Reviews tagging 'Infidelity'

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

6 reviews

isabellelle_11's review against another edition

Go to review page

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

4.75


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

kaaaaaaaa's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This is the first of Flynn's books that I've read, and it's the first of her books to be published. It was good, I just wasn't able to emotionally connect to the characters for some reason. In general, the mystery kept me interested more than the characters. To me, this book reminded me of Stephen King and Shirley Jackson, but it didn't have whatever secret sauce Jackson and King have that pushes the writing and the characters into top-tier. That disconnect makes some of the "disturbing small town details" come off a little forced, despite the fact that I'm well aware of and familiar with disturbing small-town details. I find them believable, but they're missing... something... that integrates them fully into the story; so instead, IMHO, they give a Hostel-style "violence for violence's sake" vibe.

I have a couple more of Flynn's books on hold from the library, so it will be interesting to see how she grows as a writer and if she can clear whatever this je ne sais quoi hurdle is.

Also, this isn't a real make-or-break thing, but how flexible is Camille
that there's only one spot on her back missing the words? How good at writing backwards while looking in a mirror can she be?
 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

lvosler21's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • 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

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

auggiebug's review against another edition

Go to review page

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


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

himboluvr's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

gillian flynn is a great writer and i loved gone girl but this book is fucked and not in a good way 😭😭

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

geetswrites's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Phenomenal read. Gripping, twisting, piercing. The interweaving of the mystery/thriller elements and Camille's life, family and history was stellar. I've fallen in love with the way Gillian Flynn writes women, their complicated messiness, their individualism, their darknesses. I guessed the ending, or rather the answer to the mystery, fairly early on, but the point of the book was never that in the first place. The way Flynn keeps up the push and pull among the characters, the intrigue and the overwhelming feeling of impending doom throughout was especially masterful. The foreshadowing was just the right amount of eerie, innocuous where it needed to be for revelatory moments to feel especially satisfying, and glaring where the ominous realities needed to be spotlighted.

Camille's relationships— with her mother, with Amma, with side characters like Curry and Richard and John, but most importantly with herself— will stay with me for a long, long time. There are hauntingly relatable moments throughout, and for all its extreme severity, the core of the story is rooted in perfectly believable awfulness. The exploration of motherhood, daughterhood and selfhood as intertwined, bitter experiences supplemented by all the gruesome, unflinching imagery was revolting, painful and positively brilliant.

I can't possibly fit everything I think and feel about this book into this review, so I hope it suffices to say that I'm now completely enamoured by Flynn's writing, characters and thematic choices. Everything else she's ever written is immediately making it to the top of my TBR list. What an author.

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
More...