• Sharp Objects

  • A Novel
  • By: Gillian Flynn
  • Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
  • Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (41,051 ratings)

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Sharp Objects  By  cover art

Sharp Objects

By: Gillian Flynn
Narrated by: Ann Marie Lee
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Publisher's summary

NOW AN HBO® LIMITED SERIES STARRING AMY ADAMS, NOMINATED FOR EIGHT EMMY AWARDS, INCLUDING OUTSTANDING LIMITED SERIES FROM THE NUMBER ONE NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF GONE GIRL

Fresh from a brief stay at a psych hospital, reporter Camille Preaker faces a troubling assignment: She must return to her tiny hometown to cover the murders of two preteen girls. For years, Camille has hardly spoken to her neurotic, hypochondriac mother or to the half-sister she barely knows: a beautiful 13-year-old with an eerie grip on the town. Now, installed in her old bedroom in her family's Victorian mansion, Camille finds herself identifying with the young victims - a bit too strongly. Dogged by her own demons, she must unravel the psychological puzzle of her own past if she wants to get the story - and survive this homecoming.

Praise for Sharp Objects:

“Nasty, addictive reading.” (Chicago Tribune)

“Skillful and disturbing.” (Washington Post)

“Darkly original...[a] riveting tale.” (People)

©2006 Gillian Flynn (P)2006 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

  • Mystery Writers of America 2007 Edgar Nominee, Best First Novel by an American Author

"A witty, stylish, and compelling debut. A real winner." (Harlan Coben)

"Flynn delivers a great whodunit.... Piercingly effective and genuinely terrifying." (Kirkus Reviews)

"To say this is a terrific debut novel is really too mild. I haven't read such a relentlessly creepy family saga since John Farris' All Heads Turn as the Hunt Goes By, and that was 30 years ago, give or take. Sharp Objects isn't one of those scare-and-retreat books; its effect is cumulative. I found myself dreading the last 30 pages or so but was helpless to stop turning them. Then, after the lights were out, the story just stayed there in my head, coiled and hissing, like a snake in a cave. An admirably nasty piece of work, elevated by sharp writing and sharper insights." (Stephen King)

Featured Article: These Noir Listens Will Take You to the Dark Side of Fiction


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What listeners say about Sharp Objects

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  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

I agree with Stephen King

There's something almost magnetic about this book. It quickly becomes hard to listen to and impossible not to. The author has virtually every family disfunction ever featured on Lifetime in this book and I did not roll my eyes once. I can't tell you what or how without ruining the agonizing unraveling for you but I think it takes a very skilled pen indeed to make so much seem so natural. At the end I felt real grief for the central character.
The narrator's performance is flawlessly understated and adds to the mesmerizing almost 'real-time hyper-reality' of this unbelievable story.
If you've any interest at all in the dark side of small town life and of the american family, I think you will love this book.

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360 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Pitch Perfect Performance

I selected this book because I enjoyed "Gone Girl" so much. "Sharp Objects" is equally as brilliant and in some ways, better. Like "Gone Girl", there is an element of suspense that keeps the reader involved until the end. These characters are equally as flawed and as brilliantly portrayed as the characters in Gone Girl. When I was in college, a group of friends in my dorm used to recite dialogue from the movie classic "The Bad Seed" and I found myself thinking of that movie as I was listening. Part "Bad Seed", a little "Lolita" with a bit of Patricia Highsmith thrown in for good measure, the book leaves the reader wondering where the author comes up with her ideas.
The narrator was perfect, one of the best matches I have come across between a book and reader. Not only did she truly differentiate the characters, but her reading pace was perfect.
I knew nothing about the premise of the book before I started listening, and I believe that added to my enjoyment.
I think Gillian Flynn is a gifted young writer, and I look forward to reading more of her novels.

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235 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Cutting Words

Having discovered the author (Gillian Flynn) when reading her newest release, I promptly decided to try one of her other 2 books. I selected Dark Places, and found it to be one of the best books I've ever read. That is how I found myself here with Sharp Objects; looking forward to the anticipated quality of the work, but already bracing myself for the emotional hit this author packs.

Just as Camille violently cuts her chosen words into her skin, permanently etching them into herself, so does the author, Gillian Flynn, violently cut HER chosen words into the reader; permanently etching them into you. Each cut hurts; but like Camille, we continue on; by continuing to read the story.

This is not a happy book. Not all all. Not one little bit. It's about petty people, hurtful people, evil people...and all the one-time innocents they have damage so badly, they grow into the next generation of hate. And the cycle, in the forsaken town of Wind Gap, continues on through generations.

And still, we read on; because the author has pulled us into this hypnotic web. We continue with the cutting words.

I found this book excellent. The story seemed to have a life of it's own, moving in unexpected directions and growing into the final chapter; by which you understand that no other ending would have been possible.

If the description above hasn't put you off, and you are prepared for the language, violence, and disturbing sexual content, then this book may be for you. I found it haunting and very well done.

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160 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Gone Girl First?

Devoured Gone Girl and went in search of more. This, her first novel tells the tale of a flawed, off center woman who cuts the words of her anguish over every part of her body. She covers her mutilation with non-revealing clothing (even in the summer) also mirroring how she hides her true self; not letting anyone too close. She returns to her hometown to report on two murders. Her dystunctional family and the town serve as the backdrop for the mystery. Well written, and definitely worth your credit and a read. A little hurried and predictable near the end, but overall am happy to have listened to it. Flynn evolves her talent with each book.

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148 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

There's a reason

This book showed up on so many best-of-2006 lists. It's unlike anything you've read,perhaps a bit of a thinking woman's Silence of the Lambs? Creepy but astonishingly smart and beautifully written and very compelling. Can't wait for her next book.

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68 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Unbelievable and Predictable

The narration is incredible, but the story leaves something to be desired. In the beginning, it seems to be really promising, but quickly falls apart towards the middle. I understand bullying and gossip in a small town, but as someone who is FROM a small southern town, I just couldn't believe any of it. The things the townspeople did just. Aren't things people do. There is also an obsession on sex, which makes sense somewhat, but it is drawn out way too much. Also there's a lot of forced underage sex, more than simple pre-teen/teen peer pressure, and it definitely gets uncomfortable after a while. Seriously, please stop describing a 13 year old's breasts. I got it the first time. Personally, the other "gore" didn't bother me, so I don't think it was a problem.

There are only TWO likable characters, and they are minor and only appear rarely throughout via phone calls. The entire plot is extremely predictable. No spoilers, but seriously I don't understand how people were surprised by the reveal. There were some really good moments that had potential, but overall the unbelievable characters and predictable plot left me disappointed.

Also the romantic subplots were a joke. They didn't make any sense and had no impact on the story other than emphasizing SEX.

P.S. You don't need to repeat the same foreshadowing line 300 times. I get it: "A woman would never do such a thing"

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59 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wow.... Gillian Flynn has a knack for this

I am having issues finding fault with Gillian Flynn I find. I am a fan, a true fan of Gillian Flynn and keeping that in mind I am concerned for my own mental health because I am sure that says a lot about me.

Gillian Flynn's brand of dark, twisted writing comes from a truly dark place. Her mind clearly goes places that a normal person would call... disturbing. I find though that it taps into that place that I think everyone has (as a form of justification because I clearly have it maybe). That dark/twisted/demented place where things aren't all rainbows and butterflies.

Gillian Flynn creates an amazingly flawed female characters in the form of Camille here. Her knack for creating such characters again is both dually intriguing and disturbing in the same sense. The way everything unfolded in this book was creepy in short and the way the entire story unwound itself was jarring at the very least. You might have been able to see what is about to happen from a mile away but even so you will enjoy each and every twisted, demented, crazy stop in the process. The writing in this book as the writing in all of her books just seem to be in a different league amongst most authors. Even if you dislike how dark this book is you will find yourself enjoying this dark twisted ride if only for the superb writing.

Another narration that I can find little fault with. Ann Marie Lee was able to portray Camille just as I expected her to sound. She kept up with the excellent storyline and only served to enhance the overall listening experience.

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58 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Emotionally bleak and miserable

Sharp Objects is a good book, but one that is clearly not for me. It lacks two critical characteristics that I require to enjoy a story.

The first is likable characters. Nearly every major character is so deeply, fundamentally flawed that I could not relate to them nor care about them. If I don't have characters to root for, I cannot become fully emotionally invested in their plight.

Every bit as important is the overall emotional curve of the book. The entire book simply feels miserable. There are no moments of joy, happiness, or love that aren't wholly corrupted by their circumstance. Because of this, the darkness loses its edge - there's nothing to contrast the darkness to. It is dark, lonely, and bleak, from cover to cover (so to speak).

If these aspects do not turn you off from the book, you're in for a good if somewhat predictable mystery with a few twists and turns and with a peculiar focus on smells. Be forewarned though, if you look up what mental disorders the book deals with, you will have the book's mysteries solved before you're halfway through.

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56 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Compelling read

Blunt. Deeply troubled. Intense. The main character of this story is, as many of us are, wounded. When she returns to her hometown, she uncovers just what the nature of that wounding is and who abused her. Intertwined is a whodunit murder mystery.

I couldn't stop listening. I spent extra hours in my art studio (that's where I listen)just to hear the story. This is the first book I want to listen to for a second time.

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56 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Story. Excellent Writing.

This is the 3rd book by Gillian Flynn that I have read. I started with the most recent and worked backwards but it made no difference.
Ms Flynn's writing style is excellent and Sharp Objects is no exception.

Ms. Flynn is tuned into the emotions and feelings of her subjects and makes them come alive on the pages. It is as if I "knew" the protaganist, Camille, or I know someone like her.
I personally could relate to the small Midwestern town, the violence, the closeness.

Once again, I thought I had the story and the ending figured out and with a quick twist, it was completely different.

Ann Marie Lee did a great job with the narration.

Not only would I recommend Sharp Objects, but also any other book penned by Gillian Flynn.

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45 people found this helpful