Flynn, Gillian - Sharp Objects - Informal Buddy Read; Start: February 1, 2015 **** REVISIT starts July 26, 2018

[megan]

Starting this on audiobook today.

[megan]

Liking this more than Dark Places, which I just read as another Buddy Read. Camille is much more likable than The main character in Dark Places. And the title has been much more clearly linked to the story.

[Dev]

ok i finished. gotta say this is definitely my least favorite of her books so far because i just feel like it didn't realy go anywhere and didn't really have much of a point except to be as fucked up as possible. it kind of felt like just the first half of gone girl, like it wasn't really a complete thought i guess? i think it would have been better if it was laid out more like gone girl and (view spoiler)[the first half maybe camille's pov and some of amma's journal entries and then second half would be split pov (hide spoiler)]

but overall i just ...don't buy it i guess. (view spoiler)[i mean ...thirteen if REALLY young to just start murdering people without some kind of like ...i mean i guess amma HAD experienced trauma bc of her mom poisoning her but i guess without some kind of violent trauma? i don't know, it just seemed unrealistic to me to have her and the other girls acting like that at such a young age. i guess you can be all 'oh it's different for kids now' but like ...meh (hide spoiler)] also i'm not sure if me already knowing the ending helped or hurt. i think it might have actually helped bc if i hadn't known i would just be like 'wtf is going on' buuut ....still

[Joanne]

Ok I've finally started it and I'm up to Chapter 4

I don't love the MC but I'm at least finding her more likeable than the protagonist in Dark Places, even if she seems to be a (view spoiler)[functioning alcoholic with some major issues. It sounds like she has had some traumatic things happen to her in her childhood and that her mother is a bit difficult to connect with. And I dunno, something about her sister who died when she was a kid seems kind of off to me. Why doesn't she seem to remember anything? And why on earth is this serial killer pulling out the girls' teeth? (hide spoiler)]

[Ashlee]

UGH!!! Adora's character is completely disturbing. How can a mother tell her child that she doesn't love her?! She is so absorbed in herself that she can't have a care for anyone else. (view spoiler)[ I presume that Adora is the one who killed the girls. Not only because she felt that she should have connected with them in a way she couldn't with Camille, but because they were described as "biters" that she fell victim to. (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

I knoooooow Ashlee, she's the worst!! (view spoiler)[don't know why, but something already pointed me towards her pretty early on. can't wait to finish the book tonight and see how much more we'll get to find out! I'm usually super bad at catching who-dunnit before it's revealed... (currently at ch14) (hide spoiler)]

[megan]

Ashlee wrote: "UGH!!! Adora's character is completely disturbing. How can a mother tell her child that she doesn't love her?! She is so absorbed in herself that she can't have a care for anyone else. [spoilers re..."

AGREED!!!!!

[megan]

Joanne wrote: "Ok I've finally started it and I'm up to Chapter 4

I don't love the MC but I'm at least finding her more likeable than the protagonist in Dark Places, even if she seems to be a [spoilers removed]"
A friend's review compared the MC to Rachel from Girl on The Train, and I couldn't agree more.

[Christina]

I finished before work and I agree 100% with Devann. This book just didn't feel real to me. Like I mentioned before, I got Wayward Pines vibes from it which doesn't even make sense.
(view spoiler)[I knew from very early on that something was off with Adora and Amma, I just didn't think Amma would have been the killer. I'm not even that surprised with the way she was written, but she is indeed very young still. Pulling out the girls' teeth doesn't make that much sense to me. Can't believe what she and all the kids in this town are up to.... And Adora... poor Camille and Marian and even Amma!

Richard is a dick if he hasn't reached out to Camille just because of her scars. Would have thought he's a more decent man. (hide spoiler)]

[Ashlee]

The whole time I'm reading, I'm thinking Flynn couldn't have written this to turn out as neatly as I originally thought. It's just not her writing style. In the back of my mind, I was thinking (view spoiler)[ I bet Amma is taking after her mother in hopes that she will receive more love. The old saying, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" comes to mind.

I actually didn't mind this book. I'm curious to see how the TV series plays out now that I have read the book. (hide spoiler)]

[Christina]

Riiiight, the tv show is gonna be so interesting!!

[Joanne]

Up to Chapter 13

(view spoiler)[Ok my current theory is Amma had something to do with those kids deaths. I've been getting the impression for awhile now that she is a psychopath/sociopath because it seems like she can turn the charm on and off with the snap of her fingers and she seems to take pleasure in others' misery (like when she was watching those pigs at the plant) and the latest comment where she asked if Adora liked Camille more or less after Marian died, and when Camille says less, she says "so it didn't help" which makes me think she could have killed those girls when her mother seemed to be getting too close to them. I don't think she could have pulled out the teeth herself though, so there must be more. (hide spoiler)]