karen's Reviews > Sharp Objects
Sharp Objects
by
by

okay so i,of course, was initially drawn to this book because it has shiny cover. i am like a magpie or a raccoon or something... and then it just sat on the shelf for ages and one day i read the description of it somewhere. and it's all "whore" on her ankle and "pain" on her heart or whatever.(which is not on the back cover copy, but is right up there in the goodreads.com description) and i thought - "oooh you are so edgy and shocking!!" and i rolled my eyes and figured i would just never read it. but THEN i was so sleepy today i thought i would just read something unchallenging that it might be fun to write a bad review of. alas, its actually pretty good; and not cheesy-edgy. it can be read in a day, no problem, and it features the most unhealthy mother-daughter relationship i've ever read. and i've read bastard out of carolina.

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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
April 30, 2009
– Shelved
Comments Showing 1-50 of 51 (51 new)

dinosaurs?
this racoon browsing books sounds like a good illustrated book idea for customer etiquette "look at how politely the racoons are browsing, shouldn't you be like the racoons?"
in the kitty cat stickers i bought for you karen, some of them are chasing mice, its so you!
this racoon browsing books sounds like a good illustrated book idea for customer etiquette "look at how politely the racoons are browsing, shouldn't you be like the racoons?"
in the kitty cat stickers i bought for you karen, some of them are chasing mice, its so you!

our school has dinosaurs. i was out reading between classes on monday, and i heard rustling, and this teeny tiny dinosaur came out of the ivy behind me and blinked up at me. and then i saw more further down, sunning themselves. and then chasing each other!! they would not let me play. they did not want to be caught.nature in queens, who knew??

you are always trying to catch creatures (^_^)







you're 2nd in line here
or erm, here:

Review from goodreads.com
by Emily (GoodReads user published about a month ago ) Very Good
56 of 56 people found this review helpful
There is something deeply unhealthy about this book; it's in the characters, in the story, in the relationships, in the sex, and just in the general mood of the novel. Reading this made me feel a little unwell, both physically and mentally, but I am glad I did. If you know me, you'll know I love complex characters with issues that feel raw and real rather than melodramatic. The people in this novel are majorly fucked up, no one is without a dark past and everyone, it seems, has a horror story.
The protagonist - Camille Preaker - was just thirteen when her sister died and fuelled by grief (amongst other things) Camille spent her teen years carving words into her flesh, covering almost every inch of her body with the marks of her pain. This could have brought the angst meter off the scale but Flynn handled it expertly, with just the right amount of sadness, frustration and gore. Ten years later, Camille Preaker is now a journalist who returns to the small town of her youth to report on the murders of two young girls - the girls showed no signs of sexual abuse, but all their teeth had been removed.
Camille is soon caught up in the town once again, she tries to get along with the mother who never loved her and establish a relationship with the troublesome half sister she hardly knows. It seems that once again small towns hold the biggest secrets and Camille finds herself getting dragged deeper and deeper into the investigation, her fragile state of mind constantly threatening to tip her over the edge.
This is one mean and nasty book. I knew I was getting a dark, psychological thriller, but I expected something on par with In The Woods. In Tana French's novels everyone has a deeply explored personality, but it seems that in Gillian Flynn's novels everyone has a deeply explored problem and Flynn never shies away from the details. You're not going to find anything pleasant in this story; sex, for example, is never simply for physical pleasure, it's an escape or a bargain or a catharsis. Everything else is similar.
In a world where women are victims - both in their media representation as "damsels in distress" and in statistics - this is a very interesting look at "evil" women. We are always less surprised when a man is arrested for raping/torturing/killing, it's programmed into us to believe that women are safer, kinder, built with an instinct that makes it difficult for them to be cruel and cause pain without reason. Upon interviewing the parents of victims before the culprits were caught, they said they couldn't understand it because they'd always told their kids not to go off with men they didn't know. But they never warned them not to go off with women they didn't know, the idea was unthinkable. Times are changing, but a lot of the old ideas still linger: surely a woman wouldn't hurt a child? Surely a mother would never harm her children?
Yet, Flynn does an excellent job of challenging this idea. She shows how women can be cold, calculating and cruel. And I'm sure it will displease a lot of readers, but it fascinated me.more...

that's it, keep that ri stiff lip

LOL!!! I love this review thing




you can get a nyc public library out-of-state card and check out ebooks from them. card is $100 (a year) but they have an incredible collection. and one of only libs that allow out of state card holders , so others may too, not sure


might work. also, 10 books cost way more than that, you could say.



ferrante's naples series is super good . this is first one My Brilliant Friend

/series/5500...
/series/4774...
/series/5453...
and if this counts:
/series/5163...
oh, and this, but it's probably not for everyone
/series/5102...
I don't know what i'm saying, i should sleep.