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A review by geetswrites
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Murder, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Drug use, Medical content, Medical trauma, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Minor: Cancer, Fatphobia, Gore, and Homophobia