Sharp Objects is the 2006 debut novel by American author Gillian Flynn. The book was first published through Shaye Areheart Books on September 26, 2006, and has subsequently been re-printed through Broadway Books. The novel follows Camille Preaker, a newspaper journalist who must return to her hometown to report on a series of brutal murders.
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Characters
Camille Preaker: A young journalist who is trying to make a better life in Chicago. She has suffered for years after the death of sister Marian at a very young age. She spent time in a psychiatric hospital near Chicago after years of self-harm.
Amma: The 13-year-old half-sister of Camille. She is the "it girl" in the town of Wind Gap. She lives a double life as a perfect Southern daughter to Adora and also the mean girl to the rest of the town. She terrorizes those living in the town as she attempts to rule everyone around her.
Adora: The mother of Camille and Amma. She is a strict woman, who rarely shows any type of emotion towards Camille. She treats Amma as a baby doll. She has a firm hold on the doings of Wind Gap, Missouri. Her family is the wealthiest in the area and owns many of the businesses in the surrounding areas.
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Synopsis
Camille Preaker works as a journalist at a small and rather un-prestigious newspaper. Her job isn't always particularly satisfying, as she often has to report on stories about human neglect and crimes such as murder. Camille gets along somewhat well with her boss Curry, who supported her during a recent hospitalization due to self-harm. Camille has carved many words onto her body - having previously hallucinated them on her skin. Curry asks her to return to her hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri, to cover a murder of a young girl.
Once in Wind Gap, Camille manages to gain some information about the crimes from the townspeople, including the family of Ann Nash, the murdered girl. The local police aren't particularly forthcoming about the murder, but the town sheriff divulges to Camille off the record that he believes that the murderer is a Wind Gap native, not a stranger. Soon the body of the missing girl, Natalie Keene, is discovered in an alley in town. Both she and Ann were strangled, and had all of their teeth removed. Camille publishes a story cobbled together from the various information she's received, only for Curry to ask her to remain in Wind Gap for further coverage of the story.
While there, Camille reconnects with her estranged mother Adora and half-sister Amma. Camille never had a good relationship with her mother, as Adora always preferred Camille's younger sister Marian, who died due to an unspecified illness when Camille was young. Amma, who was born after Marian's death, has grown into a spoiled preteen who behaves like a young child in front of her mother to hide her wild personality, drug and alcohol use, and sex life. Camille also connects on a romantic level with a Kansas city detective sent to investigate the potential of a serial killer, Detective Richard Willis.
As Camille continues to investigate, she begins a sexual relationship with Richard. During each encounter with him, Camille refuses to remove her clothes out of fear that he will reject her after he sees all of her scars. As this is going on, Camille and Amma begin to grow closer. After attending a party with her sister where the two of them get drunk and consume drugs, Camille wakes to find her mother Adora caring for her. She is given pills that make her sick. Camille is horrified to discover that Adora does this to Amma frequently, and realizes that her sister Marian's illness was not hers, but Adora's - Münchausen syndrome by proxy. After some investigation, Camille finds a letter written by a nurse caring for Marian that shows that the nurse had these same suspicions. Camille also discovers that Richard believed Adora to be responsible for the murders of Ann and Natalie. She returns to her mother's home, where Adora poisons Camille and tries to care for Camille's wounds while bathing her.
Camille passes out, but awakens to find Richard and the police arresting her mother. He's horrified to see the extent of her scars. This ends their relationship, despite his earlier claims of genuinely falling for her even though he's investigating her mother. Adora is charged with the murders of Marian and the two girls, and Amma is sent to Chicago to live with Camille. Amma initially seems to be healing from the abuse she received from Adora, but soon after she begins attending a girls' school in Chicago, a classmate is discovered murdered, having had six of her teeth pulled. It is then revealed that while Adora did kill Marian, Amma was ultimately responsible for the recent murders and that she did it in part because she was jealous of the attention Adora was giving them.
Distraught, Camille cuts herself again but is stopped by Curry and his wife, who take her in as their own daughter. The story ends with Camille learning to be cared for as a child and a daughter for the first time.
Production
While writing Sharp Objects, Flynn found that it was initially difficult to maintain the book's ""moist," gothic tone", as she "didn't want it to be EW bouncy." As she was working for Entertainment Weekly while she was writing the novel, Flynn wrote the book predominantly on nights and weekends, a few hours at a time.
Reception
Critical reception has been mostly positive. Kirkus Reviews gave a favorable review for Sharp Objects, calling it "Piercingly effective and genuinely terrifying." The Star-Herald also gave a positive review, praising the book's slow reveals.
Awards
- New Blood Fiction Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association (2007, won)
- Ian Fleming Steel Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association (2007, won)
- Duncan Lawrie Dagger from the Crime Writers' Association (2007, nominated)
Adaptations
In 2008, British director Andrea Arnold was reported to be directing an adaptation of the novel for French production company Pathé, but the project never materialized.
In 2012, Flynn confirmed that film rights to Sharp Objects had been purchased by Blumhouse Productions and Alliance Films with Flynn working as the film's screenwriter.
On July 9, 2014, it was announced that Entertainment One would be adapting Sharp Objects into a one-hour serialized television miniseries of the same name with Flynn serving as executive producer alongside Jason Blum and Charles Layton. Marti Noxon wrote the pilot script and will serve as show runner. A straight-to-series-order of eight episodes was announced by HBO on April 1, 2016. The series stars Amy Adams as Camille Preaker and is directed by Jean-Marc Vallée. The series began filming in March of 2017 and is expected to air in July 2018.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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