karen's Reviews > Sharp Objects

I like the idea of you being a raccoon that picks out books to read. I also like the idea of raccoons coming into the store to browse through the books, I like that idea much more than the reality of many of our customers coming into the store.

I don't know what i'm saying, i should sleep.

well i chased a mouse in the store on saturday. its only a short step from that to a raccoon. ooh and we can get some of the dinosaurs from school!naturestore!

dinosaurs?

this racoon browsing books sounds like a good illustrated book idea for customer etiquette "look at how politely the racoons are browsing, shouldn't you be like the racoons?"

in the kitty cat stickers i bought for you karen, some of them are chasing mice, its so you!

hahah yes!! i would love that book, kept at info desk.
our school has dinosaurs. i was out reading between classes on monday, and i heard rustling, and this teeny tiny dinosaur came out of the ivy behind me and blinked up at me. and then i saw more further down, sunning themselves. and then chasing each other!! they would not let me play. they did not want to be caught.nature in queens, who knew??

You should start a category just for books with shiny covers. And then you should read "Girlfriend 44" because it's got a shiny cover and was a really good book, too!

ooh good tip!

you are always trying to catch creatures (^_^)

i wouldnt have to if they would just come to me!!WHY WONT THEY COME TO ME????

iread that bastard book too. you know, tere is one more mom daughter book, "merry men" by chute. i really this flynn book. her 2nd one, not so good. very shiny cover though.

i have been meaning to read her!! is mm a good starting point??

I still think we need a floor cat!

seconded.

maybe i can pick one up on my way, but i am leaving in four minutes...

lol. We should train it to scratch rude people's eyes out.

yes merry men is a huge huge book. i think if you're goiny to take the carolyn chute plunge, go into this deep water one. i know it sounds goofy, but really, after 700 pages you don't want the book to ever end or you to leave this world she has created. its sort of the 'hobbit' of poor white trash maine.

are her books connected?? that's why i have never read her - do they interlock?? because i would love a new donald harington - where he creates a town and then just runs with it for 13 books...

yes they are connected, but not that you have to read one or the other first. yes, she has created a landscape (and it changes too over time, both through human action and nature taking her dues) and a people wih their own genealogies, secrets, and histories. but above the author's mastery of creating a PLACE, and great characters, its her style of telling that most impressed me, like you are sitting in some general store, around the wood stove, listening to a homer tell her stories. plus chute hrself has such a fantastical and unique story of herownself. check her out on the web it you have a chance.

that is amazing!! i am going to track down all her books and read them in order - she sounds exactly like donald harington who is one of the best writers who ever lived. if you have not read him, please do - he did exactly the same thing with his books and i love him for the same reasons you mention loving her - this is spectacular news!

thank you!!

oh yea, of stay more ozarks?

yeah, have you already read him??

no, i haven't read the stay more books. but looks like i'm gonna now :)

i think you will love them. really.

I just read your review for Sharp Objects on BookFreeSwap. The review was from Karen-- no picture or last name. But, I could tell from the voice that it was written by you. You have a great distinct voice. It's funny, sassy and smart. I love your reviews. Keep writing!

oh, no! this barely counts as a review! and it is being disseminated! eeek!

I empathize, KB.

btw, i have been seeing your reviews on worldcat too. they are using gr's for the review section of display (they used to use amazon but librarians told them to stop, gr was more respectable.....so we lied)
you're 2nd in line here
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62421250

or erm, here: http://www.worldcat.org/title/sharp-o...

btw way, that emily is kicking your gr's ass, jsyk

hmmmm. kicking my ass how??

her reviews are always 1st in list you see on worldcat, yours 2nd. more people like her;s too. just pointing that out, not an indictment or anything. here is an ex.:

Review from goodreads.com
by Emily (GoodReads user published about a month ago ) Very Good
56 of 56 people found this review helpful

There is something deeply unhealthy about this book; it's in the characters, in the story, in the relationships, in the sex, and just in the general mood of the novel. Reading this made me feel a little unwell, both physically and mentally, but I am glad I did. If you know me, you'll know I love complex characters with issues that feel raw and real rather than melodramatic. The people in this novel are majorly fucked up, no one is without a dark past and everyone, it seems, has a horror story.

The protagonist - Camille Preaker - was just thirteen when her sister died and fuelled by grief (amongst other things) Camille spent her teen years carving words into her flesh, covering almost every inch of her body with the marks of her pain. This could have brought the angst meter off the scale but Flynn handled it expertly, with just the right amount of sadness, frustration and gore. Ten years later, Camille Preaker is now a journalist who returns to the small town of her youth to report on the murders of two young girls - the girls showed no signs of sexual abuse, but all their teeth had been removed.

Camille is soon caught up in the town once again, she tries to get along with the mother who never loved her and establish a relationship with the troublesome half sister she hardly knows. It seems that once again small towns hold the biggest secrets and Camille finds herself getting dragged deeper and deeper into the investigation, her fragile state of mind constantly threatening to tip her over the edge.

This is one mean and nasty book. I knew I was getting a dark, psychological thriller, but I expected something on par with In The Woods. In Tana French's novels everyone has a deeply explored personality, but it seems that in Gillian Flynn's novels everyone has a deeply explored problem and Flynn never shies away from the details. You're not going to find anything pleasant in this story; sex, for example, is never simply for physical pleasure, it's an escape or a bargain or a catharsis. Everything else is similar.

In a world where women are victims - both in their media representation as "damsels in distress" and in statistics - this is a very interesting look at "evil" women. We are always less surprised when a man is arrested for raping/torturing/killing, it's programmed into us to believe that women are safer, kinder, built with an instinct that makes it difficult for them to be cruel and cause pain without reason. Upon interviewing the parents of Moors murders victims before the culprits were caught, they said they couldn't understand it because they'd always told their kids not to go off with men they didn't know. But they never warned them not to go off with women they didn't know, the idea was unthinkable. Times are changing, but a lot of the old ideas still linger: surely a woman wouldn't hurt a child? Surely a mother would never harm her children?

Yet, Flynn does an excellent job of challenging this idea. She shows how women can be cold, calculating and cruel. And I'm sure it will displease a lot of readers, but it fascinated me.more...

ohhh, she has a tag too, THE BOOK GEEK fairly bold i'd say.

oh, that's fine. most of my reviews are not helpful.

karen wrote: "oh, that's fine. most of my reviews are not helpful."
that's it, keep that ri stiff lip

"I would just read something unchallenging that it might be fun to write a bad review of"

LOL!!! I love this review thing

From one magpie to another, I had to add it to my to read based on that alone :P well that and the fact I enjoyed Gone Girl :)

ah, the endless "to-read" list....

lol, oh no not the "endless" to do list around here, figured I would add a "kicker" to my Goodreads yearly goal, all books must come from the to read. ;)

wow. that's serious business. i wish you luck and freedom from temptation!

LOL, yeah some serious OCD, list making, book reading business :P hard part? actually finding all the books I want to read without shelling out the big bucks, was going thru my local library ebook rentals yesterday and found 2. gonna have to get creative ;)

Heather wrote: "LOL, yeah some serious OCD, list making, book reading business :P hard part? actually finding all the books I want to read without shelling out the big bucks, was going thru my local library ebook ..."

you can get a nyc public library out-of-state card and check out ebooks from them. card is $100 (a year) but they have an incredible collection. and one of only libs that allow out of state card holders , so others may too, not sure

Thanks Tuck, will have to check it out, not sure how the hubz would feel about a hundro dollar fee, but maybe i could just fry him up some bacon and read from him out of a good bedtime story book? ;)

Heather wrote: "Thanks Tuck, will have to check it out, not sure how the hubz would feel about a hundro dollar fee, but maybe i could just fry him up some bacon and read from him out of a good bedtime story book? ;)"
might work. also, 10 books cost way more than that, you could say.

That they do, if only i could say that with a straight face, perhaps I should NOT be in the office with the overloaded book shelves :P

All this talk about interconnecting book has got me wondering about good book series. Last one I read was Harry Potter. Any good ones you recommend besides Hunger Games and Game of Thrones?

Nicole wrote: "All this talk about interconnecting book has got me wondering about good book series. Last one I read was Harry Potter. Any good ones you recommend besides Hunger Games and Game of Thrones?"

ferrante's naples series is super good . this is first one My Brilliant Friend

i loved

https://www.goodreads.com/series/5500...

https://www.goodreads.com/series/4774...

https://www.goodreads.com/series/5453...

and if this counts:

https://www.goodreads.com/series/5163...

oh, and this, but it's probably not for everyone

https://www.goodreads.com/series/5102...

Thank you both!

well, this book made me nauseous.

but in a four-star way!

Love this review! I think we have all had eye roll moments with this author, glad Im not alone! If you are looking for something in the same vein as this, check out, What Happened to Michael. An unknown but brilliant book.

cool, thanks!