09 Dec / Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
OMG. Think gruesome wreck you can’t turn away from and you probably won’t even get close to the horrors of Gillian Flynn‘s debut novel, which pubbed six years before her mega-breakout Gone Girl, which is currently turning up on new major ‘best-of’ lists daily. So freaked out am I with Objects (which, well-trained in rubbernecking, I listened to in less than a day during an endless swim meet weekend), that I must post the title now, in meager hopes of warding off nightmares tonight. In case you, too, choose the audible option, narrator Ann Marie Lee (who is embarrassingly incapable of a Scottish lilt) is indubitably gifted with creepazoid southern charm.
Camille Preaker’s two-year-old job with Chicago’s fourth largest paper, the Daily Post, has her busy with “consistently fall[ing] short of expectations.” Her editor thinks it might be “good” for her to go home to Wind Gap, Missouri – “‘[s]pitting distance from Tennessee and Arkansas’ … one of those crummy towns prone to misery” – and dig up what will hopefully become prizewinning coverage behind the murder of two young girls. Not wanting to further disappoint his faith in her, she heads south toward Dysfunction (capitalization intentional).
Arriving unannounced at the perfect Victorian mansion she hasn’t visited in eight years, Camille is hardly a welcome guest in her own childhood home. Mommy Dearest has no open arms for her eldest daughter, a reminder of the teenage folly no one ever dares talk about. Despite her three-decades-old marriage, even older money, and still-gorgeous looks (never mind the missing eyelashes), Camille’s mother (named Adora! – I kid you not!) is still mourning her would-have-been-perfect-if-she-had-only-lived-middle daughter, who just happened to pass away on Camille’s 13th birthday. Her youngest – precocious, spoiled, ominously 13, and named Amma (as in ‘mother’ in many languages, but also sounds like ‘I love’ in many others, egads!) – turns out to be the alpha mean girl everyone obeys, fears, and envies. And that’s just Camille’s own family! Once the town’s residents realize that Camille’s prodigal visit is not exactly social, she quickly becomes the local pariah … and yet some secrets just can’t stay hidden forever.
Are girls that carelessly treacherous? Are small town women who never leave really that desperate and manipulative? Is evil a contagious disease in these hothouse communities? Given all the death and destruction titles I read (poverty, oppression, deprivation, neverending war), my undeniable shock here makes me sound like Pollyanna, I realize … but I admit to being far more disturbed when inexplicable evil happens in environments of utter plenty.
Nightmares aside, you won’t be able to put this down (did I mention less than a day?). Flynn, who was the TV critic for Entertainment Weekly in another life, certainly figured out how to keep short attention spans transfixed. Get ready for twists and turns, thrusts and parries, all right in the gut … O-M-G.
Readers: Adult
Published: 2006
I just finished Sharp Objects as well (and linked my review in case you were interested, too!).
I thought it was full of ups and downs and craziness! Every woman in that novel had something that was a little “off” (but of course I don’t want to give away any of the craziness). I am surprised that with Camille’s recent situation that her boss, who seems to turn out to be a pretty caring individual, would send her back to a place that caused most of the turmoil.
http://loveatfirstbook.com/2012/12/10/sharp-objects-by-gillian-flynn-book-49/
Have you read Gone Girl? I thought it was more memorable, and I could talk about Gone Girl for hours still!!
Gone Girl was my first Flynn title. Here’s the BD link: http://bookdragon.si.edu/2012/09/01/gone-girl-by-gillian-flynn/ . Definitely think it was a better book, but I could NOT turn Objects off (helped that I was trying to drown out swim meet screams, too, ahem!).
I had a similar reading experience: “I figured out pieces, got confused, then figured more out, then was wrong, and so on,” to quote from your post. I had quite a few questions, though … especially her deus ex machina-like save by Curry at book’s end. The relationship didn’t seem developed enough to lead to that implausible development (trying not to reveal any spoilers). And the John Keene bits after the police visit at the motel seemed unfinished. I have Flynn’s middle title on hold from the library and will surely read that at some point soon … she’s definitely learned the art of holding one’s attention!
Oh, you wanted another thriller … I highly recommend The Devotion of Suspect X; I NEVER even came close to guessing the ending. If you like that one, he has another that just pubbed this fall in translation, The Salvation of a Saint, which was quite cerebral, too.
For a REALLY smart, clever, amazing read, check out Code Name Verity. It’s classified as a young adult title, but don’t let that put you off. It’s a near-perfect read on SOOO many levels.
And if you want some goofy, fun, light thrillers with spice, definitely check out the Vish Puri series. They are just soooo entertaining, especially stuck in the ears — Sam Dastor is one of those readers who make me pick up a book just because he’s narrating. He’s that terrific.
Let me know if any of these strike your fancy! And thanks so much for visiting BookDragon! Come back soon!
That’s where the confusion for me really was with Curry. Either he’s super supportive like he was in the end. Or he’s not supportive and sent her to her hometown with minimal feelings.
I kind of thought the John Keene parts were just strange. I mean, with that whole situation, she seems like a very passive character, letting things happen to her instead of doing something.
I’m less of a audiobook fan (although I’ve been known to dabble a little), but I will check out your suggestions!! And I’m not scared of good young adult novels (as long as they stay away from sparkly vampire love)!
Yeah … that whole Curry thread didn’t quite work out for me at all, either. And she really only went initially to please him — kept coming back to his name, as in ‘curry favor.’ [I have a thing about names in general.] And curry favor is what she does throughout far too often. I admit to many moments of REALLY?!! — even realizing that she was totally unstable, but how spectacularly so, huh?
I read on Flynn’s website that the film rights were snatched up (for all three of her books, actually). I’m SOOO afraid! I just hope that if the movie proves to be some crazy blockbuster, it doesn’t give teenage girls some whacked out sort of permission to start carving themselves up!!! That film Thirteen certainly had some spectacular ramifications for young girls. The frightening, ubiquitous power of the media.
But back to books … I promise all the recommended titles will do just as well on the page as stuck in the ears … I’m always training for something (I’m an ultrarunner — I can’t believe I can actually type that now in my old age, but I’ve done two 50Ks, one 50-miler, and will hope to finish a couple of 100-milers before I keel over), so I use that time to ‘read,’ which makes the miles fly by. I used to laugh at the hubby who couldn’t crack open an actual book, but I’m just as addicted as he is now.
That said, as much as I only have recorded books on my iPhone, I DO read the majority of my titles held in the hand. And never on an e-reader, because I’m too much of a Luddite. I need to feel, flip, (dare I say) smell the actual pages!
Another thing that was odd to me about the book were some of the names. For instance, she had a friend named Kathy who was married to a B with a B last name. Then Katie was married to a B with a B last name. I got so confused!
Congrats on all of the running!!! 🙂
And I read both physical books and e-books. E-books are great supplements to physical books, making them super convenient, but I always switch back and forth, and read more physical then e, because I love the feel of the physical books!
P.S. Oh, and to add to the unreliable-narrators-we-love-category, you must must must read Turn of Mind, if you haven’t already!
Haven’t!!! I’ll add it to my list! Who is it by?
Ack! I just turned off my computer and then my phone bleeped at me. Technology overload!!
All the book titles I suggested should be linked to respective BD posts. Click on title and post should open? You’ll find authors and pub info attached with every title.
Although I did warn you I’m a total Luddite. Hopefully I got the links in correctly.
Thanks!!!! They all were attached except maybe the last one, but I didn’t actually check the post for the last one, just my WordPress notifications, so I’ll find it!