of detail, but leads us into the bosom of her cold, dysfunctional family as she tries to come to terms with her personal past and the death of her younger sister. The relationships within her home and trailing our across the town are cleverly included in the story, explaining why she is as she is. I don't think Sharp Objects is as good a story as Gone Girl and it doesn't have the former's intensity, but I appreciate that they both have unusual central female characters who are damaged and bizarre, yet memorable and definitely never stereotypical.

This was Flynn's first novel & I enjoyed the slow burn of the mystery of the killer...and the circling dread as reporter Camille finds herself revisiting a traumatic past. The conclusion was rapid but satisfying.

Oh, this was not my favorite, I’m afraid. Sharp Objects is skillfully written but the story is much darker than I’d normally go for (I read it for a book club), and the heroine just struggled throughout - I never felt happy for her and I had trouble relating to her, so, in the end, it felt like witnessing the life of someone I cared for but couldn’t connect with just unravel, in truly awful ways, while I could do nothing but watch. I didn’t enjoy it. Like the many descriptions of vomiting in the story, reading it felt like tasting bile for hours.

I didn’t like any of the characters (except her editor back in Chicago). The small town’s inhabitants are pretty uniformly characterized as uneducated, troubled, and driven to alcoholism, addiction, and escapism. I found this whole side of the book to be fairly insulting to small towns. Every character was a negative stereotype of unsophisticated, small-minded, gossipy people. It made it hard to care when you finally find out who did it.

The "twist" is probably the least shocking part of this book. The whole thing makes your skin crawl.

The "twist" is probably the least shocking part of this book. The whole thing makes your skin crawl.

Cant' be doing with this. The crime fic equivalent of a Lars von Trier film.

Cant' be doing with this. The crime fic equivalent of a Lars von Trier film.

This was readable. The writing was good, the characters interesting, the story compelling.

BUT...

The whole thing kind of disintegrated in sensationalism and was so over the top it became almost laughable. It would have been much better as a character study. It would have been more enjoyable had it been realistic and hadn't just gone for the cheap thrill. The big reveal and twist at the end, OMG!!! I'm not really into that kind of thing. I'm not sure if that is this author's particular shtick; I haven't read Gone Girl and don't plan on it. But it's a waste of talent if it is.

Stopped when Camille speculated someone might be a "transvestite" hard pass.

Gillian Flynn's primary thesis is that returning to the small town in which you grew up never works out well

That was a great mystery/thriller!

I'm not used to reading this genre, and I probably would've never picked it up if it wasn't for the masterful HBO series Sharp Objects. I watched the first episode and I was SO intrigued that when I saw it was based on a book, I immediately purchased and started reading it, because I was not about to WAIT to see what happened. Ain't nobody got time for that.

It was a great read, though I feel like the ending was kind of rushed past, after the "mystery" was thought to be resolved. It was so much so that when it was revealed who the true killer was, I was a bit like "wait what now?". Up until the last 10% of the book though, it's absolutely great!

I also felt like I was being tricked and not in a good way... In retrospect, it doesn't feel like I had any chance whatsoever of solving that mystery by myself. I was purposefully mislead.

However, the narrator's voice is on point and I could feel her disgust for certain foods, actions and people. I daresay this was a synesthesic experience, because I really connected with the narration of the book.

I had already enjoyed one of Flynn's short stories, but that was my first time reading a novel.