August Book Review: Sharp Objects

My Reasons For Reading This Book

Recently I have really been enjoying listening to podcasts about the books I have read so far this year. I was listening to a book club podcast on Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. I read and reviewed this book earlier in the year and absolutely loved it. One of the members of the podcast book club recommended reading the two books Gillian Flynn published before Gone Girl, one of the two is Sharp Objects. As a fan of Gone Girl I thought why not give Sharp Objects a try.

Content of the Book

A Chicago crime reported who had recently been discharged from a psych hospital, has to return to her hometown of Wind Cap, Missouri when she is assigned the task of reporting on the murder of two preteen girls from he small town. Camille Preaker has been distanced from her mother for a number of years and now she is forced to live under her roof along with the half-sister she hardly knows. In order for Camille to solve the murders that have been haunting the town for over a year she must pick apart her past. What secrets is Camille's family and small town hiding that has prevented these murders from being solved? 

What I Like About This Book

First of all I have to say this is the first psychological thriller I have read that is this short in length and I am a fan. The pace of this book was perfect because there was barely any parts that were slow or that dragged out. 

When reading a shorter book like this it can sometimes be difficult for the writer to give enough background on the character so that the reader can understand how the main character became the person they are at the time the book is taking place. I applaud Gillian Flynn because she included just the right amount of stories from Camille's childhood so that I, the reader, have a clear idea of how Camille's childhood led her to be the woman she was at the time of the book. 

The organization of where these childhood stories were written in came at just the right time and aided in the progression of the story and the development of the character.

One thing I remember from reading Gone Girl was that Gillian Flynn always did an amazing job at describing and setting the scene. The same goes for Sharp Objects. There were parts where I could clearly picture what was happening, it was like I was watching it unfold before my eyes.

Even though there were parts of this book that I did dislike, I will get to that in a minute, I still could not put it down. There was this intriguing and almost gravitating pull that I felt to this book.

I have to give major props to Gillian Flynn because the relationship between Camille and her mother is perfectly described. By telling short stories from her childhood the reader can easily piece together why they have the strained and distant relationship that they do.

What I Disliked About This Book

Even though there are things I liked about this book, I sadly think there might be more things I dislike. For starters, during some of the dialogue I struggled to follow who was the one talking and who Camille was talking to. After getting further and further into the book I realized that specifically in this book Gillian Flynn had a way of transitioning into dialogue in a way that I had never ran into before. And that is that she would go from describing someone and updating on what they had been doing since we last heard from them straight into a conversation with that person. As you can imagine this would cause some confused because who Camille was talking with was just assumed and not clearly stated. As a result of this I found myself having to reread to figure out exactly who was saying what.

Another area of the book that caused me to have to reread was because Gillian Flynn was constantly mixing in Camille's descriptions and comparisons to past events in the middle of dialogue. I found this to be confusing and would have benefited from the these to have been written in as after thoughts.

As I mentions in the previous section, I really enjoyed the vivid descriptions in this book, but where the descriptions or details lacked was during Camille's inter-monolouge. All of a sudden she would have come to a conclusion about something, but it was clearly stated what she thinking it was just implied. This also caused me to have to repeatedly reread to make sure I understood what was being said and picked up everything since the book progressed at such a quick pace.

Would I Recommend This Book

Once I finished this book I gave it to my mom would has also read Gone Girl. I got a text from her saying she can't put the book down, but is not a fan of the distasteful descriptions. That short text is a great summary of this book. Its a great read, but the descriptions are a little out there.

If you very a fan of Gone Girl then I would not recommend this book to you. It is a lot more simple and does not have all of the redeeming qualities that Gone Girl has. Going into this book I was prepared to not be as impressed as I was with Gone Girl and I was right to have thought that. I would not recommend this to anyone. Another reason to read this book is because HBO turned the book into a series. I have not started it yet, but am planning to.

Check out the other books I have reviewed

July Book Review: The Widow
June Book Review: Allegedly
May Book Review: Wonder

April Book Review: Columbine
March Book Review: Gone Girl 
February Book Review: The Woman in the Window
January Book Review: The Worst Hard Time

Don't forget to stay up to date on my blog by following my social media accounts!
Instagram: @whenishouldbestudying
Pinterest: @whenishouldbestudying