SHARP OBJECTS by GILLIAN FLYNN

In need of a fresh start from rehab and a break in her career, Camille Preaker was unwillingly brought back to Missouri, her quiet hometown she didn’t feel much like at home, through her news assignment about two missing teenage girls. Staying with her mother, stepfather and sister who she felt very distant with was making it harder for her to adjust. In order to get a full grip of the case, she had to know what has become of everyone in her hometown and, more importantly, face her demons and her family’s history. Before she knew it, she was already caught in the middle playing an important role in the solving of the crime.

Sometimes if you let people do things to you, you’re really doing it to them. – Amma Crellin

Sharp Objects is another book that showcased a woman for a central character, another Flynn signature. Here, I saw a woman as a fighter but more as a struggler. It was baffling to read through something with a woman facing every tribulation and seeing her suffering eat away at her. I couldn’t help but feel pity for her. Majority of the characters were also women, women who weren’t winning in life either, women who became slaves and victims of their own flaws and environment. This book was just dark for women, and I was depressed the whole time.

Everyone has their own version of a memory. – Richard Willis

I have to admit that it seemed like it was taking longer than usual to get to the thrill. It was a bit slow-paced and sometimes dragging, especially from the beginning up to the first half of the book. It wasn’t that bad, though. It just took me a while to get a grasp of the story, but I also have to say that the remaining half more than compensated for everything else. Gaaaaaaahddd!

There were two scenes that stood out as the most poignant points for me. The motel scene between Camille and John revealed themselves as too weak and hopeless at that moment. Two vulnerable people finding comfort in each other didn’t seem a lot like anything helpful and consoling. When the revelation where Camille found the teeth brought back and connected all the circumstances in her family and town, it was all too much to take in because in the middle of everything is the death of three children and the trauma of two struggling daughters.

But children digest terror differently. – Camille Preaker

Haunting and gritty would be the perfect words to describe the general feel of Sharp Objects. I couldn’t make it a read before I go to bed because I was sure to have nightmares if I ever tried. It was horror but in real life. It’s the kind of story that has gotten under my skin, affected me in a way I was caught dumbstruck and left feeling sad for everyone in the end. The plot is of rare situation and nature, but it still managed to become all too relatable and consuming for me. It felt real, felt like a condition anyone can be in. Of course this was how it’s supposed to be knowing that this is all a product of Flynn’s genius, simply shocking. I was so affected that I wasn’t nearly done even after the last page. I had to stay silent for some time to contemplate what the hell just happened in the book because it was too twisted and unexpected.

Are you done reading this book? What are your thoughts? I’d like to know them! Feel free to share them below!

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