Camille Preaker has spent her adult life trying to put her past behind her. Still wracked with grief over the childhood death of her younger sister, she's escaped both the small town she grew up in and a toxic relationship with her cold and manipulative mother. But when two young girls disappear from her home town, Camille (now a reporter for a small Chicago newspaper) is sent to cover the case. Forced to face her family - including a 13 year old half-sister, Amma, that she barely knows but who seems to have a powerful hold on most of the town - Camille soon comes face to face with some disturbing truths.
A good whodunnit which kept me guessing all the while, it was the fascinating female characters that made this book for me. Gillian Flynn has done an excellent job, knowing full well that little girls really aren't made of sugar and spice and all things nice and it's a joy to read something where they are allowed to be human, with all of the awful traits that sometimes entails, rather than idealised versions of womanhood. Mothers aren't always warm and caring, daughters aren't always well-behaved, and no matter what our age or role we aren't always kind-hearted bundles of innocence.
In Sharp Objects we have a brilliant array of women who are either fucked up or who will fuck you up - and it's all the better for it.
No comments:
Post a Comment