My Passion's Pen

More on Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

I started this book having absolutely no idea what it was about. One of my co-workers had read Gone Girl and thought I should give Flynn a try.  I should have checked out her website to give myself a bit of a buffer before I downloaded the book. http://gillian-flynn.com/sharp-objects/

I’m about halfway through and have every urge to drop out of life for half a day and barrel through the rest of this book.  I must know how things are resolved…IF they are resolved.

Camille has revealed more of herself, her demons, her self-image, her woes. As I read I wondered why she wrote on herself with pens and markers. Why was the act so significant? She’s a cutter. I never had any personal experience with this, so reading Camille’s thoughts of how she feels around others (particularly her mother and half-sister) burn through me just as words brand themselves invisibly on her flesh.

It’s hard to admit to liking a book about little girls who were brutalized and murdered and whose savior could have easily been in their same shoes, but I do not want to put this down. I yelled at my husband last night when he asked me a question while I tried to squeeze in a chapter before we went to our son’s curriculum night. The storytelling is so gripping with little nuances of the characters that speak so loudly, yet in a whisper. “…her face so perfect and character-free she could have just popped out of the womb. They all seemed unfinished.” That’s one of my favorite lines, so far.

I think Adora, Camille’s mother, is the perp, although that was made rather clear early on (unless my sleuthing skills are way off). Like I said in my earlier review, the mystery isn’t of whodunit, but why. These folks in Wind Gap have deep closets, and they’re filled with skeletons.