SPOILERS!!!!!
Dee E. Goppstober wrote:I finished it too. Left it at the airport lounge for someone else to pick up - because I think it's well worth a read.
Two things to throw in there:
1.) Although I thought the story was pretty good, and there were some good lines to be found in there - I occasionally got this slight feeling of irritation about the narrator, as in: dammit, woman, GET OVER IT already!!! I mean- it must be shit growing up in a town like that, with such a family- but don't let it ruin your whole life! The negativity and the complete inability of the main character to sort her life out really really depressed me.
2.) Having said that- I did think it was a very honest story. Although Camille's behaviour really exasperated me- I guess I recognise some of it (which makes it all the more depressing, of course;))
All in all- not a very happy book, really...
Yeah I have to say my number one hangup going in was the fact that the protagonist was obviously a cutter, which generally lends itself to moody self-indulgence and poor-little-rich-girl syndrome. But then the body covered in words etched into the skin was a fairly original twist on that, and overly-poetic though it might have been, I kinda got into the thing where she feels certain words flair up at certain moments. Sick, twisted fuck that she was I found myself relating
, plus I felt like there was a humorous bent to that which made it all more...digestible? Less syrupy misery if that makes any sense.
I'm still on the fence about the whole Mom-Hurts-Kids-To-Take-Care-Of-Them syndrome (and yes, ahem, I did forget the actual term.) That's become a fairly standard TV twist at this point- I'm pretty sure it's been in vogue for a while so it wasn't "shocking." Then again, Flynn seems to kind of scknowledge that ever so slyly. I remember in the beginning Camille mentions something about witness statements mirroring dialogue on Law and Order. To her credit, though, it's really hard to surprise us jaded readers, and in the end I think Sharp Objects was less about the murder mystery and more about dysfunctional family.
And on that note- Amma. I loved her character. Because scarily enough, there are some conniving little 13 year old bitches with pert breats who fuck way before they're ready and party harder than Keith Richards. And if anyone remembers being 13, that was absolutely the age at which kids couldn't/wouldn't restrain their cruelty. So all that spoke volumes to me.
Bit of a rambling summation but anyway, it was a good read. I tore through it.
) - and am starting it... guess when?
