Reviews tagging 'Alcoholism'

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

592 reviews

dark sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

this was my first gillian flynn novel and i absolutely tore through it. her writing style is incredibly easy to read and the no-nonsense way she describes things makes the chapters fly by. i did however predict the ending from about a quarter of the way through the book (maybe just under halfway) and spent the whole rest of the book trying to piece together how it could be someone else as the culprit as a way to redeem the predictability - which obviously didn’t happen. i felt like some of the characters were quite 2 dimensional and the main character’s trauma causing her to self harm would’ve been one thing but the extent to which it was used and described in this just felt like shock factor rather than anything else. i also didn’t like how we never got an explanation for what her condition was and were just palmed off with a generic overview.
the mother’s MBP condition was a nice touch though and very different to see in books as it isn’t much discussed in media

i would’ve liked this book more if the plot hadn’t been so predictable and if the characters had a bit more depth. i also felt like the victims in this got washed out amongst all of the family drama, which i know is the main focus of the book but it would’ve been nice for there to be some circling back round to that and their families etc. i also didn’t like the fact that the MC had sex with someone who had *just* turned 18, as a 30 year old. it just made me extremely uncomfortable. the moral greyness of her character for me was just tipped over the edge by that act and it became unnecessary almost just to prove a point that she didn’t care about the “rules” or something. 

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dark emotional mysterious sad 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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging dark 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

TW: self harm, alcoholism, etc.

I‘m a bit conflicted about this. Maybe because I don’t usually read these kinds of books. The plot is insane. It took me a while to get into it and get used to the writing style but once I did get into it it was smooth sailing from there. At some point it really gripped me and I could barely put it down. Also, I was caught off guard by the ending, although now that I think of it I should‘ve definitely seen it coming, which arguably makes it even better. However, I‘m not a big fan of Camille, the protagonist. Although I feel for her when it comes to her relationship with her mother, which was written beautifully btw, and her self-harm, the description of which I did not appreciate as much, she is a very unlikeable and arguably flat character. She is very passive and mostly just lets things happen to her. Her opinions on certain topics are questionable at best and her occasional emotional outbursts seem very uncharacteristic to her, although to be fair that might be due to her alcoholism. She also didn’t go through much of a character development in my opinion. Her as well as the rest of characters didn’t feel very real or substantial either. Overall, I loved the plot and mostly hated the characters, but maybe that’s the point. Also, please look at the content warnings, this book can be very triggering.

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i knew this book was disturbing, but this book was disturbing

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challenging dark sad tense slow-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

What an interesting little book. I was intrigued by the mystery, though I thought I’d guessed the killer several pages in. I guess in a way I did, but the last minute twist REALLY got me. The main character was awful, but in a way a human can be, not in a way so extreme that they seem like an unbelievable character or a villain. This made me swing between trying to sympathize with and understand her, and be disgusted by and judgemental of her. There’s also seems to be a strong commentary on women, relationships between women, societal expectations of women, awfulness in women, et cetera. I couldn’t quite get a grasp on what Flynn was intending to say, if anything, but maybe the intent was just to show and not tell. I’m curious what other people think of that aspect of the book. Looking back I think the ending was a bit rushed, but it was shocking enough to distract me from that. Overall an engaging but deeply uncomfortable time. It gets gross. 

big CW obviously for self harm, but also from gross sexualization of minors from a 30 year old woman, one of which is her little sister lmao, and victim blaming + internalized misogyny. The main character is gross. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark emotional tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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