Review – Sharp Objects

                Sharp Objects is the standout book for me so far in 2018. I had previously read Gone Girl and disliked it tremendously. So much so, that I decided never to read another Gillian Flynn. It is a genre problem for me. I have never been a fan of the thrillers, but I usually will read anything. Gone Girl just made me angry. I was angry through the whole book, and the ending only amplified that.  I also read Girl on the Train around the same time and have been dead-set against the Thriller genre ever since.

               Sharp Objects has possibly turned me around. The book was visceral, dark, and did not cut corners when it came to hard topics. There is a myriad of difficult subjects ranging from self-harm, child murder, corruption, capital greed, drug use, alcohol abuse, and mental illness in the extreme. None of them are treated lightly, and none of them are overdone. Flynn walks a wonderfully fine line, leaving readers uncomfortable and nervous for the characters outcome, but not so appalled that it turns readers away.

               The darkness of human character and corruption of the mind stick in each of the characters in different ways but run a uniting string through the entirety of the story. There are sharp turns and drawn out horrors. The only part of the story that did not entirely jive with me was the ending. It happened so abruptly when so much thought had been put into the rest of the book. It is not a terribly long book and more information about Adora’s punishments, Camille and Ama’s time together, and the aftermath of those things would not have taken away from the story in the slightest.

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