Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

190 reviews

auggiebug's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Infidelity, Medical trauma, Murder, Misogyny, Infertility, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Suicide, Pedophilia, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

this book is HEAVY! don't read without checking the trigger warnings first!

ceallaighsbooks's review

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

”Sometimes I think illness sits inside every woman, waiting for the right moment to bloom. I have known so many sick women all my life. Women with chronic pain, with ever-gestating diseases. Women with conditions. Men, sure, they have bone snaps, they have backaches, they have a surgery or two, yank out a tonsil, insert a shiny plastic hip. Women get consumed.”

TITLE—Sharp Objects

AUTHOR—Gillian Flynn

PUBLISHED—2006

PUBLISHER—Shaye Areheart Books

GENRE—thriller / horror

SETTING—Wind Gap, Missouri

MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—midwest (/tryna be southern) gothic, newspaper reporter MC, serial killer murder mystery, creepy small town america, scary society women, sinister children, meat factory farm, teeth, gender roles as implications of guilt or deserts, fairy tale themes & symbolism, mental illness & psychosis, childhood trauma, motherhood

WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️

CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️

STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

BONUS ELEMENT/S—All the connections and allusions to fairy tales throughout the story were a pleasant surprise!

PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️

PREMISE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

EXECUTION—⭐️⭐️⭐️

”’…what's your favorite color, your favorite ice cream flavor, and your favorite season?’
‘Blue, coffee, and winter.’
‘Winter. No one likes winter.’
‘It gets dark early, I like that.’
‘Why?’
Because that means the day has ended. I like checking days off a calendar—151 days crossed and nothing truly horrible has happened. 152 and the world isn't ruined. 153 and I haven't destroyed anyone. 154 and no one really hates me. Sometimes I think I won't ever feel safe until I can count my last days on one hand. Three more days to get through until I don't have to worry about life anymore.”

My thoughts:

I read this book for writing research. It was interesting to see how Flynn handled some of her character development, and the treatment of certain themes, and the plotting—especially with where and how she set her clues—but, ultimately I was a little underwhelmed by the story as a whole. It was surprisingly predictable and all of the characters were very trope-y. Obviously this is a piece of genre fiction but I was under the impression for some reason that it was meant to be more literary than thrillers tend to be but I didn’t really find that to be true unfortunately.

However, at the risk of entirely contradicting myself and misleading y’all 😂, I would also say that I think this book was in some ways more subversive of usual thriller genre expectations than it seemed at first. For example I couldn’t figure out why, even though the author and MC are women, that all of the female characters are described as if through a male gaze. I thought it might just be a construct of the genre but it turned out to be an important element in the character arc of the MC.

There were also some interesting discussions vis a vis the meat factory industry (TWs galore!), motherhood & parenting, why smalltown white american midwest communities produce SO much violence, the responsibility of society to children & the sick & abused, and gender roles! Really really (possibly—depending on how you choose to read it) perceptive discussion of the severely distorting harm that the imposition of the gender binary fallacy and heteronormativity on people’s sense of self and their place in community can actually cause. Not sure if Flynn intended for that but that’s kind of how I read it and I thought it was pretty insightful.

Still not sure I’d really recommend this one though. Although perhaps the more I think about it the more my opinion will change so we’ll see how it marinates!

“A child weaned on poison considers harm a comfort.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️

CW // child abduction & murder, self harm (cutting, graphic), sexual content, a lot of fatphobia & casual (esp. internalized) misogyny, *nightmarishly* graphic animal cruelty & abuse (pig factory-farm stuff 👀), suicidal ideation, racism, drug use (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)

Further Reading—

• GONE GIRL, by Gillian Flynn
• A HOUSE WITH GOOD BONES, by T Kingfisher
• THE SUNDIAL, by Shirley Jackson
• CROOKED HOUSE, by Agatha Christie
• “Is This You?” short story by Kathryn Harlan in FRUITING BODIES

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Drug use, Self harm, Addiction, Child death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, and Murder

INCREDIBLY graphic animal cruelty on a pig factory farm!!

hanbu's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Murder, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Self harm, Rape, Kidnapping, Gore, Drug use, Classism, and Child death

caroliiineb's review against another edition

dark mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Vomit, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Murder, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Terminal illness, and Medical trauma

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Rape

daisyrain98's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Damn, started this because I love the show with all my heart and it was so amazing to read the source material, to get behind every scene in the show that I wanted more from. The book gave me all the dialogue I never knew I needed and had me so drawn in every time I sat down to read. Could read this again and again.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Self harm, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Sexual assault, Chronic illness, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Murder, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Sexual harassment, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Body horror, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic friendship, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Sexism, Suicide, and Vomit

loedai's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Murder, and Self harm

Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death

majjuniejuli's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Misogyny, Self harm, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Addiction, Medical trauma, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Body horror, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Gore, Grief, and Murder

tkhenry99's review against another edition

3.0

this is a book you like despite the writing, not because of it

i personally thought the sex stuff was all very weird and randomly placed. thought it was even worse how often camille is looking at 13 year old girls breasts/bodies and assessing them??? 

and the cutting words into her skin didn’t make any sense to me. with a steak knife? on her back? between her toes? were all these words upside down and sideways????

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Murder, Rape, Self harm, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Blood, Grief, Alcohol, Animal death, Bullying, Gore, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Violence, Animal cruelty, Medical content, and Suicidal thoughts

smixter88's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don't really know how to put my review into words. It's a very intense, dark, and disturbing book. I was unsure I'd be able to finish it. I did not read what this book was about. I saw the cover and one quote on the front of the book. That's what I get for judging a book by the cover. It's a bad habit I have. I put the book down telling myself I wasn't going to finish. In fact I opened another book up and started to read it. While reading the other book, I kept thinking about this one and if justice was served. That's when I found myself reading this book again. Her writing is great. She really knows how to draw you in. Had I known what was in this book, I wouldn't have read it. I can't say that I'd recommend it unless you have absolutely zero triggers because this book is full of them. Almost every page has one. This is her debut novel. What a way to start your career. It's hard for me to rate this book. Did she suck me in? Yes. Did it disturb the hell out of me? 1,000% yes. Did I enjoy the book? Unknown. Will it live rent free in my head for far too long? Yup. I usually have a star rating system, but I can't use that for this book, because by no means does it need to be up on someones TBR. Unless you absolutely can leave your feelings and your stomach at coat check. I'll be rating it based on her writing, her ability to grab my attention, and need more. For that I have to give her five stars. Read at your own risk. Check the trigger warnings and READ what the book is about before you crack it open. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Sexual content, Torture, Cursing, Drug abuse, Sexual assault, Blood, Drug use, Grief, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Death, Fatphobia, Gore, Chronic illness, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Kidnapping, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicide, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

princess_marie's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Death, Murder, Child abuse, Sexual content, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, Blood, and Mental illness

Moderate: Medical trauma, Drug use, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Vomit

Minor: Animal death, Animal cruelty, and Pedophilia