Sharp Objects

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

No good fiction is actually about the plot. A horrifying tale about family, entitlement, privilege, patriarchy, and healing, Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects is no different. The plot involves the investigation of child abductions and murders. I felt many things while reading this book. “Good” was not one of them. This was a novel that twists and turns you, churns your stomach, and makes you feel sick inside—all while being beautifully written.

I used phrases like “lacked continuity”, and “logistical nightmare” to describe the previous book I read, so, clearly, Sharp Objects is a bit of a rebound for me; still, Flynn’s prose sucked me in from the very beginning. This was a beautifully written novel with details that provide a perfect picture of the setting, history, people, and circumstance. During much of my reading time, I was in Wind Gap, Missouri, and not lying on my bed staring at my Kindle. Flynn’s writing captured me.

Certainly, Sharp Objects is not for everyone. The protagonist, Camille, is a cutter. She has carved words all over her body with, well, you know the title. Both her sexual history and sexual present are disturbing, yet, unfortunately, not uncommon.

Camille’s mother, Adora, is the worst mother I’ve ever come across in fiction. Compared to Adora, Joan Crawford is Claire Huxtable. The star, though, is Camille’s half-sister, Amma. A “Hit Me Baby One More Time”-era Britney Spears crossed with the little boy from the “It’s a Good Life” episode of The Twilight Zone. Only 13 years old, Amma runs Wind Gap. She’s precocious, beautiful, brilliant, and pure evil.

When Camille, a newspaper reporter in Chicago, returns home for the first time in eight years to investigate a child abduction, she realizes that everyone in town is afraid of Adora and Amma. Trying to help solve an abduction, which turns into a pair of murders, Camille is forced to confront all of her hurts, all of her weaknesses. And she can’t seem to stay away from Adora and Amma’s bad sides.

I loved Sharp Objects. I’ll probably read it again. I can’t wait to read the rest of Flynn’s work.

A-