#31 Reading

I'm closer to the bottom of my new book pile than I thought; several of the "to be reads" are book club books I bought at Half Price Books during their last big sale. This week I had a couple of days off, so naturally I turned to books rather than laundry and other chores.

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn was a quick read (I think it was about 200 pages), and a twist on the usual detective/mysetery story I usually enjoy. In the book, Camille is a Chicago journalist whose editor sends her back to her Missouri home town to look into two recents murders in case they are related and the editor can scoop larger papers with a serial killer story. Seemed contrived to me, but I'm no expert in newspaper journalism, so I went with it. But. . .a few other instances in the story something happened to move the plot along and I thought "Wait. . .what?? Would this actually really happen?" For example, perhaps I'm naive, but I don't believe that the main character would take drugs with her 13 year old half-sister, despite her own issues. Aside from those minor complaints, I thought the book was well written & very descriptive. I think that I just wasn't really in the mood for the subjects discussed. Often, if there's not a character in the story that I don't idenitify with--at least a little bit--I can't get into it, and that was definitely the case here. But, I do think the author intended for her readers to feel uncomfortable with the story. I just don't enjoy feeling uncomfortable when I'm reading for pleasure.

I'm not sure why I bought the book. I often add books to my amazon wishlist and forget about them. When I go to the book store, I print my list and take it with me, and usually don't think twice about buying something on the list. I must have been interested in it at one point, right? This book was very well reviewed, and there's a blurb on it from Stephen King, so that may be why I thought I'd like it more.

From Publisher's Weekly: (A review of the audiobook)
Flynn's debut novel focuses on an emotionally fragile young woman whose sanity is being severely tested by family dysfunction, smalltown incivility and murder. It is a mesmerizing psychological thriller that is also quite disturbing and, at times almost unbearably so. Camille Preaker, a novice reporter with a history of self-mutilation, is sent to her hometown in Missouri to cover the murder of one teenage girl and the disappearance of another. There, she must face a variety of monsters from the past and the present, including her aloof and patronizing mother, her obnoxiously precocious 13-year-old stepsister who dabbles in drugs, sex and humiliation, and an unknown serial killer whose mutilated victims bring back haunting memories. Lee's interpretation of mom enhances the character's detachment and airy state of denial to an infuriating degree. And her abrupt change of pace when Camille suddenly begins chanting the words carved on her body is hair-raising. But the voice Lee gives to the stepsister—tinged with a sarcastic, cynical and downright evil girly singsong—makes one's blood run cold.