Sharp Objects

This week I had the opportunity to read a story called Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. Full disclosure I started reading the book and got about a third of the way in and found it extremely hard to follow. So, I switched to Plan B and turned to the miniseries on HBO. I found this version much easier to follow the storyline.

So as I begin watching the miniseries, I did find it easier to follow the story and comprehend what was going on. I have to admit the story did not do much for me. It’s not that I didn’t like it, the reality is I just didn’t love it. I feel like I was enduring the story to the end.

I think what I had the most trouble with was the very detailed focus on the character development of the main character. She was a very emotional and psychological trainwreck. I was exhausted by watching her deal with past demons and current flaws. Her heavy drinking and self-loathing were a little distracting for me in the story.

I think the redeeming qualities of the story were that it was filled with red herrings that lead the reader, or the viewer, into false guesses on who the killer was. I think the author did a pretty good job with misdirection and building suspense at various points in the book.

I have to admit I found the ending unsatisfying and left me mixed feelings.

SPOILER ALERT

On one hand, I thought the twist at the end where we find out that the sister was the killer interesting. She was doing it for pure pleasure, she was a psychopath. Also, she was doing these killings with her friends, and the support of her friends was like a game.
I felt at the moment of reckoning where the main character discovers the human teeth being used to build her sister's dollhouse were in exposing the sister as the killer was a brilliant way to present us with who the killer was.

What I didn’t like about the ending was that I felt it was very abrupt and there were not enough hints dropped along the way that supported the twist at the end in being the sister. I felt that the sister was introduced as a killer with no preparation or foreshadowing that made any sense to me.

For me, the story was just OK and entertaining at some points but overall not the type of book I would find myself reading again.