Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn Book Review |
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| Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn Book Review |
Smiles are women's best weapon. Isn't it true? A charming smile can make you vulnerable to your heart and it can compel you to fall in love deeply and madly. A wolfish grin carries with it the darkest and deepest mysteries that can make you petrified and awestruck. And an impish smile can lure you anywhere. But an innocent and sweet smile is always capable of grabbing the whole attention of anyone without doing any harm. Can a little girl's smile bother you at an extreme level that you ruthlessly pulled out all the teeth of hers? Once a part of the sweetest smile of a preteen girl but now they are nothing but Sharp Objects.
Storyline
Camille is a journalist living in Chicago, after having a mental health setback she is back to work, reporting measurable people's unspeakable stories in the Daily Post newspaper which allegedly no one reads. There is something unspeakable and unacceptable happening in a small town named Wind-gap. Curry, the editor of the newspaper, wants Camille to visit the town to investigate and report the whole matter and dig out the whole truth of it before it repeats.
But for Camille, it is easier to go on mars than visiting her own hometown Wind-gap. She didn't have a good memory of her town. Everything was too agonizing and painful for her there before she left the town for good. The most disturbing thing is her mother and the whole dysfunctional family of her which makes her do things that she doesn't want to do after going through a whole eight months of therapy.
It's been forever since Camille met and talked to her mother. Even her last meeting with her wasn't an enthusiastic and full of joy kind of meet but it was a terrible one. Nothing is new for Camille, seeing her mother behaving differently at different times around different people. At least her mother is good with others.
Curry doesn't leave any choice for her but to visit her hometown Wind-gap to live with her mother and until she turns all the rocks to dig out the sinister truth. Is it a coincidence or a case of serial killing?
Narration and Writing
Gillian Flynn is a commendable author, this debut book of hers is so immersive, her simple but effective language is enough to flip your stomach. This is the first Flynn book I ever read and I just want to read more books of hers. The dysfunctional family, the anti-hero characters of women are the best to take you inside an unsettling world of dark mystery and mind-numbing scenarios. I'm all set to read the other two books of her Dark Places and Gone Girl.
Characters in Lead
Camille Preaker - Your body speaks about your personality and in Camille's case her exterior personality is nothing in front of her inner chaos, her craved scars, howls out words inside of her head and she feels those words blazing over her body whenever she thinks about them or when something happened around her which ignite the past of her, which was full of darkness. There is a mini-series made on this book, in which Amy Adams played the role of Camille Preaker which I didn't like much, the whole mini-series was nondescript for me.
Adora Crellin - She is the mother of Camille, she always called Camille that she was always a terrible and stubborn daughter of hers, never giving her a chance to tend her the way she wanted, the way she used to tend to her younger daughter which had died many moons ago. Adora is a neurotic and hypochondriac woman. Living with her in the same town can be a mammoth task to anyone. Poor Camille is living in her house. Camille isn't allowed to talk about her work progress in the house as it reminds Adora about her perfect dead daughter. In the HBO mini-series, the role of Adora is played by Patricia Clarkson and she did a marvelous job. She was as terrifying, eerie, and neurotic as I envisaged while reading the book.
Amma Crellin - She is the boss and leader of other girls who have been mentioned in the book, she roams and rules the town, she is a stubborn and unrestrained girl who is usually found laughing at funerals and late-night partying and having drugs with her preteen squad and all the other young adults. She has a dollhouse which is a replica of the house in which she is living. And she wants everything to be the same and original for her tiny house. It made her terribly mad when something did not match the standard in her dollhouse. In the Mini-series the role has been played by Eliza Scanlen, the producers changed the age and made her a little bit older than she was in the book for obvious reasons.
Alan Crellin - He is the weirdest character of the story, as he is the one who was seeing everything but reacting to nothing. If anything troubling Adora then and only then he bothers to say and react otherwise he is a dressed-up doll. In the Mini-series his character was a little bit more elaborated which made him a bit animated. The role has been played by Henry Czerny.
Review
It is a buttery-smooth-written story though by no means it is a plain-sailing read. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn is an unappetizing book that throws you off balance as soon as you delve into it. Breathing in a town like wind-gap is a real struggle and it's become suffocating when a preteen girl died a year before and one was missing now. It was mind-sickening to know that someone in that small town is just not killing little girls but doing something unspeakable.
What I like the most about the book is that there are women of different age groups is leading the story, though after reading the 30% of the book, I was ready with my theories of whodunit, the way climax built up, and finally, when it comes to end, I was awestruck, something completely unimaginable, unbelievably happens. No doubt, You are going to be right about your suspicion, but you're not going to crack the brobdingnagian Why? and Where? Those tiny little Sharp Objects are hidden.
It is a nasty, disturbing, dark, and ghoulish book but it is still an unputdownable fascinating read of the way the characters of this book are dealing with mental health issues and their past, and the way the author describes them make this book an immersive read. The story talks about a Dysfunctional family where the air in the atmosphere is thick and smells like death all the time and there is a lot of disturbing stuff in this book - unrestrained young girls, self-mutilation, sexual abuse, and drugs, which is enough to make this book a traumatizing psychological thriller.
Recommendation -
You need to be 16+ to read this book, this book is not for the weak-hearted. In the book, women of different ages are dealing with some terrible serious mental conditions. You should avoid the book if you are going through any mental health issues. Even the book has some sex narratives, so don't pick the book if these things bother you. Otherwise, for me, it's a Mind-boggling read. You can have it to kill time and feel the chills in your bones.
Grab your copy here
-Abhi Panwar
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