This won’t be a full review, as this was a very quick impulse read between books for me. Despite my 3-star Goodreads rating, I remember really enjoying Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. It felt impossible not to – it was like listening to a True Crime podcast, except it wasn’t real and much juicier.
I’m trying to read more outside of Fantasy, and needed something “light” to read (i.e. easy prose, popcorn plot, something easy and entertaining. I would not describe the content of this book as “light”), so I decided to pick up Sharp Objects.
When I first started reading this, I thought I would hate it – the writing felt edgy in a juvenile way. It felt very basic. A startup reporter who moved to the big city has to go back to her hometown to write a story about a murder. I was convinced I’d read this exact setup before.
However, the writing style grew on me. It shifted from what I thought was amateur writing to something that made me deeply uncomfortable. As I kept reading, I realized this was just the writing style, and it was hard not to come off as generic when introducing the story and the plot. I knew I would be in for an interesting ride at the final line of chapter two.
Still, I wasn’t sold. A book can be edgy and accidentally be grotesque just for the shock value. I think it mostly worked here. Flynn is clearly trying to make you uncomfortable; I really doubt she shares many of the main character’s thoughts and views.
There is no doubt that this book contains some very disturbing content. The sexualization of the children in this book is sickening, but it’s very obvious that it’s intentional. The discussion of women is also uncomfortable, but again, it doesn’t come across as a spectacle as much as it does a result of Camille’s trauma.
I thought I had the ending figured out, and really, I should have. I wasn’t disappointed by the plot twist, but I should have seen it coming. I knew Adora was too obvious.
Overall, I had a good time! I’d rate it 4 stars for entertainment value, and it was incredibly creepy. It’s not the best book I’ve ever read, but it was a good break. Felt like watching reality TV or something.
What do you think?
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