Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

197 reviews

zetiacg's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual content

_nayla_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Main thing I have to say for this is: YIKES. Maybe we shouldn't support women's wrongs.

(There are a lot of seriously heavy topics in this book: sexual assault, self-harm, drug use, animal abuse, child abuse, etc. Take care of yourself.)

I'm glad I finally got around to reading it because I suddenly understand the influx of weird/crazy mother-figure insanity that's been gracing our TVs post-2006. Which is to say, I was not surprised by the depravity of every girl in this book. I also suspected Munchausen by Proxy almost immediately, but that's because of all the memorialization and victim complex stuff from the very beginning that Adora was oozing. Always wanting sympathy, care, adoration for being a "caretaker."

Sharp Objects was sickening and uncomfortable to read. Sickening because the town itself was rotten, an unflattering depiction of small towns that seem deceptively simple/quaint but allow room for depravity and disease to spread unencumbered. I knew the killer wasn't going to be a man from the beginning and Adora obviously had an uncomfortable obsession with "feeling needed," which most definitely triggered psychotic feelings in Ama.

The very last chapter, when Flinn told us where the teeth actually were, was the most shocking part because that was a very good detail. I was surprised by the plot twist — I just wish it hadn't taken us so long to get there. I would've liked to see more forceful efforts by Adora to "take care" of her girls more often, or heard about Ama's bedridden bouts earlier. It feels that the second half of the book was far more detail-heavy and I sludged through the first half.

The reveals were breadcrumbed relatively well; we all knew they were sick in the head and could feel the apprehensive cloud, the ticking clock — we just didn't know when the storm would hit. Camille knew something too, but she was too drugged/drunk to do anything about it and was predictably (and understandably) oblivious. No matter how strained the relationship, we simply do not want to believe people who we love despite what they've done to us could do . . . this.

It was interesting that the three daughters depicted three different ways of absorbing and projecting pain. Marion took it inside of her (and died for her troubles, a saint), Camille hurt herself further, and Ama hurt others. The manifestation of the Mother Wound as branches of the same knotted, cracking tree. The wound itself has a way of not perpetuating, whether by death, prison, or barrenness. There are no happy endings here.

Overall: It's not Gone Girl, but it was an entertaining read and a solid start to her career

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Drug use, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Self harm, Sexual assault, Violence, and Grief

violetturtledove's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I didn't think much of this one at first but it grew on me. The plot was definitely my sort of thing (small town history, dysfunctional families, murder) but the writing style wasn't. At the start especially it seemed like there wasn't much atmosphere to it, and some of the plot points just felt too obvious in the way they were introduced. 

The main character is quite unlikable and there's a definite 'ick' factor to some of the descriptions, but it all fits fairly well with the dynamic of the setting. 

It's messed up enough to be interesting but it took me about half the book to really feel invested in the outcome. I wasn't fully satisfied with the ending; it felt a little clumsy and like there were some bits that didn't quite add up. But as I was reading I had the feeling that I was missing the significance of some of the many little clues, so it would probably stand up well to a re-read.

For all it's faults it had me fairly well gripped by the end. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Self harm, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

jadynaliyah's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Self harm, and Violence

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Bullying

Minor: Sexual violence

sp1tback's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical trauma, and Alcohol

wantsome_savoury's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

mollybooks's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I thought there would be a more shocking twist maybe the killer was someone less obvious however it turned out to be the most disturbing characters who we are aware of right from the beginning

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

hel_conway's review

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This book covers some very dark themes in a small town Missouri setting. Self harm - cutting - is a consistent thread. It’s not an easy read. I’ve added a number of trigger warnings. Despite this being a work of fiction for me the character development would have been more realistic if more nuanced. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

ahhhreadzombiez's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is an open-mouth oh my god what did I just read, let me read that again, type of book. It is fantastic. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Murder, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

crawforl's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Murder, and Alcohol