Book Review: Sharp Objects
I find human psychology downright fascinating. Figuring out what drives people to do what they do is not only intriguing, but also can be a trip that's deeply complex and emotionally exhausting. And author Gillian Flynn, who skyrocketed to fame after exploring a doomed marriage in Gone Girl, narrates an equally spell-binding tale of psychological horrors with her razor-sharp 2006 debut Sharp Objects.
Camille Preaker, the protagonist, is a reporter working for the Daily Post, a second-rate daily paper based out of Chicago. Just months out of a mental institution after treatment, Frank Curry, her editor boss and more or less a paternal figure to her ever on the lookout for a big break for his newspaper, sends her to the town of Wind Gap to cover what may be a potential serial murder case.
Found strangled to death with their teeth pried out, the deaths of young girls Ann Nash and Natalie Keene have plunged the quiet peaceful village into sorrow. The locals opine it has to be some crazy man, an outsider, but deep down they fear the worst. Could they have been a job of a local after all?
Coping with her own set of problems, Wind Gap is not exactly the place Camille wants to spend her next few days, even if it meant work. For she had been desperately trying to get away from that very town where she was born and raised, struggling in vain to forget her tragic past - the very reasons for her present ruined mental state.
Reluctantly she gets to her job, investigating the two cases along with a local cop and Kansas City detective Richard Willis, little realizing that doing so can drive her back to the brink of insanity. Yet she finds herself psychologically identifying with the young victims, forcing her to confront and unravel her own past to uncover the mystery.
I can't merely say in words how this novel moved me personally, but all I can convey is that Sharp Objects easily qualifies as one of the best ever psychological thrillers I've read in recent years, with probably the exception of Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs, Dennis Lehane's Mystic River and Tana French's Broken Harbour.
Camille as the protagonist who resorts to self-harm with random sharp objects as a means of coping up with her harrowing childhood experiences, Adora as her overbearing hypochondriac mother who is obsessed with her children's illnesses, and Amma as her precocious half-sister who seems to be much more than what she is, are vibrantly drawn and the flawed characters they portray make you genuinely care for them.
Told from Camille's point of view in first person (a ploy used in Gone Girl as well), Gillian Flynn does a fantastic job of the writing and deserves praise for brilliantly tackling such a depressing subject. While the mystery in itself is handled deftly with ample amount of twists and turns, the final big reveal is nothing short of a shocker. Disturbing and extremely unsettling, Sharp Objects' creepy family saga is not for everyone. But it's nevertheless a mind-blowing debut by Gillian Flynn.
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| Sharp Objects |
Found strangled to death with their teeth pried out, the deaths of young girls Ann Nash and Natalie Keene have plunged the quiet peaceful village into sorrow. The locals opine it has to be some crazy man, an outsider, but deep down they fear the worst. Could they have been a job of a local after all?
Coping with her own set of problems, Wind Gap is not exactly the place Camille wants to spend her next few days, even if it meant work. For she had been desperately trying to get away from that very town where she was born and raised, struggling in vain to forget her tragic past - the very reasons for her present ruined mental state.
Reluctantly she gets to her job, investigating the two cases along with a local cop and Kansas City detective Richard Willis, little realizing that doing so can drive her back to the brink of insanity. Yet she finds herself psychologically identifying with the young victims, forcing her to confront and unravel her own past to uncover the mystery.
I can't merely say in words how this novel moved me personally, but all I can convey is that Sharp Objects easily qualifies as one of the best ever psychological thrillers I've read in recent years, with probably the exception of Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs, Dennis Lehane's Mystic River and Tana French's Broken Harbour.
Camille as the protagonist who resorts to self-harm with random sharp objects as a means of coping up with her harrowing childhood experiences, Adora as her overbearing hypochondriac mother who is obsessed with her children's illnesses, and Amma as her precocious half-sister who seems to be much more than what she is, are vibrantly drawn and the flawed characters they portray make you genuinely care for them.
Told from Camille's point of view in first person (a ploy used in Gone Girl as well), Gillian Flynn does a fantastic job of the writing and deserves praise for brilliantly tackling such a depressing subject. While the mystery in itself is handled deftly with ample amount of twists and turns, the final big reveal is nothing short of a shocker. Disturbing and extremely unsettling, Sharp Objects' creepy family saga is not for everyone. But it's nevertheless a mind-blowing debut by Gillian Flynn.
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