Review: Sharp Objects

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

2.5 stars. Definitely disturbing on many levels, but it was interesting. I will say that I was surprised by the ending, (view spoiler)[ but mostly because I predicted it from the beginning and then decided it was far too obvious. I mean, Amma really was terrible right from the first time you see her and it only gets worse. (hide spoiler)]

It was very dark and needs all kinds of trigger warnings on it, so proceed with caution. I almost gave it two stars because I was somewhat upset by the portrayal of some of the content. (view spoiler)[ I was concerned by the sexualization of a thirteen year old girl and I hated it when the main character (who was supposed to be a semi-responsible adult) did drugs with her. I get that they were from a very messed-up family, but still. I did not think she should have taken custody of Amma in the end before the final ending is revealed . . . It was probably a somewhat realistic picture of dysfunctional family dynamics (minus the murdery bits), but I didn't like any of that. I found her descriptions of cutting fairly disturbing also. I also found several of the circumstances in the novel to be too convenient. However, I rounded it up to three stars because I was drawn in to the story and invested the whole time in what was happening. I definitely wanted to find out who the murderer was and what was going to happen. I do plan to read Gillian Flynn's Dark Places, which is her only novel that I haven't read of hers. I could sort of tell that this was a debut novel, so I think her writing has probably improved over time. Still, it was an interesting murder mystery, even if I did have some problems with it. (hide spoiler)]

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